The Economics of Peace

The failure to achieve a negotiated peace settlement in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in nearly sixty years makes the challenge seem nearly insurmountable. These diplomatic failures result from conditions in the Palestinian and Israeli territories that are not conducive to peace. Creating economic parity and an environment of religious tolerance in the Israeli and Palestinian territories would enable the conditions necessary to reach a negotiated peace settlement.

Jewish resettlement of Palestine began in the 1880's, though its population had always maintained some small number of Jews. Palestine was ruled by British mandate, or military rule, at the time. In 1917 the British issued the Balfour Declaration, promising Jews a homeland in Palestine. By the 1920's the Jewish population in Palestine had risen sharply. Discontent on the part of the local Arabs of Palestine about the new Jewish settlers led to incidents of violence, and rioting. This was the beginning of the conflict. On November 30th, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly issued resolution 181 partitioning Palestine into two separate Arab and Jewish States. The British left Palestine, and on May 15, 1948 Israel declared itself an independent nation. Shortly after this declaration Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia declared war on Israel. The violence has essentially, never ceased.

The Palestinian people chose to reject United Nations resolution 181. Consequentially, there exists no Palestinian state. The Israeli/Egypt Peace treaty of 1979 called for the creation of an autonomous Palestinian government. Due to the continuing conflict this was not implemented until the signing of the 1993 Oslo peace accords. For nearly fifty years the Palestinian people lived without any real governance. This combined with the constant conflict has led to the steady degradation of Palestinian civil institutions, and the Palestinian economy. Conversely, Israel experienced exponential growth during this period in terms of economy, population, industry, and education.

Currently the average Israeli income is $27,000 per year and growing. The average Palestinian income is $3,500 per year, and declining. "Where economic resentment is combined with religious intolerance the result is historically tragic for the Jews." (Eban, 1984) Abba Eban was an Israeli diplomat, and noted Historian. His statement was an after the fact summarization if the many negative and often violent experiences of Jews living in the Diaspora prior to the existence of the modern State of Israel. His statement also poignantly identifies why all diplomatic attempts to reach a negotiated settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians have failed. This glaring economic inequality between Israelis and Palestinians stands as a direct obstacle to peace by both fostering economic resentment, and by facilitating the conditions for religious intolerance in the Palestinian territories.

The conflict has been traditionally viewed as a struggle for land. The positions held by the many different groups and individuals is often labeled as "moderate" or "extremist" based solely on acceptance of a two state solution. This "land for peace" negotiation concept has been tried, and proven lacking as it is not fully acceptable to either side. The assumption that each side would sacrifice its ultimate goals in exchange for peace was false. The dominant Palestinian viewpoint is that Israel is an illegal state created on Palestinian land. " Since the settlement in its imperial concept has been the illegal occupation of the land by force to establish an illegal community, the conflict will continue with the natives and, therefore, this conflict will continue in Palestine until the problem is settled by both Israel and the Palestinians, who view Israel as a state ruling a land which it does not own and people whom it does not represent." (Al Abed, 2003) When viewing the conflict in earnest, this position can be understood. It fails however, to recognize the historical and religious ties of Jews to this land that had in the past, been their homeland. The dominant Israeli viewpoint is that Israel is the non-negotiable Jewish homeland, and giving land to Palestinians amounts to nothing more than rewarding terrorism. This position can also be clearly understood. It however, fails to recognize the reality that the Jewish re-settlement of Israel led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arab residents. Starting negotiations based on borders without first changing the reality on the ground is doomed to failure.

A people with nothing to loose are more than willing to risk it. This statement represents the modern day Palestinians. The first step in reaching conditions equitable for peace negotiations is the economic development of the Palestinian territories. If Israelis wish to keep young Palestinian men from joining terrorist organizations, then providing them with jobs is a huge first step. Convincing Israelis to fund Palestinian development presents a tough sell, but it is not impossible. History provides us with clear examples of how economic development can turn once warring enemies into peaceful allies. After World War 2 the United States assisted the rebuilding of Europe both with dollars, and with the Army core of engineers. This plan today is known as the Marshall Plan, after one of its originators, George C. Marshall. In truth the plan was designed to prevent Soviet influence from penetrating Western Europe, humanitarian concerns were secondary. Marshall understood economic stability was essential for political stability, and the same lesson applies to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Selling the plan is sample, list its previous achievements: Today America counts Germany and Japan among its allies.

Israelis would argue, and with some merit, that terrorism and Islamist ideology, not economics, are the reason for the prolonged conflict. Even if this is accepted truth, economic development still represents a cure. Much in the same way the Marshall plan was used to weaken communist influence, economic development in the Palestinian territories would lessen the stranglehold terrorist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad currently hold on the peace process. Hamas has been particularly adept at understanding this concept. They were once a fringe Islamist group on the Palestinian scene. The dominant political party of Palestinians had always been the Fatah party. Hamas gained its popularity by offering social programs including health clinics, schools, food, and more. The Palestinians responded by supporting Hamas at the ballot box giving them control over the Palestinian government. Many outside observers found this to be strange. The Palestinians had elected President Mahmoud Abbas on a platform of peace with Israel and a two state solution only a few months prior to choosing Hamas whose stated platform is the destruction of Israel. Why the Palestinians chose Hamas is simple, and had nothing to do with politics. Hamas offered real, tangible answers to the most pressing Palestinian needs for food, medicine, and education.

The second challenge facing diplomatic negotiations is religious intolerance. In many ways this problem is a symptom of the first problem of Palestinian poverty. While poverty is not the source of religious intolerance, it allows the source a voice that wouldn't otherwise be heard with such resonance. It is also not uniquely a Palestinian problem, as there are Jews who advocate Israeli annexation of all territories that were part of the Ancient Jewish kingdom, and the removal of all Arabs from these lands in the process. The solution to religious intolerance is education, and humanization of the conflict.

Communication is the key to improving any relationship, and represents the first educational challenge. Israelis and Palestinians do not speak the same language. The creation of educational institutions teaching Hebrew and Jewish history in the Palestinian territories, and educational institutions teaching Arabic and Islamic history in the Israeli territories is the first step. Israeli funding of this project is essential, as the Palestinian government lacks the necessary resources to execute the project on its own. Asking Israelis to fund Palestinian education, or anything else, may seem unpalatable. The choice should be simple when confronted with the reality of current Palestinian schoolbooks. Israelis can choose to fund educational institutions in Palestine, or let groups such as Hamas teach from texts that include quotes such as these: " The Treaty of 'Umar, to the Christians in Jerusalem, is a wonderful example of the tolerance of the Muslims in administering the countries, in which they live side by side with those of other religions... These rights have not been contravened, except under the Crusader, colonialist and Zionist conquests. The Jews have destroyed mosques and churches and defiled the holiness of graves. They have killed the Muslim and Christian inhabitants of Palestine, whose inhabitants are still suffering oppression and persecution under racist Jewish administration.

Activity:

Write in your exercise book: An event showing the fanaticism of the Jews in Palestine against Muslims or Christians." (The Palestinian Authority school books) Education also represents a way in which average Israelis and Palestinians can meet under neutral terms, thus helping humanize the conflict. Teacher exchange programs in which Arab teachers teach Arabic and Islamic history to Israelis and Israeli teachers teach Hebrew and Jewish history to Palestinians offers and immediate, and cheap beginning. Programs such as cross border sporting teams, academic competitions, and science fairs are also inexpensive and can be implemented immediately.

Religion itself also offers a way to end religious intolerance, especially in the case of Israelis, and Palestinians. Both the Torah, (The holy books of the Jews), and the Quran, (The holy books of the Muslims), state that Isaac and Ishmail were brothers. Both also agree that today the descendants of Isaac are the Jews, and the descendants of Ishmail are the Arab Muslims. This is one of the few religious claims modern science can support. A study conducted by Ariella Oppenheim and her colleagues, published in Human Genetics in December 2000, showed that about 70 percent of Jewish paternal ancestries and about 82 percent of Palestinian Arabs share the same chromosomal pool. A separate study conducted by an international team of researchers and published in the June 6, 2000, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that " Jewish men shared a common set of genetic signatures with non-Jews from the Middle East, including Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese, and these signatures diverged significantly from non-Jewish men outside of this region. Consequently, Jews and Arabs share a common ancestor and are more closely related to one another than to non-Jews from other areas of the world." (Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes) This is an excellent point of emphasis that enables both Rabbis and Imams to participate in the peace process by stating it again, and again.

Clearly neither the Quran, nor the Torah would allow for such inhospitable treatment of a brother. Conflict and violence leads to a polarization of attitudes. Violence becomes cyclical, each side feeling it necessary to respond in kind to the actions of the other. In the case of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict this is all too true. After nearly sixty years of armed conflict, it becomes irrelevant which side fired first, or who is to blame. Both sides are guilty of actions that if removed from the context of the conflict would seem barbaric. The only important question becomes how to move forward towards peace in spite of the violence. One of the great problems in past Israeli/Palestinian negotiations has been acts of groups or individuals on either side intended to hamper the peace process, and being successful in achieving this goal. This has allowed extremists on both sides to be the defining voices of the conflict instead of the historical footnotes they should have been. The way forward towards peace must continue, even if a Palestinian suicide bomber strikes in the heart of Israel. The way forward towards peace must continue, even if there is a targeted Israeli assassination of Palestinian political figures. Changing the terms of negotiation allows the process to continue, rather than falter in the face of violence as all previous negotiation attempts have. Change the focus from attempting to solve the most difficult and sensitive of questions such as final borders, and sovereignty of Jerusalem. Focus instead on changing the attitudes of each side towards the other. This can be accomplished through joint economic, environmental, social, and educational development programs.

References

Al Abed, Dr. A (2003, January 25). Ending the status of war between the Arab States and

Israel : Its consequences on the Palestinian Cause. Retrieved July 4, 2006, from

palestinian-info.co.uk Web site: http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/article_11.shtml

The Palestinian Authority school books. Retrieved July 12, 2006, from edume.org Web site:

http://www.edume.org/reports/1/report.htm

Eban, A (1984). Heritage: civilization and the Jews. Summit Books.

(2000, May 9). Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share... Retrieved July

25, 2006, from PNAS.org Web site:

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/97/12/6769?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=Ostrer&searchid=QID_NOT_SET&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=&fdate=1/1/2000