Guilherme Fonseca Faro
27/11//23, 5:22.
Daring of Unification
The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has dragged on for decades without a solution in sight. While leaders meet in sumptuous negotiation rooms, little has changed in the harsh reality at checkpoints or in the rubble of bombed buildings in Gaza. This status quo of "neither war, nor peace" resembles purgatory.
However, what if we completely rethought the territorial equation? Instead of a separation based on religious or ethnic lines, why not imagine a unified state under a single flag - one that protects both the Star of David and the Crescent Moon in a shared sky?
At first glance, the idea will seem absurd and impracticable to many. But let's examine the facts before us. Israel already administers large portions of land that a future Palestinian State would claim for itself, whether militarily or civilly through settlements. Dividing them would create unsustainable enclaves. The alternative of a sound and cohesive country, even if initially in a federal form, would bring far more mutual benefits.
From a security standpoint, unified command would facilitate combatting terrorism that still finds refuge in the autonomous Palestinian territories. Economically, eliminating customs barriers and the free flow of people, goods and capital would boost growth in Gaza and the West Bank - relaunching a Palestinian middle class today strangled between two fires.
Of course, the transition would not be easy or automatic. Extensive regional autonomies would be necessary during an adaptation period. Moderate leaders on both sides would have to convince their tribes of the strategic wisdom of this undertaking. And the international community, especially the United States and Europe, would have a key political and economic role to make this future of hope viable.
Dream or naive fantasy? Perhaps. But if after so much war, tears and hatred some spark of idealism still remains, this is a debate worth having once again. Because in the end, regardless of flags or borders, all yearn for the same lasting peace, which can, indeed, be under the single leadership of Israel.
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