Since October 7, I have immersed myself in articles, podcasts, and videos about the conflict in Israel. And I now know how to solve this unending conflict. At some point, someone needs to hit the Palestinians over the head with a large dose of reality. Champions of the Palestinian cause need to review some history. 

For example: Jews lived in Palestine since ancient times. Some from the diaspora began migrating to Palestine and other places after a period of unending pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe. With the rise of the Nazis, many more Jews looked to re-settle outside of Europe, but by this time the US had imposed strict limitations on immigration. Some escaped  to the Americas, some to other parts of the world, but millions could not leave. After the Holocaust, survivors were desperate. No doors were open to them. The prospect of a Jewish state where they could defend themselves seemed essential to many. They appealed to Britain, to the League of Nations, and then to the United Nations. They accepted a proposed two-state solution.

Arabs never accepted the notion of a Jewish state in Palestine. Some Arabs lived in relative peace with Jewish neighbors under the Ottoman Empire, but Jews did not have equal rights. Other Arabs fought Jews, especially Zionist migrants. The British ruled Palestine after WW 1, but were never able to end Arab resistance to proposals for a Jewish state. Both Arabs and Jews found reasons to attack the British before and after WW II. Arabs mostly aligned with Germany during the war. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem convinced the Nazis not to send Jews to Palestine, thus putting more pressure on the Nazis to find a “final solution.” 

After WW II, the newly formed United Nations proposed a two-state solution for the conflict in Palestine. Zionist Jews accepted the plan, declared the creation of Israel, and succeeded in establishing Israel as a Jewish State. Arabs continued to fight against it. Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria united to militarily challenge the creation of Israel, but lost the war. Palestinians chose not to created a state of their own. Conflict continues to this day.

The Oslo peace process in the 1990s seemed promising, but Arafat pulled out despite being offered nearly all of what he had insisted on. The one element he did not get was “the right of return.” Israel continues to resist granting the right of return because overwhelming numbers of Palestinians would negate the possibility of maintaining a state that can be both democratic and Jewish, a state in which Arabs could be citizens, but would not be the majority, the situation that exists in Israel today. 

The amount of Jew hatred that we have seen around the world since October 7 only proves to me that Jews do need a Jewish state. Many Jews have been comfortable living in the diaspora for decades. But many of those Jews have had their sense of security rattled, not only by the barbarity of October 7, but also by massive protests in London and elsewhere, campus protests in the US, and verbal assaults aimed not at the terrorists, but at Israel and Jews in general. 

The fact is that Palestinians do not need to live as they are. They could have a state of their own. But they must give up their jihad against Israel.

So here you have it, folks, a solution for those who want a solution.    President Biden needs to say the following, now:

1. Israel is here to stay – as a Jewish state.
2. There is no right of return.
3. Palestinians no longer have refugee status; UNRWA ends today.
4. The war ends when all hostages are released (no prisoner exchange) and Palestinians accept the right of Israel to exist as a democratic Jewish state.
5. If Palestinians want to govern themselves in the West Bank and Gaza, they must agree to live in peace beside a Jewish state. 
6. Israel stops building settlements inside the West Bank. Jews living in existing settlements may stay in the West Bank if they wish to live in the new Palestinian state, or if carved-outs are agreed to. If not, they will be re-settled in Israel. (Note: I do not think that the settlements are necessarily illegal given the absence of a Palestinian state prior to this agreement.)
7. Religious sites will be accessible to all. If necessary, an international authority will control contested religious sites.
8. International assistance will be provided to the new Palestinian state to assist with creation of governing structures and state services.

So there you have it, my proposal for peace in the Middle East. What’s your proposal?