Christmas gift to the Holy Land

In the Christian - and nowadays, even among more secular Western people - Christmas emphasizes events over 2,000 years ago in the current territory of Israel, as well as the giving of gifts in commemoration of those events. That's why this Christmas, I want to remember the residents of the so-called Holy Land with a proposal for achieving lasting peace between them.

A new solution is needed for two reasons. The first is the nature of Israel as a Jewish state, and the second is the terrorist violence carried out by the Palestinian population who made a colossal mistake in the events of 1948-49 by following the proposal by other Arabs to leave their homes. Both have hindered the establishment of peace between the inhabitants of the Holy Land.

Therefore, a solution must be sought based on maintaining the nature of Israel as a Jewish state while putting an end to the terrorist activities of the Palestinian population. These conditions are not met by the widely discussed two-state model, and particularly, Jews are not interested in a single-state model where Palestinians who engage in terrorism year after year would be granted Israeli citizenship.

In this situation, creative thinking is needed. However, first, we must wait for the end of the ongoing war so that the biggest obstacle to peace, the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, is removed from the stage.

Afterward, there should be a negotiation table with representation from Jews and Palestinians living in Israel, as well as Jordan, Egypt, and potentially other Arab countries, along with impartial mediators. The result must be an acceptable solution, offering Palestinians the freedom to either move away from Israel to Jordan, Egypt, or other Arab nations, or alternatively, to await Israeli citizenship.

Palestinians relocating to Arab countries should be granted citizenship, for example, five years after settling in the country, provided they meet the conditions and behave appropriately. Those choosing to live in Israel would initially remain without citizenship, but it would generally be granted to them after 30 years. 

That is primarily because renouncing Palestinian terrorism would be a precondition for citizenship. Since achieving this is unlikely to happen overnight, a framework encouraging the abandonment of violence must be established.

Therefore, it should be decided that for each act of Palestinian terrorism within the first year of the agreement, the granting of citizenship would be postponed by one week. Similarly, from the second to the tenth year of the agreement, each act of terrorism would delay citizenship by one month. After that, for the next ten years, each act of terrorism would postpone citizenship by one year, and from then on, by five years.

Such a system would provide Palestinians with a way out of the current deadlock and strong motivation to refrain from terrorist acts. As violence diminishes, trust between Israeli Jews and Palestinians would gradually grow, leading to increasing economic integration over the years, which would further strengthen the peaceful development.

* * *

In the proposal I outlined earlier, it is crucial that the timeframe is long, at least 30 years. Presumably, a considerable number of Palestinians would not choose to wait in Israel for such an extended period and would instead opt for relocation to an Arab country, where obtaining full citizenship rights could happen in a substantially shorter time. This way, the character of Israel as a Jewish state would not be compromised, even if the remaining Palestinians were granted citizenship.

The extended timeframe is also essential because over three decades, an entirely new generation of Palestinians and Jews would grow up, whose lives would not be overshadowed by continuous violence and oppression but rather characterized by peaceful coexistence. This would lead to a decrease in the significance of ethnic and religious boundaries, strengthening society and ultimately creating a situation where the granting of citizenship to Palestinians would not provoke insurmountable reactions among Jews.

And thus, peace would eventually arrive at the birthplace of Christian Christmas! For the people living there, peace and goodwill toward each other would prevail.

With this proposal, I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas! I also extend my wishes to the residents of the Holy Land, hoping that my gift brings them peace!

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Merry Christmas!
Nauttikaa joulusta! (in Finnish, but readable in English using e.g. Google translator)
Joulumuisto (in Finnish, but readablein English using e.g. Google translator)