I would like to propose that if the people of Israel hope ever to achieve anything in the way of peaceful coexistence with their Palestinian neighbors than complete withdrawal from the West Bank, perhaps back to the ’67 borders, be initiated along with a "Marshall Plan" for the Palestinians.
When Barack Obama becomes president one of his first priorities should be, with the approval of the Palestinian leadership, to set in motion such a plan. What he needs to do is announce his intention to spearhead such a project and then put together a commission of academics, politicians, and business people to investigate just how to go about implementing it. Among scholars he would need to bring in experts on Palestinian culture, religion, and demographics, experts on Israeli culture, religion, and demographics, as well as experts on international economics, medical health, and engineering, among other possible fields. From politicians he would need draw upon the expertise of diplomats from around the globe who have experience with the Palestinian people. From the business community he would need to bring in people who have expertise in a whole variety of possible endeavors, including agriculture, infrastructure, and consumable technologies.
Obviously, any such effort would be extremely costly. However, given how dire the ongoing Israel-Palestine tensions are, not just for the people of Israel and Palestine, but for much of the rest of the world, it would be worth virtually any dollar cost placed on the project. In order to fund this project, Obama should propose that he would accept the help of any entity willing to contribute. This would include individual countries, corporations, universities, charitable and non-profit organizations, and foundations from anywhere in the world, with, perhaps, the United States, Israel, and the Arab League taking the lead.
Once the commission completes its study it would then report its recommendations to Obama who would then present those recommendations to the Palestinians, as well as the world, at large. The Palestinians would then have an opportunity to accept, or reject, the proposal. If they were to accept the proposal then the work would begin. Universities and hospitals would open branches throughout the West Bank and Gaza. Trade schools would open branches, as well, for the purpose of teaching any number of useful skills. Corporations of various sorts would open offices and factories staffed mainly with Palestinians. Agribusiness would set about improving the agricultural output of the region and, needless to say, would also hire locals. The various governments involved would send teams of managers to hire Palestinian labor for the purposes of building roads and highways, bridges, airports, hospitals, sea-ports, housing and whatever else might be necessary to lay the material infrastructure out of which a Palestinian middle-class might emerge.
This sort of large-scale nation building project would carry considerable risk. There is no reason to assume that acts of violence would cease overnight and certain elements in Palestinian society might view such a project as a potential threat to their own power. Nonetheless, I am convinced that as rates of Palestinian unemployment dropped, the inclination to use violence or terrorism would also drop.
As time passed, and as the Palestinian economy improved, the opportunities for trade would benefit not only the Palestinians themselves, but every country involved, most particularly Israel. Israel, more than any other country on the planet, would benefit from a thriving Palestinian economy.
So, my question for Kossacks is would you, or would you not, support a Marshall Plan for the Palestinians? I’ve only recently begun to think about the possibilities of such a project and have certainly not fleshed it out. Perhaps you can help me to do so. So what are the arguments against the idea? What are the arguments for the idea? And how do you think something like this could be initiated?
Thanks.