Friday, September 5, 2008


I had another idea. Since Olmert was going to cede Golan Height, and Syria didn't want Israel to have Golan Height, another alternative for the Palestinian Arab state would be:

Golan Height + purchasing of the Irbid province from Jordan

Or, I was thinking of a Daleth shaped (or, Resh shaped) region that includes a corridor to the Mediterranean (maybe from the border of Lebanon till but not including Akko?) + Golan Height + purchasing of Irbid province from Jordan.

The corridor is so that the Sunni Palestinian Arabs would be between the Shia Hizballah and Israel, to put it frankly.
If Olmert wants to cede Golan, then he shouldn't make the Sinai mistake. When Israel had Sinai, it should have made it the Palestinian Arab state, or part of it, rather than cede all of it to Egypt.
As for the Irbid province of Jordan, well, here is the thing, the west side of Jordan should have been Palestinian Jewish homeland, so no Palestinian Arab state should be formed with Israeli land *only* (and by Israeli land, I mean all land under Israeli jurisdiction including West Bank), at most half Israeli land, the other half by purchase.

Should the Palestinian Arab state be established in this way, then Israel would get Gaza and West Bank (without needing to constantly patrol, etc.) Israel would end up with a clean rectangular border on top, clean parallel border in the middle and the triangular Negev on the bottom.

The other idea would be purchasing part of Sinai from Egypt, or all of Sinai, and adding Gaza.

The idea of mirror image of West Bank on the other side of Jordan river, I am not sure how well it would work, because it would include Jordanian capital city of Amman, or really close to it. And I can't imagine the Jordanians very happy with that. If the Jordanians are OK with purchasing an "East Bank of Jordan" of a different shape, it would also be great.

No Palestinian Arab state should include Gaza and West Bank at the same time, maybe one of them (and in this latest idea, none of them). And, ceding West Bank in its current shape is out of question. Israel would look like a bottle opener, or wrench, and the borders are indefensible. Recent Israeli history should be considered. I am of course referring to 1973.


P.S. I also had an unrelated idea, of Syria annexing Southern Lebanon, so Syria would gain a coast, and increase the welfare and opportunity of the Shia who live there, so they won't need Hizballah anymore. Besides, Syria always wanted a Greater Syria. The area that I thought, and this is without knowing any local geography at all, can be visualized by drawing a horizontal line starting at Damascus until it meets the (vertical beginning of) Litani River, and then following the Litani River all the way to the ocean.

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