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A New Middle East

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:47 pm
by treadair
Here's a not-so-simple solution to the never-ending crisis in the Mideast. Declare Israel and Palestine to be a single country that's also a World Heritage site. The country would need a name - something like The Holy Land might suffice.

If the United Nations was moved to that country then we could let Iran create all of the nuclear weapons it wants, defusing that crisis, because if they attacked this new country they'd be attacking the whole world, something they might not have the appetite for.

Who would govern this new World Heritage site? There are several options.

Religions laying no claims to the area, like Shintoism and Buddhism, could be given seats on a council that would maintain the rule of law.

If the adherents of these religions were considered unacceptable, then any sect of the 3 main religions involved that had over a set number of adherents, say 1 million, could be given seats on the council. That means Sunnis and *beep* would each have their own seat, Catholics and Anglicans would each have their own seat, etc. etc. The best way to select the people who would actually occupy those seats would be for the sects to each come up with their own process of determining who possessed sufficient compassion, as opposed to an excessive 'scribes and pharisees' sort of knowledge about their religion, and let them sit on the council for a set period of time.

Once all 3 of the world's major religions all fell under the same umbrella when it came to the rule of law inside the World Heritage site, whose laws should rule - Sharia, Orthodox Judaism, etc...?
The simplest answer would be that when it came to breaking an intrafaith law then the defendant would be given a choice, remain an adherent of their current religion and let that religion's authority determine their guilt or innocence, and their punishment if they were found guilty. Or the defendant could renounce his religion and be tried in the secular courts if his crime fell under the criminal code maintained by the secular authorities. All interfaith crimes would automatically be tried in the secular courts.

As for handling the issue of the Palestinians right of return. Each home that's now inside Israel would be given an assesed value of twice the amount of its actual value. If the home was then claimed by both its current owners and its historical owners then they would be given the chance to get together and decide how they wanted to handle it. If both families refused to give up their claim on it then they would each be given half of the amount of its newly assessed value (which would amount to its real value) and the home would be torn down and turned into a public park. If the owners agreed that one family should have the home, then the other family would be given the whole newly assessed value of the home (twice the amount of the real value) to buy a new home.

Regarding the question of where all of the money for this program would come from - a $1 tax would be added to the sale of each barrel of oil sold worldwide. This would amount to much less than every country is paying on the weapons being used in the ongoing conflict.

The question of where the seat of this new government would be located also has to be given some consideration since we wouldn't want them any place that any of the religions considered sacred. For those who don�t know it yet, there is an actual place in Israel called Armageddon. It�s a few hours north of Jerusalem. In a cemetery there Muslims, Christians and Jews are buried side-by-side waiting for the final call to rise up and fight on the side of the righteous. The idea of them fighting side by side against evil struck a chord so this might be the perfect place for them together for the common cause of bringing peace to the world.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions on how to improve this solution please send them to WeTheUniverse@yahoo.com. A petition has already been added to the White House web site proposing the President offer this suggestion as a solution during a speech at the United Nations. Here�s a link to the petition in case you�d like to sign it - http://wh.gov/QPpf