Now that there is a cease fire in Gaza, what happens next?
The US has been adamant about a two-state solution. But the hardliners in Netanyahu’s cabinet have been equally dead set against it. Some have talked about outright Israeli annexation of the West Bank and Gaza.
It is unlikely that any long-term resolution will happen immediately. What could happen in the transition is a brilliant idea for peace: an Israel-Palestine Confederation.
The idea is something like the European Union. Israel and Palestine continue to have their own governments as they do now. But an additional administrative layer of elected representatives oversees matters that concern the whole of the region: like healthcare, education, infrastructure, and intercultural understanding.
This is where the Israel-Palestine Confederation comes in. I recently invited the founder and current leader of the project, Josef Avesar, to Claremont McKenna College where I’m a visiting professor in the fall term. In this lecture I introduce Avesar, and he tells how the idea came about, and what he hopes will come of it.
It’s an idea worth considering. Since the Hamas invasion and the Israeli incursion into Gaza, this idea along with others has taken on a new urgency. Recent ads in the New York Times and Washington Post have brought new interest in the project.
Weekly simulations of an Israel-Palestine Confederation parliament have been conducted on zoom. Figures such as Noam Chomsky and an array of Palestinian and Israeli political leaders have taken part and endorsed the idea. It deserves our consideration.