One of the joys in having John Bolton around is that while he may be conservative he is not tied to any status quo. He has a piece today in the WaPo that would serve as a basis for peace if adults ran the world. Problem is they don't, but this idea needs to be discussed and pressure put on the Arab League and the UN top assume responsibility for the hell-child they have raised.
Given this landscape, we should ask why we still advocate the "two-state solution," with Israel and "Palestine" living side by side in peace, as the mantra goes. We are obviously not progressing, and are probably going backward. We continue poring over the Middle East "road map" because that is all we have, faute de mieux, as they say in Foggy Bottom......
Let's start by recognizing that trying to create a Palestinian Authority from the old PLO has failed and that any two-state solution based on the PA is stillborn. Hamas has killed the idea, and even the Holy Land is good for only one resurrection. Instead, we should look to a "three-state" approach, where Gaza is returned to Egyptian control and the West Bank in some configuration reverts to Jordanian sovereignty. Among many anomalies, today's conflict lies within the boundaries of three states nominally at peace. Having the two Arab states re-extend their prior political authority is an authentic way to extend the zone of peace and, more important, build on governments that are providing peace and stability in their own countries. "International observers" or the like cannot come close to what is necessary; we need real states with real security forces.
This idea would be decidedly unpopular in Egypt and Jordan, which have long sought to wash their hands of the Palestinian problem. Accordingly, they should not have to reassume this responsibility alone. They should receive financial and political support from the Arab League and the West, as they both have for years from the United States. Israel should accept political and administrative roles by Jordan and Egypt, unless it intends to perform such roles itself (which it manifestly does not).
The people known as Palestinians are indistinguishable from Jordanians in any way, historically, ethnically or religiously. When Israel absorbed the 950k Jewish refugees expelled from the surrounding Arab states in 1948, the logical place for the Arabs who left new Israel was Jordan. The monarchy there was in no mood for a bunch of refugees as new citizens so the refugee camp solution was imposed and the Palestinians were born into their second class existence. I can understand why they are pissed, but look at the dichotomy. The UN representing the world imposes a compromise, one side accepts and absorbs it's displaced people. One side declares war and puts it's displaced people into internment camps.
Let the Arabs take care of their brethren as they should have all along.
