And Now, It's 'Relocation'

In a section of the Washington Post entitled "Global Opinions", there's an op-ed - 70 years after partition, a two-state solution is still possible - composed by David Makovsky (who I know well).

It's theme: 

It isn't too late for a two-state solution. Bringing the land into focus proves it.

He suggests, or declares, that "partition is still feasible...territorial dimension is solvable" and he has a new website that uses civilian satellite imagery to provide "a better understanding of settler trends" for 

The interplay of geography and demography in the West Bank matters

Basically, he divides the population of revenant residents into various sub-group based of east or west of the security barrier.  He comes up with a figure of

just under 556,000 Israelis living inside, or west, of the security barrier and more than 97,000 living outside of the barrier.

It's not a perfect summing up but he then writes that if

in a two-state solution, there were an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians regarding the relocation of these settlers, the prospect of relocation would become increasingly difficult...Israel needs to align its settlement policy with a two-state approach that enables Israeli-Palestinian compromise...None of this suggests that the barrier would necessarily be the border in a final-status agreement. That border would remain to be negotiated by the parties.

I left there this comment:

The term "relocation" is employed.  As an aside, at least it is not "resettlement" with its historical echoes.I have but one question: do Arabs get relocated, too?Can parts of the Wadi Ara population be relocated?Or is it only Jews?Besides the question, I would suggest that Makovsky's plan would have a better chance to prove itself if it would proceed incrementally.  For example, first, an updated Begin-era autonomy/self-rule plan. Then a federation-with-Jordan plan. These would prove to all that the Arabs desiring an independent state of Palestine indeed have the desire, capability and wherewithal to maintain a state structure and its administration, halt incitement, stop terror, initiate peace programs, begin joint normalization projects, etc. Something has to be done other than creating ideas to undo 20 years of what the Palestinian Authority has wrought.

And then I added this:

Whatever the "solution", let's not forget that there was a Palestine Mandate. In 1922, the two-state solution was done and Jordan, geographically 75% of historic Palestine started off on its road to be an Arab state.The two-state solution was tried in 1937 and the Arabs refused.Again in 1947, and refused.A war by Arabs in 1967 was launched when no "occupation" existed nor were there any "settlements" as Jews had been ethnically cleansed from Judea, Samaria and Gaza (aka, the "West Bank" and Gaza) between 1920-1948.Has Makovsky solved those problems which caused the Arabs to reject the two-state solution previously, which would then facilitate a two-state solution today?

^

Humanitarian Relocation

Well, seems like an old idea, one that had been adopted by the British Labour Party back in 1944 to deal with Arabs of Palestine (*) and have them moved to Iraq, is now being touted as "humanitarian" and intended to ease the plight of the Kurds in Kirkuk who had been displaced by Arabs:-

Iraq Prepares to Resettle Arabs Sent to Kirkuk by Hussein Edict

The Iraqi government will soon begin relocating Arabs who were moved to Kirkuk under an edict by Saddam Hussein to force Kurds out of the disputed northern city, officials said Saturday.

...Iraq's cabinet on Thursday endorsed a committee's recent recommendation to compensate eligible Arabs who voluntarily leave the city, said Sadiq al-Rikabi, a political adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Those who choose to move will receive about $15,000 and a plot of land in their home town. Officials will soon accept applications to determine eligibility, he said.

"This can, in a humanitarian framework, fix the mistakes of the previous regime," said Razgar Ali, a Kurd and the leader of Kirkuk's city council.

...Under Hussein, tens of thousands of Kurds were forcibly removed from Kirkuk and replaced by Arabs -- mostly Shiites from southern Iraq -- as the president sought to solidify his power in the city.

After Hussein was ousted in 2003, thousands of Kurds flooded back to the city but found their homes occupied by Arabs. The influx has strengthened Kurdish influence in the city and aggravated ethnic tensions.

For more info on transfer vis-a-vis Arabs who moved into the Land of Israel, taking advantage of the fact that the Jews had lost political and military power over the centuries so as to steal our land, see here.

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(*)

In April 1944 the executive of Britain's Labour party published its platform for a postwar settlement. It included full-throated endorsement of the transfer of the Arabs out of Palestine and, indeed, the expansion of the mandatory borders to facilitate the absorption of large waves of Jewish immigrants. The relevant paragraph was formulated by Hugh Dalton, the chancellor of the exchequer.

Earlier, in January 1943, an under-secretary of state at the Colonial Office, the Duke of Devonshire, proposed that Britain set up an independent Arab state in Libya and that, in exchange, the Arabs acquiesce in the establishment of a Jewish state "in Palestine". He added: "The Arab population in Palestine might be dealt with by an offer of assistance to migrate to Libya for those families who find conditions in Palestine unendurable."

But also see this.


(Kippah tip: IJM)