One Country, Two Systems: Another Possible Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

I don't foresee the possibility of establishing an Palestinian state in the near future for the same reasons repeatedly elaborated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Such a state would be undemocratic and would undoubtedly be a base of operations for terrorists seeking the destruction of Israel. For proof, look no further than the current Palestinian Authority and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority continues to fuel hatred against Jews and incite attacks on Israeli civilians. Its president, Mahmood Abbas, repeatedly pays homage to the families of terrorists with the blood of innocent Israelis on their hands, even paying them cash stipends with the aid that the PA receives from the international community. And to top it off, neither Abbas nor the rest of the PA's leaders have any democratic mandate, having overstayed their terms in office by several years. Critics of the PA leadership are routinely arrested and even tortured.

Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip, the Islamist movement Hamas rules with an iron fist, using civilians as human shields in their campaign of terrorism against Israel; a campaign that has seen thousands of rockets launched against peaceful Israeli towns and villages. I am almost certain that if Israel were to withdraw from Judea and Samaria, or parts thereof, Hamas and other terrorists would soon take control of the territory, just as they did in the Gaza Strip. And before you know it, rockets would be falling on us in our eternal capital Jerusalem, not to mention cities, towns and villages in every other part of the country.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the international community continues to ignore the consequences for Israel should a Palestinian state be established and insists on implementing a so-called two-state solution. Now of course, Israel's leaders are not accountable to other world leaders.  They are accountable to Israeli citizens, the folks who voted them into office. Nevertheless, in the real world, one cannot ignore the international community inasmuch as we would like to. Therefore, I believe it is incumbent upon Israel to present an alternative to the two state solution. An alternative that may eventually lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state, but not in the near future.

One Country, Two Systems

In a nutshell, what I propose is that Palestinians in the so-called West Bank and Gaza Strip be given Israeli citizenship, but without the voting rights that regular Israeli citizens enjoy. Instead, the Palestinians will have their own government, very much like the Palestinian Authority of today. Since they will not have voting rights like other Israelis, however, they will not pay the same taxes that regular Israeli citizens do.  Rather, they will pay all or at least the majority of their taxes to their own autonomous Palestinian government.  This is the situation that currently exists between the United States and Puerto Rico.  Puerto Ricans are American citizens, but have no elected representatives with voting rights in the U.S. government. Hence, they do not pay many of the federal taxes that other Americans have to pay and the bulk of their tax dollars go to the government of what is known as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which is responsible for governing all internal affairs of the U.S. unincorporated territory.

To be more succinct, all the territory from Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea will be one country known as the State of Israel, but Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will govern their own internal affairs.  The Israeli government will remain responsible for the external borders, customs, defense and monetary policy. The rest will be responsibility of the Palestinian government.

Borders, Immigration and "Settlements"

Under the plan that I envision, the Israeli government will be in charge of all external borders, including maritime borders. In other words, Israelis will determine who gets in and out of the country, including the autonomous region of Palestine.  This will guarantee that people and goods dedicated to destruction of Israel do not enter its territory by using Palestine as a gateway.

The borders of the autonomous region of Palestine itself will consist of the entire Gaza Strip and most of the so-called West Bank. The borders will exclude the large Israeli communities inside of Judea and Samaria, which the international community and most of the media like to call the major "settlement blocs".  These will be annexed to Israel proper. Palestinians that reside within these annexed territories will be given Israeli citizenship with full voting rights, in contrast to their countrymen in the new autonomous region of Palestine who will not have the right to vote in Israeli elections. Israeli communities not located in the major "settlement blocs" will remain under full Israeli sovereignty as enclaves within what becomes Palestine, but will not be able to expand their communities outside of borders mutually agreed upon by representatives of Israel and the Palestinians prior to implementation of this peace plan, unless the Palestinian government authorizes such expansion.

No Israelis will be allowed to work or reside in the autonomous territory without the consent of the Palestinian government. At the same time, no one will be able to enter Israel proper from Palestine without the consent of the Israeli government. Palestinian refugees will be allowed to reside in the new autonomous region and will be given the same type of Israeli citizenship as Palestinians of the region, allowing them to vote in Palestinian elections but not in Israeli elections. The Palestinian government will determine what constitutes a Palestinian refugee, but the Israeli government will reserve the right to refuse entry to any refugee that it considers a threat to its security. This arrangement will effectively ensure that Israel proper remains Jewish while the autonomous region of Palestine remains Palestinian.

Jerusalem 

Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel in accordance with Israel's Basic Law: Jerusalem, which means that the Old City and the Israeli communities built in parts of the city after the 1967 war will not be part of the future autonomous region of Palestine.  However, this does not discount the possibility of including some of Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods or its Arab suburbs as part of the future Palestinian capital, to be known as Al-Quds.  This is hardly a new idea. In fact, a similar arrangement was discussed during the failed Camp David summit in the year 2000.

Israel as Guarantor of Palestinian Democracy

I stated above that my plan envisions Palestinians running their own affairs with the exception of borders, external security and monetary policy over which Israel would maintain control. I also believe, however, that inasmuch as the Palestinians should have the right to govern themselves, Israel should have the responsibility of guaranteeing Palestine's nascent democracy so that events like the Hamas takeover of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007 do not happen again. I believe that only with Israel's help will the Palestinians be able to establish a strong, genuine democracy. Without Israeli supervision, any Palestinian-controlled entity, whether an independent state or not, will undoubtedly become a bastion of dictatorship, tyranny and terrorism.





  

Toronto Needs More Subways, Not More Boondoggles

There's a proposal before Toronto City Council to make a part of King Street more friendly to mass transit, pedestrians and cyclists. Okay, everyone who's ever been on King St., especially during rush hour, knows what a mess it is. Well now our incompetent politicians are going to make a bigger mess by taking away lanes that cars use, forcing drivers to use other nearby streets that are already bumper-to-bumper most of the time. What our leaders should be doing is building subway lines downtown so that traffic doesn't have to idle constantly behind those annoying streetcars.

But of course, who's going to find the money for that? Certainly not the folks who run this city now. They're too busy enriching their friends in the various special interest groups with what little money is available. Hell, even if there was money for new subways, our leaders would squander it as they always have. Just look at the red ink flowing from the subway extension to York University, or the price for the extension to Scarborough that keeps going up and up. Not to mention the fact that these extensions are going to add even more riders to our already overcrowded subways. And it's not like the stiffs who run the show in Toronto haven't had the chance to build new subway lines downtown before. Instead, they built the boondoggle we now call the Sheppard subway. You know, the subway to nowhere. Never mind the fact that there are more people that ride the streetcars on King St. than ride the Sheppard stub-way.

To make a long story short, the folks responsible for governing this city made bad choices and continue to make bad choices. When is it going to end? 

Line 2 TTC Riders Deserve Respect

Toronto City Council intends to spend another $80 million more on transit in the upcoming budget. In a column published by the Toronto Sun yesterday, Mayor John Tory specifically mentioned signal upgrades on the Line 1 subway, among other things (see: Keeping our city on the move). Indeed, the Yonge-University-Spadina line seems to be getting all of the attention these days. Folks on that subway line get to ride new, modern trains and will soon be reaping the benefits of automatic train control and trains running closer together.

In contrast, folks on Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth) still have to make do with old, klunky trains and are not going to see significant service improvements any time soon. Most people on Line 2 would probably settle for working air conditioning on trains so that they don't have to go through another summer of the hot subway, never mind yearning for fancy new trains or automatic train control. It's time for the mayor and City Council to start showing riders on Line 2 some respect.

Electoral Reform in Canada is Wishful Thinking

Supporters of electoral reform held a day of action yesterday to protest Justin Trudeau's decision to scrap plans to change the way we vote in federal elections. First off, everyone should have known that junior was lying when he said that the 2015 vote would be the last one that would be held under the first-past-the-post system. After all, no one here in Canada lies better than a Liberal, or should I say, a Lie-beral.

Second, demonstrating against Trudeau the younger is futile, because neither he nor the rest of the cronies in his party will listen. They don't have to listen, because they have a majority government, which gives them 100% of the power when they just got under 40% of the votes in the last election. And no, they won't have to listen when the next election comes around either. You know why? Because the other parties won't produce a leader that can overcome Justin Trudeau's ability to woo gullible voters with selfies and speeches that are high on charisma and low on substance. Hence, junior will most likely be re-elected with another fake majority government.

Third and lastly, if proponents of electoral reform knew enough about Canadian history, they would know that this country has been resisting any change to its politics since before Confederation. It's no coincidence that the same two parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, have always been the ones holding the reigns of power. Do you really think that change will happen if you just substitute one group of elites with another? No, of course not. Furthermore, you can't expect these elites to do away with an electoral system that has served them so well throughout this country's history.

I think it is very unlikely that Canada will move away from its first-past-the-post electoral system. It's probably wishful thinking, just like an elected senate, an end to excessive party discipline and any other change Canadians would like to see made to this country's politics. Nevertheless, I will continue to advocate for these things, because sometimes dreams and wishes can come true.

International Community Cannot Stop Jews From Reclaiming Their Birthright

Israel's usual detractors are now complaining about the so-called Regulation Bill, just passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament (see: UN Secretary-General denounces Regulation Bill, European Union adds to condemnation of Regulation Bill. The bill gives legal status to homes built in Judea and Samaria (aka, the West Bank). Israel-haters around the world would rather throw Jews out of their homes simply because they are Jews living in their Biblical, ancestral homeland. It doesn't matter to Israel's critics that the Palestinian owners of land on which some of the aforementioned homes will be given compensation ABOVE market value. Hell, even if Israel offered the Palestinians compensation at 1000% of the value of their properties, the world would still condemn us. The international community condemns anything Israel does that doesn't involve dispossessing Jews from their homes and their birthright.

No one in the international community made even a peep when Jews fled or were forced from their properties in the Arab world with NO compensation at all. And to this day, NOT ONE U.N. resolution has been passed demanding compensation or restitution for lost or stolen Jewish property in North Africa and the Middle East. Hell, the compensation that the Palestinians will be getting for their properties under the Regulations Bill is probably better than what your average big city, like my home city of Toronto, gives whenever it needs to expropriate land to build things like highways and public mass transit.

So let the U.N., the E.U. and the rest of Israel's critics whine all they want, because we the Jewish people have returned to our motherland and we're not leaving it again, EVER!

Canadian Consumers Win With Superbowl Commercials

The bigwigs at Bell Media are whining like babies because for the first time, Canadians were allowed to see the always highly-anticipated American Superbowl commercials. For once, the CRTC listened to Canadian consumers instead of this country's corporate fat cats and Can-con lobby. Canadian consumers have said loud and clear for years that they wanted to see the Superbowl commercials and not have to watch the crappy, boring Canadian ads. So let Bell whine and complain all they want. This time, Canadian consumers have won the day!

No New Canada Under Justin Trudeau

I hate to say I told you so. Prime Minister Selfie just confirmed it today. He will not change Canada's unfair and undemocratic electoral system. The Toronto Star, from which this article comes, proudly proclaimed, "It's a New Canada," on their front page after Justin Trudeau and the Liberals won the last federal election with less than 40% of the vote. After all, the Star led the cheerleading section for Trudeau the younger along with the CBC during the 2015 election campaign. What a bunch of crap!

This latest flip-flop by the former drama teacher turned prime minister proves once and for all that there is no new Canada, nor will there ever be a new Canada under Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. There will just be the same old Canada that there is every time the Liberals are in power. Once again, the Liberals have fooled Canadians into believing that they are true harbingers of change, when in fact all they do once they get into power is bring back the same old policies that the Tories get rid of every time they're in power.

Now I already hear the folks who support our fraud of a prime minister saying something like, "Would you rather live down south where President Trump rules the roost?" Isn't it interesting how the first thing supporters of the status quo will tell you is that it's worse somewhere else. You know why? Because they don't want you to believe that there can be something or someone better. But I say that surely we the Canadian people can find a leader that has more substance than just a famous name and policy ideas he stole from someone else's playbook. I sincerely hope we find that leader before the next election comes around.