Introducing Levantia
“Of all the men we meet with, nine parts of ten are what they are, good or evil useful or not, by their education. Tis this that makes the great difference in mankind.” [John Locke in ‘Some Thoughts concerning Education’]
This article isn’t tongue in cheek. It’s deadly serious. And far from being written with any malice towards the people of the West Bank/Gaza, it is written with a sincere desire to improve their lot. By taking the courageous path below laid out, we will thereby create a better future for all the inhabitants of the Levant. To reach that blessed conclusion, we need to use a level of imagination beyond the minds of the world’s decrepit, aging leadership: and a level of maturity absent on university campuses in the United States. Above all, we will need to stare reality directly in the face; to struggle with the Angel of Death and win. So buckle up. Open your minds. And let us begin.
A two State solution is vital for Israel’s security and democratic future. But for the dream to be realised, that second State cannot be Palestine. To be sure, it would be composed of Palestinian people; but they would no longer be Palestinians. To be sure, it would be in the West Bank and Gaza; but it wouldn't be named Palestine. To achieve a peaceful outcome, there needs to be a complete and total rebrand and in this there is a clear precedent. Nazi Germany was renamed, post-World war II, as the Federal Republic of Germany. Same people. Same territory. Totally different country. Its flag was changed dramatically. And its guiding ideology even more so. The result was extraordinary: Europe’s most successful nation.
The record shows that over the last one hundred years, Palestine has never sought peace nor ever engaged seriously in peace negotiations. Every advance has been met with silence or worse outright rejection and bloody violence. To believe - as every American President seems to - that only they are the magic key to peace smacks at best of delusion, at worst of messianism.
