unconventional peace proposal from center for policy research cpr subject unconventional peace proposal a unconventional proposal for peace in the middle east by elias davidsson the following proposal is based on the following assumptions fundamental human rights such as the right to life to education to establish a family and have children to human dignity the right to free movement to free expression etc are more important to human existence that the rights of states in the event of a conflict between basic human rights and rights of collectivities basic human rights should prevail between the collectivities defining themselves as jewish israeli and palestinian arab however labelled an unresolved conflict exists this conflict has caused great sufferings for millions of people it moreover poisons relations between communities peoples and nations each year the united states expends billions of dollars in economic and military aid to the conflicting parties attempts to solve the israeli arab conflict by traditional political means have failed as long as the conflict is perceived as that between two distinct ethnical religious communities peoples which claim the land there is no just nor peaceful solution possible love between human beings can be capitalized for the sake of peace and justice when people love they share having stated my assumptions i will now state my proposal a fund should be established which would disburse grants for each child born to a couple where one partner is israeli jew and the other palestinian arab to be entitled for a grant a couple will have to prove that one of the partners possesses or is entitled to israeli citizenship under the law of return and the other partner although born in areas under current isreali control is not entitled to such citizenship under the law of return for the first child the grant will amount to for the second the third child for each child for each subsequent child the grant will amount to for each child the fund would be financed by a variety of sources which have shown interest in promoting a peaceful solution to the israeli arab conflict including the u s government jewish and christian organizations in the u s and a great number of governments and international organizations the emergence of a considerable number of mixed marriages in israel palestine all of whom would have relatives on both sides of the divide would make the conflict lose its ethnical and unsoluble core and strengthen the emergence of a truly civil society the existence of a strong mixed stock of people would also help the integration of israeli society into the middle east in a graceful manner objections to this proposal will certainly be voiced i will attempt to identify some of these the idea of providing financial incentives to selected forms of partnership and marriage is not conventional however it is based on the concept of affirmative action which is recognized as a legitimate form of public policy to reverse the perverse effects of segregation and discrimination international law clearly permits affirmative action when it is aimed at reducing racial discrimination and segregation it may be objected that the israeli palestinian conflict is not primarily a religious or ethnical conflict but that it is a conflict between a colonialist settler society and an indigenous colonized society that can only regain its freedom by armed struggle this objection is based on the assumption that the enemy is not zionism as ideology and practice but israeli jewish society and its members which will have to be defeated this objection has no merit because it does not fulfill the first two assumptions concerning the primacy of fundamental human rights over collective rights see above fundamentalist jews would certainly object to the use of financial incentives to encourage mixed marriages from their point of view the continued existence of a specific jewish people overrides any other consideration be it human love peace of human rights the president of the world jewish congress edgar bronfman reflected this view a few years ago in an interview he gave to der spiegel a german magazine he called the increasing assimilation of jews in the world a calamity comparable in its effects only with the holocaust this objection has no merit either because it does not fulfill the first two assumptions see above it may objected that only a few people in israel palestine would request such grants and that it would thus not serve its purpose to this objection one might respond that although it is not possible to determine with certainty the effect of such a proposal the existence of such a fund would help mixed couples to resist the pressure of their respective societies and encourage young couples to reject fundamentalist and racist attitudes it may objected that such a fund would need great sums to bring about substantial demographic changes this objection has merits however it must be remembered that huge sums more than billion are expended each year by the united states government and by u s organizations to maintain an elusive peace in the middle east through armaments a mere fraction of these sums would suffice to launch the above proposal and create a more favorable climate towards the existence of mixed marriages in israel palestine thus encouraging the emergence of a non segregated society in that worn torn land i would be thankful for critical comments to the above proposal as well for any dissemination of this proposal for meaningful discussion and enrichment elias davidsson post box reykjavik iceland
