The “Eureka!” Plan for Middle East Peace

Regarding Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, one thing is clear; after it’s over, Israel will need to reoccupy the territory. For if they succeed in their stated mission; to destroy Hamas, Gaza will be without a government, which includes police security, fire prevention, infrastructure maintenance, humanitarian relief and food distribution systems. Already over 300 Hamas personnel, most fitting one of the descriptions above, have been killed, and many more wounded.

Let’s face it, Gaza has always been a thorn in Israel’s side and will continue to be as long as it remains occupied or under military blockade. It’s obvious that Israel, and especially Israelis living within reach of Qassam rockets launched from Gaza, would love to see every last Arab leave the Strip. With America’s help that can be accomplished, and at the same time we can bring relief to the beleaguered Palestinians who’ve been imprisoned in the Gaza Strip for nearly half a century.

Here’s how it works; in an unprecedented exchange program, America will take all 1.4 million Gazans and Israel will receive an equal number of U.S. citizens from us.

The beauty of this plan is that it’s a win-win situation. Within the U.S. Jewish community there are those who vociferously stand by every action Israel takes to rid itself of Arabs and expand the Jewish territory. Often these people appear more loyal to Israel than to the United States, so they should have no problem giving up their U.S. citizenship in favor of living in Israel. Meanwhile, the Palestinians from Gaza would be granted American citizenship with all of the associated freedoms and opportunities they’ve been denied for so long.

The nations of Israel and the U.S. will also benefit. The Gaza Strip would be populated entirely with Jews, thus contributing to the Jewish majority which Israel has been trying to achieve with programs designed to entice emigrants from the United States. The U.S. would be helping our friend Israel with their little problem, plus we’d score points in the Arab world for rescuing the Gazans. Since an equal number of people will be leaving as arriving, there will be no added population growth for America.

There’s one catch though; the departing Jews will not be allowed to destroy their homes as the Jewish settlers did before leaving Gaza in 2005. Their houses would be left intact so Palestinian families could move into them, thus relieving the U.S. of finding housing for the new immigrants.

If this works out well, we could do the same in the West Bank at some point. Then Israel would possess all of the land it’s been trying to obtain through military occupation and settlement expansion, the Palestinians won’t be suffering from the deprivation and humiliation of the occupation, and there will be no more Middle East conflict to serve as a recruiting tool for terrorism against the United States.

Eureka! Everybody wins.