It is clear that one of the biggest problems to the world’s security and one of the world’s biggest human tragedies has been playing out in the Middle East for decades if not centuries. It is equally clear that every policy that has been tried has failed. Having said that, I think it is time to try something new.
I am proposing that America, with our allies, offer to the Palestinian people tangible incentives that they can earn simply by stopping their attacks on Israel and working towards peace. Under this system the Palestinians would be given rewards for every month that violence is not perpetrated against Israelis from within the Palestinian Authority. The more months that go by the greater the value of the rewards. After a few months instead of simply providing cash payouts this plan could provide everything from new schools and hospitals to opening factories (if all of our jobs are going to be outsourced we should at leased get something tangible in return) and most importantly more concessions from the Israelis. If the Israelis are serious about desiring peace with the Palestinians then they should be willing to, over time, trade land for that security.
It is my hope that after a few years of seeing hospitals built, schools opened, jobs created and some degree of harmony established with the Israelis that the Palestinian people will realize that violence has, for decades, been one of the biggest obstacles to their prosperity. If we are really serious about winning the battle for the hearts and the minds of the Palestinians and to a larger extent the world’s Muslims we must begin putting our money where our mouth is. If we continue to punish the Palestinians when there is violence and ignore them when there is not they learn that the only way to bring attention to their suffering is through violence.
I also hope that after a few years of very little in the way of violence that Israelis will realize that the best way to bring about their security is by supporting efforts that allow the Palestinians to escape poverty and govern their own affairs. Note that I am not naive enough to believe that under this plan there would be no attacks on Israelis; however, I strongly believe that we must stop punishing the Palestinian people as a whole every time there is an attack. As we have learned in Iraq, there is a group of people—chief among them al-Qaeda—who do not want to see prosperity in the Middle East. In my opinion, the best way to counteract groups like al-Qaeda is not to allow their attacks to delay progress; as a result, under this plan an attack would not, as it has in the passed, limit communications and cause retaliation. Instead it would suspend the benefits that were to be provided to the Palestinians for one month. In my opinion, this would give those Palestinians who want to go to school and find jobs a strong incentive to stop supporting the violence.
As Americans we should support a plan like this one, because it should be clear to many of us that we are far more likely to be secure if we use some of our tax dollars supporting progress and uplifting people—rather than using more than half of them to promote war. People are far less likely to want to attack us if they are, in large numbers, eating on a regular basis, going to school, and finding work.
That is a brief outline of my proposal. What do you think? Would it work? What would you change? Where have I gone wrong? I look forward to discussing this proposal and your comments with you.
October 18, 2006 at 5:23 pm |
I think that your reasoning is fundamentally sound to the extent that
when a person or, in this case, an entire community, is coming from a place of desperation and hopelessness, carrots tend to have a much better chance of changing their behavior by emphasizing hope and the possibility of life improving, as opposed to sticks which simply deepen the oppressed group’s bitterness by adding to their “us-them, the world is against us” mentality. Along those lines though, when you talk about sending in money to build schools and promote education, I think it’s very important to look at what those schools are teaching, because if kids are learning that the West is decadent, immoral and evil (as most kids in religious schools in Saudi Arabia are currently learning thanks in no small part to the money that Americans and other Westerners pay at the gas pumps) and at the same time know that the money to support those schools and the other positive changes they are seeing in their communities come from those very same Western countries, I imagine that a lot of those kids, as they grow up, are going to feel awfully torn. Sure, some of them may say, well maybe the West isn’t so bad after all if it can be responsible for building hospitals and creating jobs, etc., but others will say, these people are trying to bribe us into becoming dependent on them and if everything that is making things better in my community comes from them, then they can just as easily take it away and that isn’t any kind of self-sufficiency. I’m not suggesting that the answer to this problem is to control what gets taught in the schools; that would be censorship which is inimical to what we say we stand for as a society, and to support it in this situation would be the height of hypocrisy (not unlike a recent proclamation by our president, the great champion of democracy, that he would not recognize Hamas as the elected representatives of the Palestinian Authority). The best way I can think of to overcome this potential problem with your proposal would be to include microloans and other devices to support Palestinian-owned and operated businesses as some of the incentives built into this program to ensure that the program both appears and in fact is geared towards promoting economic prosperity in the region that can be sustained after some degree of stability is (hopefully) achieved and the incentive program can be phased out.
October 19, 2006 at 3:37 pm |
Hi Karla, I thank you for your thoughtful comments. You make some very interesting points. I agree that it would be important to create a system that would not create the perception that we are bribing the Palestinians to stop attacking the Israelis. Of course the best way to avoid that perception is to choose people to administer the program who care as much about creating opportunities for the Palestinians as they do providing security for the Israelis.
In the long term, a system of incentives should be replaced with a system that incorporates direct support to Palestinians who want to open their own businesses. Helping more Palestinians become business owners and professionals will, over time, do a great deal to reinvigorate the Palestinian political process. If more Palestinians are earning a good living and providing for their children instead of starving and living in poverty they will have more time to dedicate to civic activities.
I also strongly support your idea of trying to make sure that the schools that would be opened under a system like the one I have proposed do not teach intolerance. I am not sure what the best way of creating schools that respect the Palestinians ability to determine for themselves what their children should be learning in school while also making sure that moderation rather than intolerance is the theme of the curriculum. Maybe, after this system has been around for a few years, we could start incorporating detailed student exchange programs between the Palestinian Authority and other participating countries. In my opinion, the best way to have people on both sides of this conflict understand each other is to have them get to know each other. Perhaps other readers have something they would like to add?