#To Emperor Julian

A totally implausible suggestion that has no chance of ever happening.

Dividing sovereignty of the West Bank between Jordan and Israel is a distinct possibility if both countries can be brought to the negotiating table.

#To halduell

A remarkably similar idea to Emperor Julian's. Can be consigned to the dustbin because it has not got a chance of happening.

#To Yuyutsu

The report is true and I am really touched by your kiss in appreciation of my conveying it to you.

The west bank was not cursed territory for Jordan between 1940-1967. It thrived as part of Jordan. It can do so again in those parts that once more become part of Jordan.

I think you need to leave it to negotiations between Israel and Jordan to sort out who gets what. That is what negotiations are designed to achieve.

To Graham Cooke

Your suggestions are eminently achievable and have been raised in previous negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Those negotiations are dead in the water.

The negotiating parameters in regard to refugees are already prescribed in Article 8 of the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty

Dear David,

You are correct. In 1950 there was no talk of a Palestinian people with a separate identity. However, what was true in 1950 is no longer true. The Palestinian people have developed a separate identity. They developed it in the same way that the American people developed a separate identity. Before the American Revolution the American people were English colonists living apart from their homeland. They developed a separate identity due to their struggle against the English crown. If we could go back to 1950 I would agree with you. However, in their struggle against Israel the Palestinian people have developed a separate identity in the same way that the US people have developed a separate identity. It is as unrealistic to maintain that the Palestinian people become part of Jordan as it would be to maintain that the US become a possession of Great Britain as it once was. You keep trying to go back to a past condition and ignore what has happened since 1950.

Perhaps we can learn from history. There has been a great deal of hatred between France and Germany. They are now living peacefully together in the European Union, and it is unlikely that there will be another war between them at least in the near future. It would have seemed like a pipe dream to think of them living together peacefully for much of modern history. They had to conquer much hatred. However, they have done it.

I see no reason why Jews and Arabs cannot also conquer their animosity and live together peacefully in a country where they government makes no distinction among its citizens on the basis of ethnicity and religion.

Since much of the hatred has been fueled by religion it is necessary to get government out of the religion business to have peace.

Middle East history before Israel had Jews living in Muslim states as dhimmis. In Israel Jews and Arabs rarely mix in school. In fact secular Jews have separate schools from the Haredim. In Australia the government finances religious schools. I think that is also wrong. What is needed for democracy is a good public school system where students of different backgrounds learn together, grow together and become adults prepared to live together. I think there is a place for religious schools, but they should not be financed in any way by the government in either Australia and Israel. At this moment it is a pipe dream to have a democracy between the Jordan and Mediterranean where government where government does not discriminate among the citizens on the basis of ethnicity or religion, but it doesn't need to be so in the future. A democratic, secular state can result in peace.

Dear David,

<<The west bank was not cursed territory for Jordan between 1940-1967. It thrived as part of Jordan. It can do so again in those parts that once more become part of Jordan.>>

May Allah hear your words!

<<I think you need to leave it to negotiations between Israel and Jordan to sort out who gets what. That is what negotiations are designed to achieve.>>

Negotiations occur when there are conflicting interests.

Up until your article I was under the impression that there was a conflict, for it is in nobody's interest to have that cursed land.
Now it is revealed that Jordan wants it - so what's the problem? let them have it - and let Israel walk free of this burden!

You don't do a service to an addict by allowing them to negotiate on having just a "little bit" of their drug once in a while - the corruption of the Israeli psyche can only begin to heal once ALL the 1967 poison is removed.

# To david f

So you now agree the Palestinians had no separate identity in 1950 and it developed after then.

When do you think that separate identity crystallised?

How genuine is it and why should it be supported when the quid pro quo is the disappearance of the Jewish national identity and the Jewish state that long preceded it?

Why should Israel be solely responsible for accommodating this new found identity in the 17% of former Palestine that Israel now comprises? Why shouldn't Jordan which comprises 78% of former Palestine also be part of any solution?

Why must this new found Palestinian identity established after 1950 for the first time in recorded history necessarily only result in an independent state of its own?

Have much older national identities such as the Kurds,Basques,Corsicans, Catalans been granted such sovereign independent states? Does anyone care whether they achieve such statehood?

Dear David,

I am not advocating that the Palestinians have a separate state of their own. I am advocating that there be a state between the Jordan and the Mediterranean which does not discriminate among its citizens on the basis of ethnicity and religion. I can live in Australia and keep my identity as a Jew. The government does not interfere with my being a Jew. I belong to a synagogue, but my religion or ethnic identity is no business of the Australian government. I am advocating the same thing for the area between the Jordan and the Mediterranean.

Sure, it would mean the end of the Jewish state. I am against Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist states. Religion should be no business of any government. Just as I keep my identity as a Jew and live in Australia Jews and Palestinians can keep their identity in a religiously neutral state. It is not feasible at this time, but a change in attitude can make it feasible. I support the lawsuit that would deny commonwealth funding to chaplains in Australian schools and hope that such funding will be denied to religious schools. I am not against religious schools, but I am against government funding them.

Better a strong public school system where children of different backgrounds learn to live together. Separation will be less rigid if some of them intermarry.