Dear Yuyutsu,

Jews and Muslims have chosen to come to both Australia and the United States. I don't think any of them are suffering because they live in the same country.

"The US made several treaties with the Barbary states. Due to the concern for separation of church and state of Adams and Jefferson and the desire not to see the conflicts between the US and Barbary states as a religious conflict the US explicitly declared in the Tripoli Treaty of 1797 that it was not a Christian state."

Frank Lambert "The Barbary Wars" NY: Hill and Wang (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), 2005

Even though most US citizens are Christians the US government explicitly stated the US is not a Christian country. There is separation of government and religion. That makes it possible for people of different religions and no religion to live together peacefully. I would like to see the same in the Middle East.

Dear David F.,

Even though the USA and Australia are not formally defined as Christian countries, the unavoidable fact remains that their main day of rest is Sunday and their main day of shopping is Saturday.

For orthodox Jews, this ranges from inconvenient to discriminatory and tough. Those who find it too tough often migrate to Israel where they do not face this difficulty.

You claim that "That makes it possible for people of different religions and no religion to live together peacefully", however I fail to see how this is either a sufficient or a necessary condition for peace.

Why can't one enjoy BOTH peace AND the ability to conveniently follow their chosen way of life?

Dear Yuyutsu,

One can enjoy BOTH peace AND the ability to conveniently follow their chosen way of life without going to a religious state. In the United States people who wish to establish an enclave populated by like-minded people can do so. Two examples follow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiryas_Joel,_New_York tells about an orthodox Jewish community.

"Kiryas Joel is a village within the town of Monroe in Orange County, New York, United States. The majority of its residents are Yiddish-speaking Hasidic Jews who belong to the worldwide Satmar Hasidic dynasty."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish

The Amish are a group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships ... The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, and reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology. The history of the Amish church began with a schism in Switzerland within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists in 1693 led by Jakob Ammann. Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish.

In the early 18th century, many Amish and Mennonites immigrated to Pennsylvania for a variety of reasons. Today, the most traditional descendants of the Amish continue to speak Pennsylvania German, also known as "Pennsylvania Dutch," although a dialect of Swiss German is used by Old Order Amish in the Adams County, Indiana area. As of 2000, over 165,000 Old Order Amish lived in the United States and about 1,500 lived in Canada. A 2008 study suggested their numbers had increased to 227,000, and in 2010 a study suggested their population had grown by 10 percent in the past two years to 249,000, with increasing movement to the West. Unlike most Americans who have had a birthrate too low to maintain the population since the early 1970s, most of the Amish continue to have 6–7 children while benefiting from the major decrease in infant and maternal mortality in the 20th century. Between 1992 and 2013, the Amish population increased by 120%, while the US population increased by only 23%.

A group wishing to keep their traditions and religion doesn't need their own state. They can live in a country with separation of religion and state where the government leaves tham alone.

Dear David,

Yes, once the Messiah comes, the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling will graze together, a little child will lead them and governments will leave people alone.

Until then, assuming you don't plan to move 8 million Israelis and 4 million Palestinians to America, what practical measures do you propose for Israelis and Palestinians, considering their actual life-style, rather than hoping them all to forsake their customs, religions and languages, to become American-like or Australian-like instead?

If it's all about forming enclaves of like-minded people rather than about changing peoples' minds, then why not keep the existing situation (except for ending the occupation and making peace)?

Yuyutsu wrote: “If it's all about forming enclaves of like-minded people rather than about changing peoples' minds, then why not keep the existing situation (except for ending the occupation and making peace)?

Dear Yuyutsu,

It is not all about forming enclaves. Some people want to live in a vibrant open society where people with different views interact. In the United States those who want to form enclaves can do so. Those who want to live in an open society can also do so. Enclaves are stifling. They should be only a matter of choice. A nation designed as an enclave is a prison. Ethnic nationalism stinks.

In the US those in the orthodox Jewish and Amish enclaves who find the enclave stifling can leave and move out into the wider society, and some of them do.

If there are separate Jewish and Palestinian enclave-states next to each other they will continue hating each other, being next to each other and waiting for the day they can wipe out each other. It is a recipe for continued conflict as one or the other may try to wipe the other out. After South Africa ended apartheid Zulus and Afrikaners wanted to establish separate states. They were not allowed to, and the post-apartheid South Africa is one country. All is not peaceful there, but they are learning to live together

Dear David F.,

Keeping the peace may justify such painful measures, but I still hope that there are other, less draconic ways to achieve peace.

Same for south Africa: I am not sufficiently informed to tell whether or not independent Afrikaaner and Zulu states would likely be a cause for wars. All I can therefore say about it, is that if that was not the case, then a great injustice was inflicted on both.

Israelis vary quite a bit in their level of affiliation and observance of Judaism, it's far from being black-and-white. Only a small minority of Jewish-Israelis are so detached that they would be happy to go along with having a Saturday-Sunday weekend instead of Friday-Saturday;and a much tinier minority even, would be happy to let go of the Hebrew language and speak English or Arabic instead.

On the other side, many Arabs have adjusted in varying degrees to modern life, but still for example appreciate the voice of the Muezzin calling them to prayer on his loud-speaker at 5AM. Will the civil law prohibit this practice due to excessive noise? They would also probably prefer the weekend to be Thursday-Friday, so would government offices be open only Monday-Wednesday then to make everyone happy?

What language(s) for example will legal and official forms be written and court-proceedings conducted in? There are many such differences and incompatibilities which you may find hard to appreciate from distant Australia, but would make everyday life difficult, so why?

You see, this idea of living together as one state would make life difficult for the people involved. If there are other ways to have peace, or even non-war, then I would try them first.

How about just forcing Israel to withdraw from the West Bank?
- No need to change calendar, language and customs: so much simpler!