Dear David,

Accepting the PLO Covenant defining Palestine as the Mandate is a recipe for future wars. The Covenant also defines that area as indivisible. Giving them 80% of an area they define as indivisible sets the stage for the next war where they will seek allies from the neighbouring Arab countries and try to incorporate the 20% remaining.

If we worry about defining who is a Palestinian and follow the logic of ethnic nationalism the next step is a war to bring the state together to have all Palestinians in the area called Palestine. If we follow the logic of a democratic state which makes no distinction among its citizens on the basis of ethnicity or religion we can have peace by having all who live together in however the area of Palestine is defined as equal under the law in a secular, democratic state.

The Arab leaders that you cited reject Jews in their state. Jewish leaders who want to keep a Jewish state must either make the Arabs who live in that state second-class citizens or force them out.

Both Arab nationalists and Jewish nationalists cannot accept a democratic state. States representing only part of their population are not democratic.

There will be turmoil and conflict in setting up a democratic, secular state. However, the end result will be more likely to bring peace than the separation of Arabs and Jews.

The record of partitioning countries in India, Vietnam, Korea and Germany is one of conflict. Partitioning Palestine will likely be no different.

South Africa is forming a democratic state aided by the fact that the Zulus and the Afrikaners were not allowed to split off and form separate states. Denial of self-determination gives democracy a chance.

One out of many, e pluribus unum, the slogan of the United States can be a recipe for peace in Palestine.

Democratic union offers more hope than partition into Arab and Jewish states.

#Davidf

And pigs might fly.

Dear David,

"Pigs might fly" is an answer when there is no answer.