Barackface: Egypt

Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 02, 2025

Out of the Box: Land for Peace—Creative Solutions to the Palestinian Statelessness Crisis

Out of the Box: Land for Peace—Creative Solutions to the Palestinian Statelessness Crisis

The Palestinian statelessness crisis, centered in Gaza and the West Bank, remains one of the most complex and unresolved geopolitical issues of our time. As of 2024, approximately 2.1 million Palestinians live in Gaza and around 3 million in the West Bank, with millions more in exile across Lebanon, Jordan, and elsewhere. For decades, the two-state solution has been proposed, debated, and derailed. But what if we dared to think differently?

What if we took a page from history—not just from the failed attempts—but from bold, functional examples such as the resettlement of Bhutanese Nepali refugees in the United States? What if, rather than being boxed into borders carved in the mid-20th century, we explored creative, out-of-the-box solutions that involve regional cooperation, land reallocation, and global support?

Let’s explore a visionary (if controversial) idea: Land Swaps for Peace—creating space for a viable Palestinian state, not necessarily within the current West Bank and Gaza borders alone, but with regional and international cooperation. These ideas challenge orthodoxies but may offer real hope.

Foundational Pillars of the Vision

Before diving into proposals, here are five essential principles to anchor any such initiative:

Dignity and Self-Determination for Palestinians – A viable state with sovereignty, rights, and governance.
Security for Israel and Neighboring States – Guaranteed through international treaties, demilitarization zones, and peace pacts.
Regional Buy-In – Especially from Arab states, some of whom have normalized ties with Israel.
International Backing – The U.S., EU, Gulf States, and UN committing to infrastructure aid, economic investment, and long-term oversight.
A Constitutionally Democratic Palestine – With bans on armed militias, rule of law, and regular elections.

Three Bold Land Swap Proposals for a Viable Palestinian State

Proposal 1: The Sinai Solution (Egypt)

Concept: Egypt grants a coastal portion of the Sinai Peninsula (north of El-Arish) for the establishment of a new Palestinian state.
Why it makes sense:

The area borders Gaza, allowing existing Gazans to move without massive displacement.
Egypt maintains its sovereignty while leasing or ceding land through international guarantees.
Israel retains its current boundaries, increasing its security buffer.

What’s needed:

Massive investment in infrastructure (think: UAE, Saudi Arabia, U.S., EU).
Egypt receives economic and military assistance in return.
A constitutional Palestine with elected leadership and a demilitarized status, policed jointly by the UN and Arab League forces.

Proposal 2: The Jordanian Corridor (Jordan)

Concept: Jordan allocates a narrow strip of underutilized desert territory along the Israeli-Jordanian border as the site for a Palestinian state, in exchange for a permanent resolution to refugee status within Jordan and Israeli recognition of Palestinian sovereignty.

Why it makes sense:

Jordan already has a majority Palestinian population (approx. 50-60%).
The corridor could be connected via tunnel, high-speed train, or highway to the West Bank for continuity.
Economic development could revitalize underdeveloped Jordanian regions.

What’s needed:

International funding for building cities from scratch—think “Neom-style” futuristic, sustainable cities.
Jordan gains long-term water security, economic benefits, and energy cooperation with Israel and Gulf partners.
Palestinian government-in-exile transitions into real governance with democratic backing.

Proposal 3: The Negev Partnership (Israel + Egypt)

Concept: A jointly administered new Palestinian city-state is established in a corner of the Negev Desert, near the Egyptian border and Gaza. Israel swaps a portion of uninhabited desert land in exchange for internationally recognized sovereignty over major West Bank settlements.

Why it makes sense:

Israel retains key settlement blocs.
The new Palestinian state can be a showcase for international collaboration, modeled on Dubai or Singapore.
Strategic location for economic ties with both Israel and Egypt.

What’s needed:

The U.S. acts as political overseer, as it did in post-war Germany and Japan.
Constitution, multiparty elections, civilian governance, and strict ban on terror groups.
Construction of smart infrastructure: housing, schools, ports, railways.

Conclusion: Daring to Rethink What’s Possible

Each of these ideas is controversial. All of them require tremendous political will, historic compromise, and imagination. But the alternatives—ongoing war, generational trauma, and permanent displacement—are far worse.

The world once thought post-WWII Germany and Japan could never become thriving democracies. Today, they are global success stories. The Bhutanese refugee crisis, too, found a practical, if unconventional, solution through coordinated resettlement.

What if we could help Palestinians not only survive—but thrive—in a peaceful, democratic state of their own?

It begins with ideas. The courage to imagine. The will to act. The humility to collaborate.

Let the debate begin.

A New Sinai: A Bold Path to Peace Through a Coastal Palestinian State

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has defied solution for generations. Decades of negotiations, war, diplomacy, and tragedy have left millions of Palestinians stateless and vulnerable, while Israelis continue to live with deep security fears. But what if we stepped completely outside the traditional framework? What if the solution didn’t lie in Gaza or the West Bank—but just south of it?

Imagine this: a new sovereign State of Palestine, established in the northeastern Sinai Peninsula, touching either the Mediterranean or the Red Sea, with no borders with Israel, but full access to the sea and international support for infrastructure and development. In exchange, Israel retains Gaza and the West Bank, but transfers an equivalent amount of land to Egypt in its southern Negev region.

Radical? Yes. But perhaps just radical enough to succeed.

The Core Proposal

Location: A Palestinian state on Egyptian territory in northeastern Sinai—coastal, sovereign, and contiguous.
No Borders with Israel: This removes a central source of conflict—daily border friction, security clashes, and mutual suspicion.
Israel-Egypt Land Swap: Israel cedes uninhabited Negev desert territory to Egypt as compensation for the Sinai land it provides to the Palestinians.
International Oversight: The United States leads a state-building process, akin to postwar Germany and Japan—drafting a democratic constitution, holding elections, building strong institutions, and banning terrorist groups like Hamas.
Massive Reconstruction Fund: The Gulf countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar), the EU, China, and the U.S. jointly contribute to a multibillion-dollar aid and development fund for rapid construction of housing, transport, schools, hospitals, and economic infrastructure.
Sovereign Palestine: With its own ports, airports, and trade routes, the new state would not depend on Israel for imports or movement.

Why This Could Work

1. Geographic and Political Separation

Detaching Palestine from Israel’s borders may seem drastic, but it eliminates a long-standing obstacle: overlapping land claims. Israel retains the lands it de facto controls, and Palestinians are offered a clear, sovereign homeland—no checkpoints, no occupation, no enclosures.

2. Massive Development Opportunity

A blank-slate Sinai city-state could become a Dubai-like model, especially with billions in support from regional and global players. Imagine a smart, sustainable, green state—built from scratch with modern technology and planned urbanism.

3. Egypt’s Strategic Gain

Egypt receives territory from Israel and massive international investment in its Sinai region, long neglected and underdeveloped. It becomes central to a historic peace achievement, boosting its diplomatic standing and economic fortunes.

4. Israel’s Security Guarantee

Israel, now with secure and uncontested borders, achieves a longstanding goal: recognition of sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza, and the end of terrorism at its doorstep, ensured by international demilitarization and political reform in the new Palestinian state.

5. U.S. and Global Leadership

The U.S. gets a Marshall Plan–style opportunity to reshape the Middle East positively, while other global powers like China and the EU gain influence by contributing to peace and stability. This cooperative international effort could reset the regional dynamics in a multipolar world.

Potential Challenges

Egyptian Consent: Egypt would have to agree to cede territory—a politically sensitive move. However, incentives like land gain, aid, and global prestige may shift the calculus.
Palestinian Buy-In: Moving populations is sensitive. Some may resist leaving historic lands. Yet, if the offer is freedom, dignity, and prosperity, many might choose it voluntarily.
Security Architecture: Ensuring that the new state doesn’t become a launchpad for extremism requires robust enforcement, global peacekeeping forces, and internal accountability.
Israeli Concessions: Though Israel retains land, it must still offer compensation and endorse the creation of a sovereign Palestine, which may be difficult politically.

A Future Worth Building

The idea of moving Palestine out of Gaza and the West Bank is not about erasure—it is about a future-oriented reset. For decades, peace has been hostage to geography. The land of Palestine has become synonymous with grief, not growth. Perhaps it’s time to ask: is it the land, or is it the people and their rights, that matter most?

A free Palestine in Sinai—with global backing, true sovereignty, and no borders with Israel—may be the boldest and most workable path forward. And in a world where everything else has failed, bold may be exactly what we need.

Let history remember this not as displacement, but as deliverance.

🧵 Out-of-the-Box Solution for Palestine 🇵🇸
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) July 2, 2025

Grounded Greatness: The Case For Smart Surface Transit In Future Cities
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
The 20% Growth Revolution: Nepal’s Path to Prosperity Through Kalkiism
Rethinking Trade: A Blueprint for a Just and Thriving Global Economy
The $500 Billion Pivot: How the India-US Alliance Can Reshape Global Trade
Trump’s Trade War
Peace For Taiwan Is Possible
Formula For Peace In Ukraine
A 2T Cut
Are We Frozen in Time?: Tech Progress, Social Stagnation
The Last Age of War, The First Age of Peace: Lord Kalki, Prophecies, and the Path to Global Redemption
AOC 2028: : The Future of American Progressivism

Monday, September 09, 2019

Video: Joseph: The Use of Power - John Lennox

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Terrorism

Terrorists Among Us: Jihad in America (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ढाका में मोदी ने कहा, हमें traditional युद्ध करना आता है, सैनिक भेजो, टैंक भेजो, फाइटर प्लेन भेजो, लेकिन दुनिया को terrorism से कैसे सामना किया जाता है वो नहीं आता। True, it is a new strain of virus.

कुछ solutions हैं।

State building ---- जिस तरह मच्छर पानी न बहने वाली तालाब ढूँढती, उसी तरह आतंकवादी ऐसे देश ढूँढ़ते हैं जहाँ failed state हो।
Cooperation between States ---- दुनिया के देशों को information sharing करनी होगी। Otherwise if each country is a silo of its own, you give the terrorists a lot of room to play.
Information Technology ------ The leaders like Bin Laden might choose to go "dark." But generally speaking terrorist cells rely a lot on electronic communication. There has been much contention on this. Even in countries like America there has been a lot of talk about how civil liberties are being curtailed and citizens are being spied upon. Perhaps there is a happy medium somewhere where you rely mostly on machine reading until you have something substantial and only then you get humans involved. Like with Gmail, the email service serves you ads. But it is machine reading, and you don't feel violated.
Social network mapping ------ All terrorist groups rely on social networks. Smaller and tighter the group, more reliant they are on their social networks. So when you nab a few, they lead you to others.
Political grievances have to be proactively addressed. Not because terrorism is and should work. But if there are legitimate concerns, they are legitimate. And they should be addressed. Not as a matter of negotiation with the terrorists or as a step in being blackmailed, but independent of all that.
The "frontline" is where you have small, agile, well trained operatives who engage in direct action. Mistakes have been made in drone attacks, but they are also one of the tools on the frontlines.
Ideological fights on social media.
Larger debates in society, at universities, in old media, on TV, in newspapers. Point by point rebuttals.

Terrorists rely on the war of asymmetry because they know that is the only way they have any chance. आमने सामने आएंगे तो asymmetry गायब हो जाएगी।

That is why you have to fear the ISIS more, because they are breaking many of the rules of the traditional terrorists. Terrorists prefer not to hold territory.

Terrorists rely a lot on out of the box thinking. That goes along the lines of asymmetry. So you have to keep on your toes and constantly be trying to figure out what their next moves might be. It is a game of chess.

Ultimately you just have to drown them out with plentiful information. Wireless broadband and cheap Android phones for the masses ----- I think that is the number one thing. Hundreds of millions of Muslims sharing cat videos makes ISIS irrelevant. You drown out the terrorists with everyday boring stuff. I happen to think that is the most potent weapon.

I have said this many times. I think of the War On Terror as being on par with the Cold War. It will conclude after there is a total spread of democracy across the Arab/Muslim world.

India is the new Britain, because ultimately this is about the ideology of democracy. The oldest and the largest democracies belong together. America and India need each other.

Terrorism is "cutting edge" like Climate Change ---- they both require global coordination. No one country can tackle either.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

The Unconventional Thinking On Making Fun Of Prophet Muhammad

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is not the cow. It is what the cow means to the Hindu.

It is China's tragedy that free speech is not in its arsenal. Free speech is the most fundamental tenet of democracy. Everything else flows from it.

But when was the last time I saw someone make fun of Jesus? When I was the last time I saw cartoons of Jesus?

Black people getting stereotyped is considered bad. Free speech but bad speech.

Islam is a religion like Christianity. And it deserves an equal pedestal of respect.

Western democracies are Christian countries. It is so obvious when you walk around. Islam is going to have a major presence in the Arab democracies, and I am talking democracies with rights for women, democracies with space for opposition. Modern democracies.

Talking shit about Islam has to be put in the same category as talking shit about black people. Muslims should not be made to feel out of place just because they are Muslim. Most Muslims, like most Christians, just want to share cat videos online.

Don't make fun of the Muslim religion if you are not making fun of your own. Have respect.

There is an Islamism that rhymes with fascism, and there is an Islamophobia that rhymes with homophobia.