The situation in Gaza is dire. While I think Hamas is an organization of monsters who, after the events of October 7th, have forfeited their rights to be treated as human beings, I do not feel that way about the people of Gaza in general. I take no joy in their suffering. It is just the opposite.
Gaza has been described as the world’s largest open-air prison. I would add, run a group of violent inmates who care nothing for the other prisoners.
Like many, I am in despair watching the reporting from Gaza about the killing of innocent people. But I don’t know what should be done in the short term. So, forgive me for not dealing with that in this blog post. This blog post is focused on what can be done in the long term to provide the people of Gaza a peaceful and prosperous life while providing the people of Israel with the same.
In 1948, before the War of Independence, which Palestinians also call the Nakba. Gaza was a fishing village of 80,000 people. After the war, 120,000 fled from what is now Israel to Gaza, bringing the total to 200,000 inhabitants. Now, the population is 2.2 million, with half being children.
Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Next to it is the Negev region of Israel, which represents 55% of the total land of Israel. It is primarily a desert with a very low population. It is 30 times the size of Gaza. My proposal (which I have made in the past) is to expand the size of Gaza. I would like to see that happen by both Egypt and Israel given equal amounts of land. After all, the Sinai is 165 times the size of Gaza and has almost no people. This idea is not another “Nakba.” This land would belong to the Palestinians.
Before you yell at me that Negev and Sinai are deserts, I know that, think about https://www.neom.com/en-us being built in the desert.
For now, I will assume that Egypt will give no land. I propose that Israel will an area close to the existing Gaza. In this area, I will call New Gaza and refer to the current Gaza as Old Gaza.
A new city would be created. The financing would come from an international consortium including the USA, Saudi Arabia, and the USA. Part of the area would be for farming. I know it is a desert, but Israel grows about 25% of its produce there. Much of the current workforce would be involved in the construction of the city. New Gaza would be a demilitarized Palestine under the control of the Palestinian Authority, but an international group would ensure that it was demilitarized. All people in Gaza that were not part of Hamas would be able to relocate to New Gaza. All remaining members of Hamas would be allowed safe passage to Iran. Once Old Gaza was vacated, it would be leveled. Then it would be turned into a resort area similar to Sharm El Sheik. This would give additional opportunities for those living in Gaza to first work on the construction and then later in the resorts. Additional industries would be established, including a high-tech center. An airport and a maritime port would be built.
People in Gaza would have an opportunity to work in Israel proper. Tel Aviv is just 44 miles from Gaza, for instance. A tunnel from Gaza would be built connecting it to the West Bank.
This project would take as much as ten years to accomplish, but it could be done in less time. There would be significant progress along the way. The result would be a place for Palestinians to live in safety and dignity and prosper.
Two Thirds Done 
The Israel-Gaza war has pushed the Ukraine-Russia war out of the US main stream media for the most part. Both are horrible situations. I don’t understand the whys and whats of the Gaza situation except that it seems rooted in Hamas’s hatred of Israel. While I can imagine your suggestion has merit, it could pay off in the long run, but in the short run where would the money come from to start new and re-construction efforts? I used to think peace was possible anywhere people could find a way to economically coexist. That doesn’t seem to be the case in the US these days, so I guess that won’t help the Middle East either. Who gains power in the Middle East war? The impact of hatred cannot create a stable environment for human life. So how does the situation resolve? I wish I felt I could see a road to sanity, but I don’t. I can see where, with enough investment and effort, agriculture could flourish in new/old Gaza, but the world doesn’t seem to be providing the push in that direction. It certainly isn’t providing the necessary aid to Ukraine. In the meantime I’m developing an extremely negative view of Iran and wondering what they stand to gain in all this. Mary Cole
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Actually, I don’t think it would be that much money. Small compared to projects in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Small price to pay to solve this problem.
Iran is a wonderful country with great people (I have been there a number of times) lead by maniacs. Once they fall, Iran will rejoin the civilized world.
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So when was the first time people living in the Levant made war on each other and did horrible things? The tower of Jericho was almost certainly built with slave labor and at least partially as a defensive and warning structure. Every time one group has gained enough dominance to “own” the law and use it to the disadvantage of others, the story has been the same.
The problem with Israel is Israel and that star on its flag. National symbols are extremely powerful and important. They become a part of a person’s sense of self – their identity – our identities. So what does that star say to a non-Jew living under the legal sphere of the government in Tel Aviv? At very best, it tells them they are a second class citizen.
That said, it seems quite reasonable and perhaps even necessary as a result of the horrors of the middle of the 20th century, that a new nation in the Levant would serve as a refuge and homeland to those who survived. Of the more than 30 million victims of those horrors, at least 6 million were Jews.
Legal features of the newer nation in the Levant such as automatic dual citizenship are a good thing. But keep the star and the land expropriations that have been a part of the settlement process, and that will guarantee that some percentage of young people are going to grow up absolutely dedicated to wiping that legal system off the map along with its sponsors. Is that right? Obviously not, but it is consistent with over 12,000 years of history which has yet to see it lessons learned. This is just the latest chapter in the same old thing.
Avram, I subscribed because I was keenly interested in your technical career and especially the aborted efforts at Intel to build an organization that integrated voice communications with everything else. You were a key part of that. But you don’t talk about that stuff anymore. I subscribed before WordPress, so I can’t unsubscribe through the channel you have provided, but I would like to do that. Perspectives that are consistent with the ancients, while curious, are not something I need in my inbox on a regular basis.
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Craig, thank you for your comment. My blog is meant to share my thoughts, my perspective. Sometimes that has to do with technology including its history, sometimes it has to do with lessons and insight in how to have a successful business, or my current professional activities. But sometimes it deals with politics and the world situation. When I write about technology, I usually get more visitors than when I write about politics but my objectives has more to do with expressing my thoughts than with the number of people that read them. Looking at the last years with of posts, I would say that half of my posts are about technology and business.
I am sorry you can no unsubscribe. I will hopefully find away to remove you. I intend to create another blog (probably on sub stack) about lessons I have learned.
If you are interested in history of technology, I hope you will read my book, The Flight of a Wild Duck.
It would probably be best to have a flag that does not contain religious symbol. Israel is not unique in that. Check out the flags of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Greece. Finally, I think that Israeli Arabs woudl rather be second class citizens in Israel than first class citizens in any of the neighboring countries.
Thanks again for your past readership.
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Avram,
Your post has been forwarded to me.
First, thank you for posting a wonderful idea. There is too much pain on both sides to solve for a durable peace if the discussions have to first reconcile two different and irreconcilable historic narratives, not to mention current grievances/blame. It seems that the only hope for a resolution and an end to the destruction and death, for both Palestinians and Israel’s, is to work backwards from a realistic goal of what peace can look like, starting on the day the current hostilities end, but no earlier.
I’d like to propose consideration of slightly different iteration of your idea, in case the Israelis conclude that expanding Gaza into the Negev puts the growing population of Israel at greater risk, simply due to the fact that, it needs a more defendable border (greater distance) from a new Gaza, just in case Hamas returns to power and continues their attacks.
This iteration of your idea assumes that it is possible to expand Gaza into the Sinai. I base this assumption on an article in the 2014 Council on Foreign Relations article “Palestine in the Sinai?”(1), and I wonder if it might now be the right time to revisit Egyptian President Sissi’s 2014 offer. i.e. A revised version of his 2014 offer might allow for the establishment of a new Palestinian country in a portion of the Sinai.
Some initial key ideas:
1. The Palestinian state would be set up in a portion of the Sinai.
2. Size / Location options: It will include a Mediterranean coast at the north, and would be at least the combined size of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (if an appropriate deal could be brokered with Egypt). At least the size of the West Bank and Gaza and larger if possible. If Egypt agrees to providing sufficient land area, the new Palestinian state can perhaps be as large as Israel.
3. It would include a secure border some distance to the West of Israel’s border so that there’s more of a battlefield distance between the Palestinian State and Israel – so that should the new Palestinian State decide to continue as a hostile enemy state bent on the destruction of Israel, like Iran, Israel will have a more defendable border.
4. Development: This area of the Sinai has the basic building blocks of a country that Israel had when it started. The desert climate is similar to Egypt’s and Israel’s as well as that the Gulf States… and could be greened in the same way that Israel turned much of its desert into a vibrant country.
5. Options for Palestinians to stay in Israel or move:
– New Gaza Citizenship: All current residents of Gaza will have the choice to move to the new Palestinian state or anywhere else that they can emigrate to. All Palestinians living in the occupied territories will also have the option to move to the new state, as noted below. This would allow Gazans, as well as Palestinians living in the occupied territories, or anywhere else in the world to opt to move there and get instant Palestinian citizenship in their own country.
– Israeli Citizenship: All Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories who remain must become an Israeli citizen and abide by the laws of Israel.
- Buyout: Anyone who leaves on their own, who is not a member of a terrorist organization or known to support them, will be offered eminent domain buyout of their property so that they have a nest egg that they can use to start a new life with in the new Palestinian state or anywhere else. Anyone else who does not agree to become an Israeli citizen and anyone who is a known member of a terrorist organization, or has been affiliated with one will be deported, (they can go wherever they want whether it’s to the new Palestinian state or anywhere else that will take them).
6. “Old” Gaza: The current Gaza territory will become part of the state of Israel as soon as all Gaza’s have moved.
7. Funding: As you mentioned, international funders (Europe, USA, Oil States, Israel, etc.) will fund the construction and the cost of moving and new homes, and compensate Egypt for the land it gives up – all of this is likely cheaper than the cumulative cost to all stakeholders of funding endless wars and endless rebuilding of Gaza.
8. The added credibility of the “Sissi Solution”: This idea might have a better chance of gaining support if is named in honor of the Arab leader who presented the core idea in 2014, President Sissi of Egypt, i.e. presented as the Sissi Solution. This will give him a way to go down in history as the man who saved the Middle East, probably with a Nobel Peace Prize. It will give the Israelis the validation that they will need in Arab capitals – i.e. an Arab solution to the Middle East – a solution created by a leader of a major Muslim country.
(1) Article: Palestine in the Sinai? | Council on Foreign Relations
https://www.cfr.org/blog/palestine-sinai
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Thanks for your detailed response and your innovative suggestions.
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