Middle East Peace Plan – A “Peace Now” Approach

December 1, 2006

Overview

The ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has spurred violence within and outside the Middle East.  This plan, developed by the Institute for Global Excellence (IGE), provides suggestions as to how Middle East peace can quickly be achieved through aggressive timelines, compromised and sacrifice from Israelis, Palestinians and the entire world community.  This is a “Peace Now” plan aimed at ending years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians within the next 24 months.

Environment

Violence has continued within Israel and the Palestinian Territory.  Ongoing and deadly conflicts have marked the Israeli – Palestinian relationship for decades.  This ongoing conflict has severely suppressed the Palestinian economy, which has led to deep hatred and internal violence within the Palestinian Territory.  To achieve lasting peace within the Middle East, the world must quickly establish a Palestinian State, stabilized the new government, and quickly expand the Palestinian’s social, educational and economic infrastructure in order to improve the quality of life of all Israelis and Palestinians.  Only when the Israelis, Palestinians and the broader Middle East see hope, will the violence subside.

Strategy

IGE recommends the following strategies to accelerate the progress of bringing peace to the Middle East:

Timeline

- Common knowledge suggests that setting firm dates should not be used as a tool in solving international conflicts.  We believe that the opposite approach should be taken in this case because of the length of this conflict and the deep-rooted generational hatred that is the driving force behind this conflict.   To give this plan the best possible chance to succeed, it is critical to set firm dates for all critical activities needed to bring peace to the Middle East.

- Set a date of June 30, 2007 for Israel to withdraw from all occupied areas in accordance to the withdrawal plan developed during the Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David in July 2000.  The Summit details included:

·          Israeli redeployment from 100% of the Gaza Strip and 95% of the West Bank.

·          The removal of isolated settlements and transfer of the land to Palestinian control (modified slightly for this plan).

·          Israeli land exchanged for West Bank settlements remain under Israeli control.

·          Palestinian control over East Jerusalem, including most of the Old City.

·          Religious sovereignty over the Temple Mount.

- The new Palestinian State would in exchange sign a peace and security treaty with Israel agreeing to give up claims to any additional land, recognize Israel and their right to exist and maintain security throughout their land.  This agreement should be signed by August 31,2007.

- The United Nations and the world community should recognize Palestine as a free and independent state by September 30, 2007.

Israeli Settlements

- Transfer of disputed settlements to Palestinian control. However, all current settlers in the occupied territories should be allows to maintain land.  The new Palestine government would be required by the overall peace and security treaty to protect the current settlers.

- The Israeli government would compensate individuals with valid claims on settled land at a fair market value if Israeli settlers decide to stay on the land.

- Palestinian refugees that fled Israeli land would not be allowed to return to Israel.   However, the Israeli government should compensate Palestinian refugees with documentation of land ownership within Israel in the sum of $25,000 per family.

Security Strategy

- The region should deploy a powerful temporary 4-layer security strategy to stabilize the area.  This strategy allows Israeli forces to manage their borders; an international force sponsored by the United Nations would manage a 5-mile stretch of land called the “Peace Zone” on Palestine side of the border. Palestine forces would manage all traffic coming into the Peace Zone from Palestine.  No non-Muslim troops would be deployed outside the Peace Zone.  The final layer will consist of forces from the Arab League deployed throughout the new Palestine State to assist in quickly stabilizing the new country.  

Peace Based Funding

- The G-8 nation should setup a $20 billion Palestine assistance fund to assist and stabilized the new nation.  These funds should be maintained and managed by the G-8 nations and a schedule of the release of these funds should be tied to aggressive security and stabilization metrics.  As security metrics are achieved, these funds should be released to the Palestinian Government.  All of these funds should be scheduled to be released within 5 years.

- Troop levels should also be tied to aggressive security metrics with a plan to withdraw all troops from Palestine within 2 years.

Social Improvements

- Develop a cultural interface team led by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and comprised of political leaders and key Muslim and non-Muslim religious leaders to discuss and implement violence reduction methods. 

- Continue the free election process.

- Double the number of educational institutions within Palestine over 5 years.

- Develop an aggressive economic development and job creation program sponsored by the G-8 nations.

- 20% of the Palestine assistance fund should focus on education and job creation within the new Palestinian State. 

Implementation

The G-8, NATO, United Nations and Arab League should charter committees to implement this plan.  The managing committee responsible for implementing this plan should consist of President George H.W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, President Jimmy Carter and Secretary of State James Baker.  This managing committee should immediately convene a peace summit with top Israeli and Palestinian leaders to start the implementation of the strategies within this plan.

Summary

The above brief outlines positive actions that can be taken to bring lasting peace to the Middle East.  The plan contains the aggressive timelines, compromise and sacrifice needed to bring lasting peace in the Middle East.