A Real Solution To The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (And Yes, There Is One)

By BlackJack

For all of my adult lifetime there has been a single conflict that has been the root of almost all strife within the Middle East - The Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Over the decades, while the west was in the midst of various wars with communist nations, Gaza has waxed and waned between all-out war and relative calm but has never been truly at peace.

From the Camp David peace accords to the latest round of pseudo-negotiations of the Annapolis Summit, Israel and the non-nation of Palestine have been unable to resolve even minor differences for any length of time. The United States' unwavering support of an often overly militaristic and less-than cooperative Israel has directly influenced much of the Islamic fundamentalist anger towards the west.

Finally a voice of reason from inside Israel! Yossi Melman, senior commentator for the Israeli daily Haaretz, has developed a 9-point plan to resolve the conflict once and for all. It's not an easy solution but one that can work if followed to the letter. The problem, as always, would be the commitment of all the nations involved, both in the region of the Middle East as well as the members of the UN who have dropped the ball so many times before. Mr. Melman's plan is refreshing in that, as an Israeli citizen, he understands that both sides have failed the process many times simply by be self-serving and uncompromising.

As simple as Mr. Melman's plan sounds on paper, the actual implementation is probably unrealistic simply because to this point none of the parties involved have shown any real visionary thinking in attempting to find a solution. Nor have they shown any real desire to carry through on any promises once the ink has dried on the thousand of pages of agreements, accords and treaties that have been signed over the years.

Hopefully Mr. Melman's words will make their way to someone who understands world history and decides it's time we break the cycle of repeating it.

Read Forget Annapolis: Nine Steps to Peace on http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/