Mr. President, this memo is written in a children’s book format for several reasons:
1. To force simplicity and brevity
2. To demonstrate how uncomplicated the issues really are
3. To introduce levity to an otherwise grim history
4. I know you’re the busiest human being on the planet, and this way it shouldn’t take much of your time
My memo advocates including everyone who lives between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea in one democratic state with equal rights for all, with the proviso that it remain a Jewish homeland, as mandated by the nations of the world in 1920.
Just the other night, in Jerusalem, you said it couldn’t possibly be done.
You were wrong.
SOMETHING PROFESSOR EINSTEIN SAID
Albert Einstein was a great physicist who died in 1955. He was among those rare people who taught the world brand new ways of looking at reality. It’s not easy to come up with observations no one else had ever made before. That’s why Einstein is still admired, to this day. Obviously, he was a very wise man.
No one is absolutely sure, but many believe that Albert Einstein came up with the following clever definition of insanity:
Insanity, he supposedly said, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
It doesn’t mean that the people who engage in doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results are necessarily insane; only their actions are.
A LAND OF ARAB AND JEWS
In the country known both as Israel and Palestine, today live between 8 and 10 million people. The majority are Jews, the minority are Arabs, but there are also many groups which are neither Jews nor Arabs.
Back in 1947, the official count was 1.6 million Arabs and 600 thousand Jews. That’s when the first attempt was made to divide the land into two states, one Jewish, one Arab. This attempt ended in a war that lasted almost two years and claimed the lives of many thousands on both sides.
Remember what Einstein supposedly said about doing the same thing and expecting different results?
In 1993, another attempt was made to divide the land into two states. It resulted, just like in 1947, in rivers of blood. So the people in charge decided to try it again. And again. And each time they tried, they got rivers of blood.
Insanity.
You, Mr. President, have just urged the people in charge to have yet another go at the Two State Solution. It’s very scary to me, because I know what will happen as a result. I’m not nearly as wise as Albert Einstein, but even I get it after so many tries.
We must find another solution, one that hopefully won’t result in violence.
JUST LIKE NEW JERSEY
The size of New Jersey, the 5th-smallest U.S. state, is about 7800 square miles (20,000 square kilometers).
The territory of Israel or Palestine (different people call it different names) is only a little bit larger – 10,424 square miles (27,869 Square Kilometers).
There are many Jewish and Arab communities in New Jersey. Like many other residents, Jews and Arabs enjoy the state’s proximity to the great city of New York, from the comfort of their suburban homes. I’m sure there are many things those two communities have in common, and many things they do very differently. Some Jews and Arabs probably collaborate in business and politics, others probably don’t go near each other.
But one thing we know for sure: there has never been a war, or even a bloody skirmish, between the Arabs and Jews of New Jersey.
Same people, same size land, more or less, but in one country the two communities live in constant hatred, in the other they live in peace.
Somebody in New Jersey is doing something right.
A HOMELAND FOR THE JEWS
When, in 1947, the United Nations of the world decided to give the Jews a homeland in part of Israel or Palestine, they did it for more than one reason.