President Donald Trump, in his apparent effort to establish a new global order, is devising peace solutions to the world’s hot spots. The Middle East “20-point Peace Plan” is receiving the most press, possibly because the world would like to see an end to 77 years of lives destroyed or lost in conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Most unfortunately, this plan suffers from the fatal flaw present in plans going way back to the end of World War I.
The fatal flaw is the asymmetry between Israel and Palestine. The Jewish State has the cultural, political and economic support of a world-wide Jewish community; and Israel has worked hard to be the Western presence in the Middle East. In contrast Palestine suffers from divergent factions, lacks a world-wide community as focused in unity as the Jewish community, and is perceived as anti-Western. Understandably, “peace plans” devised by Westerners will favor Israel.
Thus, we now have a peace plan on the table that includes disarmament of Hamas (understandable given Hamas’ horrific actions of October 7, 2023, but how realistic?), a dependent Palestinian population subject to whether Israel allows food into Gaza or not, an unclear deployment of “international security forces” to ensure success of the peace plan, and no acknowledgment in the plan about Islam’s discomfort with the existence of Israel or Israel’s desire to accommodate its growth via expanding settlements.
Time, effort and treasure spent by government officials in numerous Middle East peace plans have not yielded any peace so far. At this point, one might wonder whether peace through adult negotiation is really the heart-felt objective, or whether annihilation of one side or another is the endgame.
Also at this point, one might be reminded of the 1960s Vietnam Era embrace of a collective unconscious conceptualized in the adage “Make Love not War.” The 20-year carnage of the Vietnam War did not really end with official peace plans. It ended when peace started with a collective “Meh” directed at useless destruction. Obviously for such blessing to occur, individuals and families on all sides need to come to the conclusion that they are better off making love not war.
Picture: Sep 1, 2025 Al Jazeera
“Gaza’s beaches, once popular destinations for leisure and relaxation, have been transformed into makeshift refugee camps … Thousands of displaced Palestinians now seek shelter on the very shores that were once symbols of joy and respite.“
Just Vote No 