# 245 – Davos, Jerusalem & 2 States

January 30, 2018

Davos…My claim to fame is that I ‘know’ John Bryan, who was co-chairman of the Davos Economic Forum 3 times at the end of the last century. (Wow! that sounds melodramatic).

Apart from being a fervent Democrat and a close friend to Obama, the Clintons and Rahm Emmanuel, he is also a keen art lover and has a wonderful collection of antique glass. I have visited him a couple of times to view the collection, which is housed in some of the buildings of the largest privately-owned farm in Illinois.

Back to Davos, and Rouhani’s lies. Oh, did I forget to tell that President Rouhani of Iran lied there? Silly me. Do you need reminding?

(My definition of ‘lie’ – ‘twisted truth’).

OK, he repeated many times that his government is moderate. A lie.

He said he was elected in a democratic election. A lie. (Who chose the candidates?).

He condemned terrorism and the states that supported it. Yes, you guessed it..

This year’s chairman asked Rouhani if ‘peace to all nations in the region’ included Israel,’ – he responded that it applies only to nations recognised by Iran. If that’s not a lie…

So they applauded, hugged, wined and dined.

It was left primarily to poor Netanyahu and Shimon Peres to play again the part of  Devil’s Advocate. They did not use the word ‘lie’, of course. But they did beg the World to give Iran’s charm offensive time to prove itself, and in the meantime, keep in place the pressure that brought about this turn of events.

But why should the international community be any different to human nature?

Now to Jerusalem…

2 States….

Reminder: In Israel proper, there is a large population of Israeli Arabs, about 1 1/4 million of whom are Muslim, and around 1/4 million Christians. They have full political and religious rights.

Israeli PM Netanyahu finally came out and implied that he was ready to agree to the 2 state solution, still with some smaller conditions (you can forget about all refugees’ ‘right of return’), but to have East Jerusalem as their capital (almost is today).

Leave most of the ‘settlers’ there to become Jewish citizens in the Palestinian state – with dual citizenship, as is the case today for at least half Israel’s population. (Whereas only around 20% Americans are said to have passports, I believe that there are far more passports in Israel than there are citizens – many have 2, some even have 3 passports. So many of Israelis are/were refugees).

This immediately caused anguished screams in the Knesset, first from some within the PM’s own party, then from the opposition, and obviously from the Arab parties, followed by head-on-wall-banging in Europe, UN etc.

But it would be a political win-win step..

• The Palestinians would never accept this – they want Jew-free country, like Jordan, Saudi and so many others. But if we make the offer loudly and officially, the UN will, perhaps, get off our backs.

• And if they DO accept this, we would make it very clear that this would be conditional on having peace. Any attack on Israeli citizens (dual nationality) in Palestine would be dealt with as it is today (in ‘occupied West Bank). We have the right to continue to defend our citizens.

If they want this to work, they have to want peace.

Put the ball in the other’s court. Let THEM and the UN and all the others worry about the problem; not us.

Win-Win.

Gosh, I am such a dreamer….

Stephen