a natural disaster will suddenly engulf them, is without basis. The solution of the problem will be a prolonged, controlled, reasonable, and logical process.
Historic conciliation
I believe that this plan can achieve a moral, just, practical, and agreedupon solution.
Both sides will accept it, in the end, because there is no other. There can be no peace without the solution of the refugee question, and the only solution is one that both sides can live with.
Perhaps it will all be to the good. When both sides start on the path to the solution, it may facilitate the conciliation between them. When they sit together to find creative solutions, all kinds of interesting ideas may turn up. For example, why not rebuild two or three Palestinian villages which were destroyed after 1948, and whose sites are still vacant? Many things that seem impossible today may appear on the table once the atmosphere between the parties changes.
Perhaps then the ancient saying of the Psalmist will apply to the refugees: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the head stone of the corner."
June 22, 2002
To: the President of the United States.
From: the National Security Advisor.
Top Secret.
I hereby submit to you, Mr President, the report of the secret task force for reforming Israel, parallel to the task force working on the reform of the Palestinian Authority.
The faults of the Israeli system are known to all: an autocratic oneman rule by a leader surrounded by cronies and yes-men; a leader who is a chronic liar, whose every word is untrustworthy; corruption that penetrates every echelon of government; democratic institutions which serve only as window-dressing; the lack of a constitution; the absence of a real opposition; a multi-party system that is just a pretense; media that are fully mobilized in the service of the government.
This system is unable to move towards peace. Since you, Mr
President, have determined that peace is in the basic national interest of the United States, we must use our power in order to bring about a thorough reform.