Bryan MacDonald is a journalist, writer, broadcaster and teacher.
Russian Television carried a story of his yesterday (July 16) that urged the Queen to give a state dinner for the leaders of Palestine and Israel to settled their differences, as she did for the leaders of Dublin and Belfast in April of this year.
This is the conclusion of his article.
“Ulster is living proof that this [the conflict] doesn’t have to continue to infinity. Of course, the peace is not perfect, it never is, but for 16 years, through every tumult imaginable, it has held and Martin McGuinness and the Queen are now capable of respecting each other’s status and views. The Middle East gap is, on the other hand, less bridgeable while Hamas promises Israel’s destruction – the IRA never advocated the complete annihilation of the UK.
“It might be naive to think that Abbas and Netanyahu could one day do the same, but I sincerely believe that power-sharing and a two-state solution is the only plausible solution to this seemingly incurable struggle. To achieve this, it might be time for Israel to follow the reverse steps of their sixth President, Chaim Herzog, and look to Belfast, his birthplace.”
Eric Koch’s new book, New Beginnings, was launched on September 20. The book is available from 
What happened in Northern Ireland in the second half of the 20th century is that the area became more prosperous, and, as wealth increased, economic well-being came to seem more important to people than religious or ‘tribal’ identity. By this logic, the Israelis should do everything they can to lessen the Palestinians’ poverty. It’s possible the embourgeoissement of the Palestinians might result in increased aggression by Palestinian extremists for a short time, but, in the long run, it would be in the Israelis’ best interests: it’s much nicer to have a contented neighbour than a desperately poor and resentful one.
Tim: From your mouth to God’s ear!
For some, at least, does not the reverse apply as well?
I found Tim Nau’s comment extremely interesting. In early June, I heard Mohammad Darawshe speak at the First Narayever Congregation (his appearance was sponsored by the New Israel Fund). Darawshe is the Director of Planning, Equality and Shared Society at the Givat Haviva Institute in Israel. Among many other things, Darawshe spoke of a spectacularly successful (though small-scale) program for teaching Israeli Arab women job skills. He pointed out that when Arab women get job skills and a job, the birth rate among them falls to the same level as that of educated Jewish Israeli women, or lower. He said cheerfully something like (paraphrase only), You want to eliminate Palestinian Israelis? Give the women scholarships! (Avivah, friend of Erich’s daughter Madeline, commenting for the first time in this august company.)
And I hope not for the last time. Thank you, Avivah.