HoverBoarder:
My so-crazy-it-just-might-work solution is to be found
here.
That is not crazy at all. It is probably the best idea on the table yet, although a few important changes would definitely have to be made.
Thunder also approved of the plan as long as the Israeli settlements did not comprise more than 2-3% of the West Bank (on a side note, I think both of you have a lot more in common than either of you would like to admit. Both of you care a lot about Israel, and both of you know a lot about Israel, and I think that the two of you could come up with some really good ideas to help solve this problem if you were able to put aside your differences...).
I will outline what I see as the main problems with the plan, and then I will suggest how they can be addressed.
Problems:
1)
Jordon would not accept it. The main problem as 'Marc39' pointed out, is that the
King of Jordan is VERY opposed to taking in the Palestinian refugees, and would not accept this deal (although it seems to be mostly due to the monetary issues).
2)
The Palestinians would not accept it. As 'The Fool' pointed out, the Palestinians would not want to give up on their struggle for Nationhood; and this plan would cause them to not only give up on that goal, but it would merge them with a Country that a majority of Palestinians do not identify with.
3)
Jerusalem. The Palestinian Constitution states that Jerusalem is their Capital, and a key Palestinian requirement for Peace negotiations is that Jerusalem will be the capital of any future Palestinian State. This is definitely one of the more difficult issues.
Solutions:
1) Palestinians could accept an Independent State that is supported by Jordan for a set period of 30 years. This deal would include Jordan helping to develop the Palestinian infrastructure, a plan for Jordan to help strengthen economic development in the Country, and Jordanian support for internal security. In exchange, Jordan would be given monetary compensation by the International community.
This compensation to Jordan would not only include direct aid, it should also include the building of desalinization plants for Jordan.
Jordan is currently buying water from Israel to maintain it's water shortages, and new
Forward-Osmosis desalinization technology have shown a lot of promise for being able to produce more efficient and productive plants. By including a deal that would supply water for the West Bank and Jordan, this deal would strenghen the long term National security and economic security of the Jordanian State, and this would go a long way towards convincing King Abdullah that this plan would be in his best interests.
2) By allowing the Palestinians to have their own state that is supported by Jordan, it would give considerable Palestinian support for this plan. As long as the number of Israeli settlements was kept to a low percentage as Thunder mentioned, than this deal would cause a much larger percentage of Palestinians to be supportive and protective of the peace in order to preserve their new State. Thereby creating a powerful new deterrent to radical groups like Hamas.
3) Jerusalem is the hard one. Many Palestinians would never accept the plan if this was not allowed to be their capital, but it could not be their functional capital. As hard as this would be for both sides to accept, Jerusalem would have to be the Capital of a future Palestinian State in name only, with Ramallah serving as the functional capital. This would allow the Israelis to maintain control over Jerusalem, but would allow the Palestinians to accept the deal.
While this deal would be hard for both sides, it is something that could work, and as we are barreling closer to September with the Palestinians unilaterally declaring their own State,
the consequences of not finding a solution are much worse.