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A Housing Idea Worth Considering

© lawhawk

One of the major stumbling blocks in the withdrawal from the West Bank is that there are numerous Israeli settlements scattered throughout the West Bank and are separated from each other and Israel by Palestinian communities. This is a logistical and security nightmare that has not really been addressed during the peace process so far. There has been rhetorical talk regarding ensuring the peace and security on the West Bank between the Israelis and Palestinians living there, but little substantively has been done since riots broke out in Hebron all those months ago.

One of the major problems facing the Palestinians is that they lack adequate housing and infrastructures throughout the land under discussion for Israeli withdrawal. While some Palestinians live in modern, comfortable homes and apartments, the vast majority live in the equivalent of shanty towns. Construction of homes for Palestinians by Palestinians are thwarted by a combination of lack of money going to building homes due to corruption and bureaucratic snafus as well as Israel's insistence upon requiring permits for construction of homes anywhere in Israel or Israeli-controlled land.

Israel has become quite adept in constructing housing projects using loans from the US and elsewhere without the apparent corruption present in the Palestinian Authority that has not been able to meet the needs of its people. Therefore to ease several major problems including security of Israeli citizens living in the West Bank, giving land to the Palestinians and consolidating the land controlled by Israel and the Palestinians, the following idea should be considered:

Instead of giving the Palestinians money for building homes in regions they already control, give the money to the Israelis to construct homes in areas that are either totally within Israel or in areas of the West Bank that are in all likelihood to remain in Israeli control. As the new Israeli homes are built, the homes in areas that are predominately Palestinian communities previously occupied by Israelis should be transferred to the Palestinian Authority for use towards easing the housing shortage for Palestinians.

This bypasses the problem of accountability for funds that has plagued the Palestinian Authority and links the issues of housing to security on the West Bank as well as gives both Israel and the Palestinian Authority the ability to slowly dismantle the Israeli infrastructure in the West Bank without causing extreme hardships to Israelis or Palestinians while giving the Palestinians a new source of housing. While some might argue that this plan only creates more housing for Israelis and this housing could be diverted so that new Israelis get homes and West Bank Israelis are not moved, a mechanism could be set up that ensures that only people from the West Bank are relocated to this new housing.

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