Decades of negotiations have achieved little in terms of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and territorial compromise seems increasingly dangerous. Could improved economic ties discourage Palestinians from further violence, and give them an incentive to prevent the extremists among them from committing mayhem? A billion-dollar plan to build a model Palestinian city called Rawabi might offer a model of how this could happen. Clifford May writes:

[T]he most important reason to see Rawabi as a hopeful place is this: its success depends on peaceful coexistence—not to be confused with a peace agreement—between Palestinians and Israelis. . . . Were Hamas to take over the West Bank, it would be only a matter of time before its fighters clashed with Israelis. Because Rawabi is a city on a hill, it would be a good spot from which to fire missiles at Israel’s major population centers and its international airport. Assuming Israelis returned fire, a billion dollars and years of hard work would within days be reduced to rubble.

The former Israeli chief justice Aharon Barak recently warned that the country could be headed toward civil war due to Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire the head of the Shin Bet, and the opposition thereto. To Amichai Attali, such comments are both “out of touch with reality” and irresponsible—as are those of Barak’s political opponents:

Yes, there is tension and stress, but there is also the unique Israeli sense of solidarity. Who exactly would fight in this so-called civil war? Try finding a single battalion or military unit willing to go out and kill their own brothers and sisters—you won’t. They don’t exist. About 7 percent of the population represents the extremes of the political spectrum, making the most noise. But if we don’t come to our senses, that number might grow.

And what about you, leader of [the leftwing party] The Democrats and former deputy IDF chief, Yair Golan? You wrote that the soldiers fighting Hamas in Gaza are pawns in Netanyahu’s political survival game. Really? Is that what the tens of thousands of soldiers on the front lines need to hear? Or their mothers back home? Do you honestly believe Netanyahu would sacrifice hostages just to stay in power? Is that what the families of those hostages need right now?

Israeli democracy will not collapse if Netanyahu fires the head of the Shin Bet—so long as it’s done legally. Nor will it fall because demonstrators fill the streets to protest. They are not destroying democracy, nor are they terrorists working for Hamas.