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.
Read more on Israel Hayom: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=10467