Monday, October 20, 2008

My plan for peace in the Middle East

Every weekday morning, several of us old-timers get together at the local coffee shop to drink coffee, eat sweets, and resolve the ills of the world.

Except for one guy, who admits he just loves to argue, there is little disagreement between us, since this part of Texas is pretty conservative. We tend to agree on things like taxes, drugs, government largess, personal responsibilities, etc. However, when the subject of foreign involvement comes up, we fuss a bit, and after all is said and done, the disagreement usually boils down to the Middle East. Problems in that part of the world just don’t seem to be resolvable.

If I remember history correctly, the USA was the first country to recognize the state of Israel, and we’ve now been their insurance policy for somewhere around sixty years. Based on the peace progress made between Israel and their adversaries in those sixty years, it appears we can plan on another sixty years playing protector, unless there are drastic changes.

I’ve been kicking around an idea that might work if we can sell it to the rest of the world. My idea is to move the United Nations headquarters to Israel. Pack up the whole damn bunch and put them on a fleet of ships to Haifa.

Conservatives in this country generally despise the UN, while the UN and our liberals constantly whine about everything the US does, so the move makes sense. Relocating to the most pestilent part of the world puts the Dudley do-right, world-fixers right next door to the action, and maybe motivate them to fix matters, instead of talking them to death. Looking out the window at the Golan Heights might be an education for some of those naïve bureaucrats.

A UN building, and all the world’s emissaries in the middle of Israel might discourage radical Jew haters from launching missiles into the country. Likewise, any acts of aggression would be pretty obvious if tanks…either Arab or Israeli…start rolling over the BMW’s and Mercedes limos in the ambassador’s parking lot.

I’ll have to ponder on that one for a while, but at first glance, it looks like a win-win situation.

No comments: