Israel-Palestine: Create a Semitic state

The problem for Israel is the presence of Palestinians, founder David Ben-Gurion said. “The Arabs must go,” and three quarters of them did.

The 1967 war gifted Israel with territory, but Golda Meir commented: “Ideally, we would like to keep the land but not the people.” The people are there. It is difficult to be a Jewish State if 20 percent of the population is not Jewish. In the area controlled by Israel between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, the population of Jews and non-Jews is almost equal.

Israelis understandably fear becoming a minority in their country. “Two states” pleases neither side. Palestinians know that any fragment Israel and America would allot them would not be viable. Israelis do not want to relinquish any land and do not want a Palestinian state on their border.

How about a Semitic state? Jews and Arabs are equally Semitic peoples, strongly similar in religion, language, culture, cuisine. My husband was a physicist and worked with Israeli and Palestinian physicists. I know Israeli and Palestinian musicians, artists, poets, teachers, grocers, grandmothers.

This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Israel-Palestine: Create a Semitic state."