The Key to Peace is Rent

http://www.progress.org/2003/fold307.htm

by Fred E. Foldvary, Senior Editor

Rent! The final economic frontier.

The key to a lasting peace between the Jewish Israelis= and the Arab Palestinians is the payment of rent for land. Palestinians and Israelis fight and kill for land, yet paying rent for land remains an unkno= wn concept. This illustrates the importance of understanding basic economics.

Everybody knows that rent exists, yet it does not dawn= on the peace seekers that the solution to the land problem is turning the conf= lict over land into a market in land, where those who want land pay for it as re= nt.

Israeli troops and tanks have now withdrawn from north= ern Gaza. Hamas, Isla= mic Jihad, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade have declared a cease fire with conditions. They want the government of Israel to stop its targeted k= illing of terrorist leaders.

One problem is that minor militant groups, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, have refused to join the cea= se fire. Also, individual Palestinians opposed to the truce could on their own kill some Israelis. We cannot expect the killing to stop entirely. There ar= e Palestinians opposed to a state on the West Bank and Gaza; they insist on an Arab and Islamic state over all the British-mandate territory, with all Jews killed or expelled. For them, it's all or nothing.= They will continue the killing in order to break the truce.

Israel must not react to the continuing k= illing by acting by itself to hunt and kill the murderers. They should give the Palestinian authority under its new leadership a chance to work with the Israelis to provide security. If Israel reacts by killing Palestinians, they would be letting the extremist Palestinians set the agen= da.

Israelis and Palestinians should create a new alliance: those who seek peace versus those on both sides that wish to continue the conflict. It should no longer be Palestinians versus Israelis, but peace seekers versus war mongers.

But it is not enough to cry Peace! Peace! Besides the immediate steps of releasing prisoners, easing the traffic chokes, and remo= ving troops from Palestinian areas, Israel must confront the long term issue of the settlements in the West Bank and <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Gaza. With this c= ease fire, Israel can now act without being seen to be giving in to terror.=

First, Israel should withdraw the Israelis who have settled in Gaza. It would be a much welcomed gestu= re by Arabs, Israel would sa= ve the cost of defending these settlements, and there is little religious signific= ance about the Gaza for Jews.

Second, Israel must confront the land conflict in Judea and Samaria<= /st1:City>, the West Bank of the Jordan River. It is called a "Bank," so the settlers who have been deposited there sh= ould pay interest. Israel n= ever annexed Judea and Samaria. This is an implicit recognition that the Palestinian Arabs have rights to t= hat land. Most of the world recognizes the West Bank as properly belonging to the Palestinian Arabs. Yet many Jews consider the = land theirs because it was theirs historically and because God designated that l= and for the Israelites. Some Christians also think so. To abandon that land wou= ld be to act against the supreme Lord of the Land.

It is such a dilemma. But economics has an answer. Israel can formally recognize Judea and Samaria as territory of a Palestinian State. The international boundary would be the pre-1967 boundary, with minor adjus= tments. But since Israelis are living there, were now born there, and consider it t= heir home and their religious duty to stay, Israelis could remain as residents, = so long as they paid rent for the land to the Palestinian State.

The rent would increase over time up to the market rate for renting the land. The all-or-nothing crowd would not be pleased, but Palestinians would gain more from this than from kicking out the Jews. The Palestinians would obtain badly needed funds from the rent. With peace, the road blocks would be removed, and there would be huge mutual gains from tra= de between the Israeli residents and the Arabs. The residents would be offered Palestinian citizenship, so they would be dual citizens of Israel and Palestine if they wished. Palestinians should not object to Jews living in Palestine, since there are also Muslim and Christian= Arabs living in Israel. The Israeli settlements would be opened to Arab residents, so eventually the Jews in Judea and Samaria would be foreign residents just like foreigners live in many places all over the world.

Rent is the key to peace. Paying rent would acknowledge the Palestinian claim to the land, without giving up the attachment Jews ha= ve to their ancient homeland. Jews have lived in Judea<= /st1:place> under foreign rule for centuries, under Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, the British, and Turks. If Jews were willing to settle in Palestine under Turkish rule, why not a= lso under Palestinian?

Rent is what has been missing from the peace talks. It takes a geoist and Georgist to fully understand the implications of rent. T= his can now be the geoist gift to the world. Geoists can give the world the key= to peace. We need to send this message to the peace seekers of the Middle East: Israelis pay rent! Palestinians get re= nt!

We need big signs in peace marches that show a key and underneath, say "rent!" We need to keep shouting "rent" until people finally get it. Send a letter to all your local newspapers with the simple and short message: "The key to peace in the Middle East is = for Israelis to pay rent to the Palestinians for land in the West Bank." A thousand letters like this would wake people up. Editors like such short letters, so do it today. Give the world the key to peace!

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

foldvary@pobox.c= om

2003