Ray Hanania, Palestinian journalist, has brought a new perspectiveto the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with a proposal for a solution to the settlements and refugee problems.

Under Hanania’s plan, the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank to be exchanged with Palestinian refugees will be negotiated between parties. (There are about 500,000 Israelis settlers living in the West Bank and more than 4 million Palestinians refugees.) For every settlement that Israel seeks to keep in the original West Bank, Israel will be asked to be prepared to give Palestine an equal amount of land mass. Even if all settlers are willing to return Israel, Palestinians will be funded through compensation committees to live in Palestine or another country. Both Israeli settlers who stay in Palestine and Palestinian refugees returning to Israel will have citizenship rights.

Israel: Tension between Settlers and Netanyahu over “Freeze” on West Bank Construction

The full transcript of Hanania’s proposal:
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Speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe this week, Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter’s National Security Advisor, reviewed the Middle East peace process. He declared that President Obama found himself between two options/schools of thought: Israel’s official perspective of delaying the peace with Palestinians, by presenting the Iranian danger as the priority of “existential threat”, and the demand for a two-state solution.

For Brzezinski, the outcome of Obama’s speech in Cairo on July 4 will be the turning point in US policy. It will ether foster a solution or, in its failure, ensure the peace process will be stuck for a long time. Thus, the US must make it clear to Israelis and Palestinians that this is the last chance for peace in the region, particular as the tension with Iran is worsening.

Brzezinski believes Israel must withdraw from occupied Palestine and must be pushed to share Jerusalem and stop the expansion settlements. In return, Israel must be assured that it does not have to accept any Palestinian refugees via a “right to return”. Otherwise, a polarization would continue, with Palestinians seeing no alternative outside Hamas.