yeah i know.
this is the third time i've claimed i was the man with the plan to bring an end to the conflict between the israelis and palestinians. so i don't blame anyone for being slightly apprehensive.
but we all know the third time's a charm. besides which, i'm no longer relying on common sense or logic as i did earlier. (if you're innarested, you can a bare-bones version of plan 2 in the thread of scatter629's excellent post, 'ben franklin & jerusalem' Link -- an article which really deserves to be read even if you don't wanna know bout plan 2.)
anyway...i dunno if all americans look at the conflict between israel and the palestinians as being somewhat similar to a young america's dealings with the continent's native peoples over 100 years ago. somewhat is perhaps overstatement except in one important aspect. our government established what used to be called reservations--territory set aside for the native nations to exist assuming they could figure out a way to eke an existence from pretty much nothing--in places like the desert wastelands of the southwest or the bleak plains of north & south dakota, isolated pieces of land without much water, access to markets, etc.
it took a while for these strangers in their own land to devise a solution...like over 100 years. the good news is...they did. in so doing, they provided a model just waiting to be implemented by the palestinians.
if i were head of the palestinian authority, i'd be on the next thing smokin to the headquarters of the bally corporation. why?
one word: casinos.
you can hardly turn on a tv these days without seeing some wannabe cowboy like kenny rogers touting the 24/7 fun waiting for you at gaming resorts with names like pechanga, morongo (and they do), aqua caliente or chumash in california. in the south, there's tunica, in new york, the seneca-niagra. wisconsin has dozens with cool sounding names like menominee, potawatomi and the always popular little turtle at hertel.
they rake in so much money, even a millionaire like california governor arnold schwarzenegger could barely wait to be sworn in before calling for a parlay with the california nations to devise a scheme to get his hands on some of it.
odds are those who don the bombvest do so because they have nothing to lose but their miserable lives. lives without a future, without a job, without anything to do but dream up horrific plots,
right now they're just sittin around moping when they could be constructing 'the camel', 'the ' mosque-o-slots' or even the 'REAL alladin'.
imagine the crowds of fun-seeking israelis lining up to see shecky greene or the next joey bishop. toss in a great sunday brunch with lox sliced so fine it's almost transparent and the gaza strip will make the las vegas strip look small time.
in fact, i'm willing to give odds that new wall will fall faster than the one around jericho.