The

Simple-Ideas Occasional
A publication dedicated to the study and celebration of common sense and repeatable experiments Robert L. Nuckolls, III Medicine Lodge, KS Number 118C, 12 June 2011

The Palestinians Need the Israelis

A few days ago I was reading comments to an article discussing the Middle East peace process. The author of the article (and the majority of comments) were solidly engaged in one-upmanship. Those guys killed more folks than these guys. This side has rights of succession to certain lands. That side is hell-bent upon sadistic suppression of the other side. Etc, etc, etc. While pondering this statistical, political, economic and philosophical cat fight . . . it occurred to me that any potential for prosperity outside the borders of Israel is heavily dependent upon the prosperity of individuals inside the borders of Israel. I suggest that the recipe for success has been demonstrated over thousands of years and is independent of religious, political or cultural preferences for the individuals involved. Let us consider readily observable facts: There is a phenomenon that describes human behaviors for thousands of years where the "border lands" between two nations become fuzzy as to nationality, even fuzzier as to real borders. For example: Present trends plotted into the future suggest that in the next 50 years or so, control US territories as far as 200 miles north of the US/Mexico border will become problematic. These lands will suffer campaigns of "social unrest" that run the gamut from simple protest to overt violence. Sympathetic US citizens and invading Mexicans will both campaign for a benign acceptance of a new demographic. Many leaders on both sides of the border will suggest that the US agree to an appropriate "lands for peace swap" the US and Mexico. The earliest manifestations of this phenomenon are already visible. Signs erected by the US Government just north of the border read in part: "Danger - Public Warning Travel not recommended -- Active Drug and Human Smuggling Area -- Visitors may encounter armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high rates-- Stay away from cash, clothing, backpacks and abandoned vehicles -- If you see suspicious activity, do not confront! Move away and call 911"

Say what? Thats like opening the gates to a prison and then erecting signs in the surrounding countryside warning citizens of a risk that the government is unable or unwilling to manage. A lands for peace deal simply establishes a new border land between the two countries. At the same time it encourages a progressive escalation of pressures against the defensive nation: This is a textbooks tactic of the despotic progressive - constant, unrelenting pressure. Israel has successfully defended herself on many occasions and has prevailed in spite of nearly continuous harassments and the occasional overt military action. The much sought after reward for a successful self-defense is the expansion of Israels defensible borders. The well of factoids for discussion are endless. They choose to ignore the fact that Israel expanded her defensible borders on the several occasions that they were attacked first. Nonetheless, sympathizers say those borders should be contracted and disputed lands returned . . . to somebody. The laundry list of Israeli transgressions fall in one of three categories. (1) offensive, (2) defensive or (3) the acts of sadists who take pleasure in abusing their neighbors. Offensive behavior as causation doesnt make sense. Israel has the horsepower to conduct a simple, precise clean sweep of the disputed lands. So whats keeping them from simply exterminating the entire populace of their border lands?. Okay, what about allegations of theft, detention, assassination, bulldozing of homes, sundry attacks and political persecutions? Israels detractors would have us believe the tally of Israeli sins are simply adult manifestations of behavior by children who grew up tearing the legs of bugs and turpentining cats. Now fitted with bigger toys and a national mission, they can turn their sadistic pleasures upon the next door neighbors and their children. Its an easy hypothesis to test. Implement a policy of honorable action by both sides and then see how

Copyright 2011 by Robert L. Nuckolls, III. This document may be reproduced in any form or venue when authorship is properly cited and the work is not exploited for the purpose of securing a profit or obscuring context.

many individuals of either population are still victim to what can only then be sadistic behaviors. If it can be deduced that Israels behaviors toward its neighbors is not offensive or sadistic, then whats left? Ill suggest that the road to true peace has nothing to do with the suggestions or demands by present world leadership or findings of any form of world court. A theme oft repeated in these essays offers the following simple-ideas: Liberty is the condition which allows the individual to go through life free of force or fraud against their person and property, i.e. the right to be left alone. Communal liberty is the condition that fosters cooperation between individuals in a free-market exchange of value that raises the socioeconomic condition of a nation and all nations with which they trade. The prime directive of a civilized society is the preservation of individual liberty. If your neighbor is not engaged in dishonorable activity, then one has no charter to bring force of any kind against their person or property. Let us step around any notions of racism by hypothesizing a boundary A inhabited by population A1. Doesnt need to be Israel. It can be anywhere on the planet. It might be the state of Maryland. Let us further suppose that boundary A touches boundaries B, C, D and E inhabited by populations B1, C1, D1, and E1. Let us suppose that further examination of those populations reveals subsets B2, C2, D2, and E2" who are not champions of liberty; they preach a doctrine of total destruction of population A1" and the taking of all resources within boundary A. B2" could be a street gang having designs on expanding their own territory and using language of despotic progressive bully to garner neighborhood support for their goals. Humans tend to be the most content when their boundaries are populated with honorable individuals engaged in free-market exchanges of value amongst themselves and with populations in other boundaries. The meteoric rise of the US in a mere 200 years is a validation of that particular recipe for success. When deprived of liberty and the resources for exploiting individual and communal liberty, struggles for basic comforts consume great amounts of time . . . . the idea of building anything new and better are easily displaced by the destructive rhetoric of by peoples B2 and friends who sing a compelling tune in four part harmony: "It's Easier to Take than to Build." Being thus distracted from any ideas of opportunity offered by a productive relationship with their

neighbor, they assign blame for their admittedly uncomfortable condition upon that same neighbor and may even react on those beliefs with violence. Consider the following hypothesis: Suppose all the peoples who occupy Israel said, "Okay, we give up. Dont shoot any more Were leaving." Suppose further that the peoples who occupy Israels border lands move in and take over. With a infusion of land, facilities and infrastructure to the victors holdings, what is the likelihood for this new national entity will thrive in a state of Utopian peace and prosperity? One learns by following the examples of teachers, people who have demonstrated recipes for success of their particular design goals.. Running all the chefs out of a successful kitchen benefits you not. You are left with a room full of pots, pans, stoves and perhaps a pantry full of spoiling foodstuffs that nobody knows how to prepare. Your customer base will take their business elsewhere when anticipation of a favorite meal is dashed. A lust for possession of some resource does not guarantee a Utopian outcome for taking that resource. Suppose you or I were handed the keys to a nuclear power plant, "Take it, it's all yours." Now what? It would be incumbent upon us to enlist a constellation of others who's collective time, talent and resources make successful operation of the plant possible. What happens to any coveted resource when placed in control of individuals lacking talent to exploit the potential for success represented by that resource? If B1 and friends tossed inhabitants of boundary A out, Ill suggest they are left with an empty kitchen. I suggest further the outcome will include some combination of the following: (1) The ownership of all resources within A are beyond the time, talent and resources for B1 and friends to operate and maintain. It will fall in to abject decay. Utopia is wrecked in a few years. (2) B1 and friends might enlist the populations of F, K, J, and M to lend their time talents and resources to the ownership and operation of their newly confiscated Utopia. The new socioeconomic melting pot is no longer the Utopia described in the songs which were sung with so much hope for change. Ownership of Utopia is transferred to those who know how and what to do with it. (3) Despotic progressives are talented at championing the causes of a supposedly persecuted and oppressed underdog. Many competent observers have suggested that the Palestinians are simply pawns in the great socioeconomic game played in that region for thousands

Copyright 2011 by Robert L. Nuckolls, III. This document may be reproduced in any form or venue when authorship is properly cited and the work is not exploited for the purpose of securing a profit or obscuring context.

of years. Supposed the keys to the Israeli kingdom where handed over to the Palestinians tomorrow. What are the practical expectations for popular underdogs of that region being able to defend and retain their booty? If the peoples living outside the borders of Israel cannot simply take what they desire by force right now, it seems likely that the Palestinians later possession of that prize will be short lived. I suggest that it matters not if inhabitants of boundary A are members of any particular group. They could be Arab, Irish, Presbyterian, Brazilian, or members of the Rotary Club. It matters not whether B1 and friends are of any particular group. It does matter that B2 and friends are despotic progressive groups that might range from simple neighborhood street gangs up to an including world-wide promoters of dishonor, death and destruction. Discussion of these conditions in the context of racism, class, community or national identity is moot. It's a study of human behaviors that have occurred countless times over the centuries. If the Pharaoh of Egypt had facilitated the growth of his slaves into an industrious, independently self-sufficient and thriving population he could have then imposed a 10% tax on their goods and services. Egypt could have been a much different nation. By modern times the nation might be mostly in the hands of chefs who make the kitchen produce . . . but does it matter? What matters is that there is a robust, honorable free-market economy that offers opportunity for any individual to exploit their personal potential. When one turns humans into livestock, you must feed, clothe, house and then direct their every activity. A burdensome and expensive task as the Pharaoh of Egypt discovered. Of course, one can forgo that expense and simply kill them off. Either action is an overt demonstration of ignorance of human potential and a tragic waste . . . and the pyramids don't get built either. I suggest that individuals who occupy the lands surrounding Israel are in demonstrably in greater need of free-market exchange with Israel than the other way around. Im willing to bet that Israel would be delighted to participate in the exchange of time, talent and resources that promote peace and prosperity for both sides of all borders. Both sides need to be free of conditions that promote reflexive running for cover when the rockets fall,

airplanes fly over or camo-painted trucks come rolling around the corner. The dishonorable propensity for doing things to each other has to cease first. Meetings held and documents signed in Geneva, the U.N., Paris, or Camp David are but dreams of fools or smokescreens of despots who hawk the idea that a worlds discomforts are assuaged by writing law, hiring bureaucrats, building armies and throwing money at it. It didnt work a thousand years ago, didnt work 50 years ago, wont work tomorrow. But the Nobel Prize Committee is still heavily invested in this obscene notion. If you were to conjure up recipes for success for say Cuba, Haiti, or North Korea. Would they not do better to study and emulate the successes of their neighbors? Would a Nobel Peace Prize not be more deserved in the form of entrepreneurial micro-loans to individuals intent upon doing things for as opposed to doing things to their neighbors? I much rather see them do that as opposed to rewarding fools or financing despots. Liberty is such a simple thing to establish and practice. Just quit doing things to each other and set up forums of honorable exchange. Peace will come to the Middle East (indeed the entire world) only when B2 and friends are identified as sociopathic pariahs and are shunned or forced out of power. Our founding fathers prescribed one demonstrable treatment for the discomforts of all honorable citizens. When the Constitutional Convention closed in 1787, one Dr. James McHenry heard a lady ask Dr. Franklin. Well Doctor what have we got? A republic or a monarchy. Dr, Franklin replied, A republic . . . if you can keep it. So it is with the peoples who live outside the borders of Israel. Even if the Israelis left tomorrow, the new owners are unlikely to enjoy Israels successes. Further, somebody with more firepower might pounce upon the new inhabitants and take their hard-won possessions. Honorable individuals are far more valuable as partners than slaves or targets of destruction. This is especially true of partners who know how to do really cool stuff! Palestinians will be much more prosperous and secure in their persons and property if they snuggle up close to (and trade with) somebody who has repeatedly demonstrated a will and ability to defend themselves. The Palestinians DesPro leadership will be their destruction. Israel is not their enemy. Israel is their salvation.

Copyright 2011 by Robert L. Nuckolls, III. This document may be reproduced in any form or venue when authorship is properly cited and the work is not exploited for the purpose of securing a profit or obscuring context.