Israel-Palestine handshake symbol | Image via Wickey-nl via Wikimedia Commons
Part XXVII of the “Back-to-Basics Governance” Series
Remember the “Abraham Square” idea in the 1970s of Msgr. Manuel L. Salvador and his altar server (that became this columnist)? It was discussed in this column last Wednesday. It was meant for the barrio of Monte Calvario in Bulan town of Sorsogon, Philippines. It can also be the visionary idea that may defuse tension between Israel and her neighbors. And end wars between them that had tormented humanity in the Middle East and elsewhere for many generations.
Why choose the Prophet, Abraham? Because he is the common patriarch of the three major religions in the Middle East. The warring factions have a common denominator that can unite them.
Right now, Jewish and Palestinian militants are again exchanging deadly rockets and artillery shells between their territories. Muslim militants in Lebanon have also launched rockets at Israeli towns and cities. It can lead again to a 21st-century version of the Six-Day War that can become another Seven-Years War (that Britain and Spain fought in the 18th century). Or longer or even forever.
Perhaps the road to peace in the Middle East can be achieved by letting the United Nations broker first a ceasefire. And then persuade Israel and Palestine’s policy and decision makers to turn the West Bank and the Gaza Strip into a giant Abraham Square with adjacent agricultural zones that can make the desert bloom with fruit-and-olive trees — with piped-in irrigation, as Israeli engineers have perfected. Vegetables and other cash crops can be cultivated in greenhouses with controlled temperatures and humidity. This can make all the Jews, Muslims, and Christian minorities in the disputed territories the peoples of peace and protectors of the environment. Instead of planting land mines or improvised explosives, they can plant seedlings, even the so-called “Memorial Trees” (as discussed in this column).
It will be cheaper and more constructive to persuade all combatant nations to enter multilateral efforts to create peace. Yes, starting in the Middle East, the wars were partly financed by foreign military-and-economic aid from developed countries.
The Abraham-Square idea can lead to a 21st-century version of the American “Medical Center” (MedCenter) done in Manila, Philippines, in the early 1900s. This column has written about it and urged the POTUS — as part of a suggested “Biden Back-to-Basics Doctrine” — to lead in constructing similar MedCenters in 50 other strategic locations worldwide. The MedCenters can assure the world of ending “vaccine imperialism,” as this column used at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical infrastructures can ensure all people’s protection against pandemics and ample and affordable supplies of vaccines and needed medicines year-round. A MedCenter has three components: 1) Schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, and other medical courses; 2) a general hospital and 3) a research-and-development (R&D) center.
Then aside from constructing buildings of worship in Abraham Square, a Cathedral of Learning, a Baseball Cathedral, and other sporting arenas and infrastructures may also be built by a multilateral (and even an international) consortium. Dormitories and condominiums can be built as housing for students, workers, athletes, tourists, and all homeless citizens.
” … persuade Israel and Palestine’s policy and decision makers to turn the West Bank and the Gaza Strip into a giant Abraham Square with adjacent agricultural zones that can make the desert bloom with fruit-and-olive trees — with piped-in irrigation, as Israeli engineers have perfected.”
Another Abraham Square can be duplicated in the Golan Heights, or the Golan, a region in the Levant spanning about 1,800 km². The area’s name is from the biblical city of refuge, Golan, in Bashan (Deuteronomy 4:43; Joshua 20:8). The Golan region has been the center of military clashes between Israel and Syria. The area was part of southwestern Syria until 1967 when it came under Israeli military occupation. In December 1981, Israel unilaterally annexed the part of the Golan it held.
Imagine a territory of some 1,800 square miles devoted not to becoming another military-industrial complex (MIC) and an arena for warfare. But to showcase a multiethnic-interfaith complex of commerce, science, and industry (MICCSI).
Peace can be further attained by having the proposed Abraham Squares and the MICCSI zones demilitarized. Security can be secured by contingents of United Nations peacekeepers drawn from neutral countries.
On the spiritual side, imagine collective celebrations of Ramadan, Lent, Passover, Easter (both the Catholic and Orthodox versions), Eid al-Fitr, and Earth Day in 30-to-40 days. Peace, spiritual revival, and a socioeconomic renaissance will happen in the same period. How can humanity and leaders of nations not seek to accomplish the said goals in one lifetime? Our lifetime? And for eternity?
Peace is possible because people prefer it over destruction and death. On governance, perhaps there can be someday a United Nations of the Middle East (UNME). Or the United States of the Middle East (USME).
Funding for the Abraham Squares and socioeconomic zones can be quickly and realistically provided. How? By first converting all the participating nations’ military-and-economic aid into project investments. International banking institutions can pump in more investments in them. The Export-and-Import Bank of the United States — and its counterparts in the highly-developed countries — can also pitch in and provide financing and investments for the needed technology, services, equipment, and products. If most of the projects are launched by 2025, Planet Earth will have a better environment and real socioeconomic progress in 2050. Yes, in just five 5-year phases.
