It could be, like, a hypercube state with each territory in a different dimension . . .

What do you call leftism in simultaneous dimensions? It isn't just left. It's kind of at a right angle to left. It's Over-yond-thither-ism.

For more than half a century, Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting over the same tracts of earth. Numerous proposals for dividing the land have come and gone, and none has proved workable. Israel's most recent effort to end the territorial stalemate by pulling out of Gaza and dismantling some of the West Bank settlements has drawn criticism for being too little, too late.

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has outlined plans to finalise the country's boundaries by 2010 - but as long as the Palestinians demand a return to the 1967 borders, few expect the deadlock to be resolved. Given the current downward spiral of violence, the prospect of a peaceful and mutually agreed two-state solution seems further away than ever. But it also makes it necessary for us to think about the conflict in new terms.

In today's world, control of geographic territory doesn't mean as much as it once did. Statehood has become less about territory, and more about access to markets, technology, and the rule of law. What if the Israelis and the Palestinians were able to somehow separate the concepts of statehood and territory and to explore new ways of living together? What if both peoples were given the right - at least in principle - to settle in the whole area that lies between the Mediterranean and Jordan?

We could choke it with neutrons, Biff! You know, it just might work!

I'll admit that it might not be the easiest thing to imagine. When we think about states, we naturally think about borders - real, specific, definable borders that you can plot on a map. What I have in mind is utterly different, and no doubt somewhat far-fetched. (That said, given the failure of all the "realistic" solutions over the past 50 years, forgive me for suggesting that it may now be time to consider other possibilities.)

You might call it a "dual state". Instead of the familiar formula in which two states exist side by side, Israel and Palestine would be two states superimposed on one another. Citizens could freely choose which system to belong to - their citizenship would be bound not to territory, but to choice. The Israeli state would remain a homeland for Jews and, at the same time, become a place in which Palestinians were able to live freely.

It could be an Israeli state in the morning and a Palestinian one in the afternoon.

This basic administrative structure has worked elsewhere: for example, in the cantons of Switzerland.

You should have seen all the Jihad they had in Switzerland before they did the Canton thing. (Hat Tip: LGF)

Update: Switzerland just condemned the Gaza operation. If they are the model for the superimposed state business, is there another not-so-leftist Switzerland in there somewhere?

Tags: Modest Proposals, Israel, Palestinians, Switzerland