It’s a funny thing…

There is a wonderful Situation Comedy from Canada now showing near you, and of course on You Tube.

Based in a fictional community in Saskatchewan, it pokes gentle fun at everyone’s beliefs by following both Muslims and Christians in a small, modern day farming community. Brilliantly titled: “Little Mosque on the Prairie”, the show has done well, both in Canada and internationally. In fact, it has been sold to 37 other countries, meaning a good chunk of the World is now laughing with these characters. Perhaps the most telling of these International deals is this: it has been bought by both Palestinian AND Israeli TV companies for broadcast, and is being shown in all major cities.

When I was a stand up, I knew the power that laughing at yourself had. That wonderful ‘Aha!’ moment when you found out that the deep, dark secret you had been carrying around for years was shared by everyone else in the room, and everyone could finally laugh at it. The thought, though, that two sides on a different side of a non-stop war are laughing at the same jokes about religious and cultural differences leads you to think – who is waging war, here? If ‘The Palestinian Question’ is an intractable one (and it has been for my entire life, from Airplane hijackings when I was a teenager, to full out war now.), how come at least some of both sides can enjoy poking fun at themselves, and each other, on a weekly basis about the very things they are slaughtering each other for, the other 99% of the time?

The answer, of course, is that the regular Joe’s, the Ahmed’s and Benny’s going to work every day to feed their family and then kicking their showes off in front of the TV at night for some harmless fun, aren’t at war. It is the 10% of each population that have gotten themselves into power that are. These 20% are responsible for making sure that the past is continued on with all of its hatred’s and bigotry, all of its land-snatching one-upmanship in the name of a credo that has vanished from everyone else’s consciousness. If the other 80% of those closely affected by this conflict, the one’s burying loved ones, had a say that was loud enough, it wouldn’t continue for another day.

I had a ringside seat to this kind of end-of-conflict scenario through my life. The only end to the Irish problem wasn’t the fact that the IRA had ceased to remind everyone what had happened in 1690 – it was that both sides had the balls to sit down opposite each other and talk. The other 80% of both Irish and British citizens demanded it. Now, the British Government is not held is as high a regard internationally (Not because of this episode, but rather the Kowtowing to the US over Iraq.), and the IRA are small time street hoodlums, apparently. The power of the 80% involved simply said: “Enough is enough – end it.” And lo, it was ended.”

So what is the answer to this intractable problem? President Obama can take a bold step here, and state unequivocally that he belongs to the 80%, that he has a plan for the Arab and Jewish communities to work together, and simply stop what they are doing.

Visits to all Arab neighbors to Israel will show that he is serious in getting them what they want: No more border skirmishes, religious understanding for all branches of the religion they hold dear, and the US staying completely out of the fight, the argument and the future. Who is going to say No to that?

With everyone on his side, it’s time to talk to the Israelis:

“All of your neighbors will do what you want them to. They will all respect you, your religion, and your borders, and all you have to do is share your land. God said it is your land, and it is – but not exclusively. Drop the walls, free the slums of the Palestinians, and open up the land. You call it Israel, they call it Palestine. No further Apartheid or war. Everyone can now go into business and build a profitable part of the World. If you do not, we will not be looked upon as a savior anymore.”

Then it’s off to Gaza: “The rest of the World could no longer care if you believe that Israel has the right to exist because the rest of the World has come to terms with the fact that it does. You get access to the whole country, to live where you wish, and work the way you want to. You will have a Palestinian flag, your own parliament and passport,. Your people will be free to procreate and pray, flourish, and make life better for both them and their heirs. If you do not agree to this, it will show that the entire Arab world is onside with this plan but you. The World will soon get an entirely different view of the Palestinian people, whether they are run by Hamas or someone else. Even your supporters on the religious extreme around these parts agree with the plan, so if you say ‘No’, they will all know why it will not come about.”

From this point on, all it takes is a US withdrawal. In one diplomatic mission, the West has proved its support of people worshipping whatever God they wish unmolested by us – True democracy must begin with religion in a great many Muslim countries – and we will no longer interfere in any way in any internecine wars that break out among themselves. The Israelis know that the time has ended when the West will automatically back them up, and their own internal security is their matter. The Palestinians know that they have been given a chance to be citizens on their own soil, and they have to get along with the Israelis because no-one is going to come to their aid should they let their extremists become terrorists on their own homeland. The rest of the Muslim world sees the West backing away from what they see as the subjugation of an oppressed Muslim people, and they can go ahead and claim as a victory whatever they wish to spin. Any overt violent act from that point on will be recognized by the rest of the planet as an overt act of terror without basis. What knock-on effect will be seen in Pakistan and Afghanistan? Only positive, I’m sure.

Of course the naysayers will say it will never work, and a list of petty obstacles will be brought up as evidence all based on history. Of course there will be further bloodshed as the 20% continue to wreak havoc as part of their ongoing feud with the Future – but we all saw how quickly history can be changed with the fall of the Berlin Wall in the late ‘80’s, and the bloodshed will be far less than it is now. Tensions will ease globally, and business can start again. Who knows, there may even be a place for everyone to visit their former adversaries houses to enjoy a sit-com that makes fun of themselves. They can laugh at the same things at the same time together, instead of across a wall or in a bombing zone.