Israel’s security walls have now been proven ineffective to their designed purpose. While it seems counterintuitive, the Old Testament itself describes the folly of walled cities, which were paradoxically weaker than the unwalled cities. Fortifications gave inhabitants a false sense of security, they grew weak. Unwalled cities forced the inhabitants to remain strong.
Israel now can remove their walls between Gaza and the West Bank, since – as the Old Testament predicted – they are not effective. Without the wall between Israel and Gaza, the music festival would have either been nowhere near the frontier, or more likely, it would have straddled that border as an act of peaceful inclusion, rather than exclusion, which is the immediate result of border walls.
When Palestinians are able to shop, live and travel freely in Israel, and when Israelis are able to shop, live and travel freely in Palestine, the poverty that drives terrorism will be converted to wealth and comfort that drives regional peace. And when Israel removes the walls, it is possible that Jordan will follow. The commercial opportunity of open trade pathways across Palestine, Israel and Jordan will bring wealth to all that didn’t exist before, with Israeli and Palestinian ports able to move goods from the world across the interior of the Arabian subcontinent.
There will be flies in the ointment, but peace is built on compromise. Some Israelis will need to adopt Palestinian residency and relent to Palestinian rule. And Palestinians who move to Israel may call themselves “Palestinians” rather than “Israeli Arabs.” But when the terrorists of Hamas are depowered against the Palestinian people with the advent of anti-poverty efforts, the opportunity for real economic gain will present itself across the united states of Jordan, Israel and Palestine.