The Canaan Peace Plan
The Canaan Peace Plan began as part of the Paxcalibur spiritual vision.
I believe the Canaan Peace Plan will inspire a Model such as a
Republic of Canaan
for establishing Israeli Jewish and Palestine Christian and Muslim communities
united together in peace as a
Single Democratic State
"The Holy Land cannot be divided. To divide the Holy Land is a sacrilege."
Canaan
The Promised Land
Because of the Zionist religious concept of Israelite exclusive possession of the Holy Land, it is impossible for modern Palestinians as Gentiles to accept the name "Israel" as a proper name for their homeland. Indeed, for Gentiles of conscience who understand the meaning and the history of the name "Israel" as "He fights with God" plus the anti-Gentilism found in Jewish Torah and Talmud religious instruction, it is not possible to find inclusion in this name for non-Jews in Eretz Israel. To force recognition of "Israel" as the proper name of the Holy Land is to continue the Middle East conflict ad infinitum. Similarly, "Palestine" was the name the Roman Empire gave to the region and therefore it too has negative connotations to Jews as victims of Roman warfare against them. It is impossible for Israelis to accept "Palestine" as the proper name for their homeland.
What name can the Holy Land be for both groups to accept it? Only one name can be used because God wills it: Canaan, the name the Promised Land was known by for over two thousand years, longer than the few brief centuries of Israelite control, and longer than the 1500 years of Muslim control. In the spiritual wedding of the two peoples sharing the same territorial ground only one name is possible, the name historically given to that area of the Middle East, Canaan. Therefore, "Canaan" will be the name of the single Nation-State now known as Israel and the Occupied Territories. The combined Israeli and Palestinian communities will be known as Canaan, within which there will be the distinct Israeli and Palestinian sectors and communities plus mixed communities where both live and work together. Canaan will be the model for cooperative government between two distinct groups of people who each have historic claims to the same land.
Requirements for establishing lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians
The Fair Share Principle
The only fair share is an equal share, therefore the Canaan Peace Plan asks for Israelis and Palestinians to accept equal sharing of Canaan, equal sharing of the Holy City of Jerusalem, equal sharing of access to the Temple Mount area where there is room enough for both the Dome of the Rock and a new Temple, equal sharing of the fertile land in Canaan, equal access to the Holy Land coast, equal access to the Sea of Galilee, and equal sharing of the water sources of Canaan.
Water is an important issue for both Israelis and Palestinians. The fair share principle must apply to available water sources within Canaan. Neither Israelis or Palestine can be allowed to dictate the distribution of Canaanite water. Only a government of Canaan can do so as a democratic representative of both nation states. Only by both Israelis and Palestinians agreeing to fair and equal sharing in Canaan will social injustice be prevented from continuing to happen.
Two separate States or One?
There are enormous problems in creating two separate nations in the Holy Land of Canaan. Because Canaan is actually quite small in area creating two separate nation states will weaken both ethnic groups politically and will do very little to erase the scars of mutual animosity between these two groups both of which belong together as mutual descendents of their commonly held ancestor and patriarch, Abraham. Also, due to the relatively small area when peace does prevail between the two groups social interaction and eventually intermarriage will decrease the ethnic divisions. Only ethnic prejudice can maintain exclusivity and ethnic prejudice can no longer be tolerated in Canaan, the Promised Holy Land.
Because there are now many Palestinian communities in Israel and many Israeli communities in the Occupied Territories of Palestine, much social uprooting would have to take place in order to create two separate nation states in Canaan. Democracy will prevent Zionism from ever having total control in Israel and democracy will bring social justice for Palestinians as they eventually retrieve political power by the power of the vote. Democracy will prevent Islamic rulership from ever having total control of the Holy Land so democracy will become God's path to peace in the Holy Land.
Separate Sectors of governing authority
The legacy of the 1947 U.N. partition has created an almost impossible to bridge physical separation between Palestinians living in the West Bank and Palestinians living in the Gaza area. Separate Israeli and Palestinian communities are possible but two separate nation states will be near impossible to establish now without major social uprooting. Therefore the Canaan Peace Plan calls for the establishment of Israeli and Palestinian Sectors of community authority, each ethnic group maintaining its own governing authority over communities within each group's Sectors.
Canaan Government: The Assembly of Canaan
Canaan will be governed by an Assembly of Canaan under a Canaan Constitution. A democratically elected Assembly of Canaan composed of equal representatives of both Israeli and Palestinian citizens will govern Canaan interests outside the borders of the internal communities of Israel and Palestine.
A President of the Assembly of Canaan will be chosen through democratic vote of all Israeli and Palestinian citizens. At present, the common language in use between Israelis and Palestinians is English so the governing Assembly will be conducted in that language until another language is jointly agreed upon or spontaneously evolves. Because the Canaanite language was the originator of all Semitic languages as well as all Western alphabets, a new form of Canaanite language may develop as Hebrew and Arabic mix in modern Canaanite society.
Canaan High Court
Israeli and Palestinian communities within Canaan will be governed by their own citizens in the ways each has or will establish. Any conflicts between these nation-state governments and the Assembly of Canaan will be decided by convening a Canaan High Court, again composed of equal representation of both Israeli and Palestinian citizens. The Canaan High Court will decide major legal issues between Israeli and Palestinian citizens.
Canaanite Communities
The Assembly of Canaan will have jurisdiction over "Canaanite communities" which are existing and newly established communities composed of both Israelis and Palestinians who wish to live together in harmony without either Israeli or Palestinian national or religious agendas getting in the way. Canaanite community governments will follow the democratically elected Assembly of Canaan model. A provision should be made for future expansion of Canaanite Communities as citizens of future generations forgo the prejudices of their forebears wishing instead to create one people for one Holy Land nation under God as Holy One.
Jerusalem
The Capital and seat of the Assembly of Canaan will be Jerusalem. Israeli and Palestinian communities too will each have their capital government offices in Jerusalem but the City as a whole will be governed by the Assembly of Canaan and not under either Israel or Palestinian control although Israeli Sectors and Palestinian Sectors within Jerusalem city limits will be allowed. These Sectors will be governed by their appropriate nation-state governments. Conflicts between Sectors will be decided by the Canaanite High Court, the judicial branch of the Assembly of Canaan.
Jerusalem and Temple Mount will be the first testing of the Canaan concept of co-operative dominion by both Israelis and Palestinians. The land of Old Jerusalem will be formally dedicated back to God, the Holy One, the same God both Israelis and Palestinians worship under the names of YHWH and Allah. In Hebrew Scriptures, The Holy One gave Canaan, the Promised Land, to the Hebrews. The Holy One took the land away from them several times during their history, then gave it back again in 1948. But the new Israel still came with old curse of disputed possession of the land as it has been the Holy One's intention all along for the Semitic originated religions and their peoples to overcome their religious barriers to one another.
The Holy One knows the conflict creates the need to solve it. Solving it will bring spiritual maturity to both Israelis and Palestinians. Both are related by blood and shared ancient history. The Holy One is sick and tired of all the blood shed in senseless wars between people living in Its Holy Land. The Holy One is making known through this spiritually inspired solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that there is only one way out of the curse blocking the delivery of the Promised Land. The Chosen themselves must choose the supreme sacrifice: they must understand that only by voluntarily sharing Canaan with all who have their national, cultural, and religious birthrights to it will end the reoccurring cycle of violence.
Equality in the Right of Return
All Palestinians living in other countries must be allowed freedom to return to Canaan just as Israelis have allowed all Jews to return to Israel. This is in line with the Fair Share Principle but understandably creates serious problems with over-population of Canaan with Jews and Palestinians both contributing although with Palestinians contributing more because of their higher birth rates. With expanded Palestinian Sector territory due to fair sharing of all Canaan there will be more room for refugee Palestinians who wish to return to their homeland. Both Israel and Palestine then can begin their task of working on over-population issues along with the majority of nations of the world.
Protection of Holy Sites
Each religious site within Jerusalem and others in Canaan will be under the protection of the Assembly of Canaan. At no time will worshippers at the sacred sites or houses of worship be denied their rights of access to the religious sites of their religions. The Temple Mount area too must be divided equally in control between Israeli Jews, Palestinian Muslims, and both Israelis and Palestinians who have rekindled a modern form of the Canaanite religion.
The Temple Mount will host both the Dome of the Rock mosque and a Third Temple (Ezekiel model) to be built beside it on the north side which may have been the original intended Temple site. There is enough room for both disputed religious structures. There is no need to prove to God who's religion is greater by the ancient and spiritually primitive tribal war system of destroying one another's sites of worship. The Holy One has no desire for human beings to fight one another over ancient history that is so tangled with mythology it can never be proven one way or another. Territorial based religion is religion for spiritually insecure peoples who confuse the desires of men for territorial control with the desires of God who has "owned" everything since the beginning.
Demilitarization: Ending U.S. economic support of Israeli armed forces
The Assembly of Canaan must insure peace throughout Canaan. Therefore, the Assembly of Canaan will have the authority to force Israelis to cede their great military superiority compared to Palestinians to the authority of the Assembly of Canaan, just as the Palestinian Authority must also do. Israel should know by now after 55 years of occupying Palestine that military superiority has never brought Israelis security. Only social justice for all will bring that security. As Israel will be loathed to give up what it believes to be its only security against hostility from Palestinians and surrounding Arab nations even though the historical record shows such over-arming to have virtually no effect on the capacity of Palestinian militants to inflict injury on Israeli citizens, the Canaan Peace Plan also calls for the United States to cease aiding Israel against Palestine, to cease all military aid to Israel at once and to equalize economic aid to Israel with aid given to Palestine.
Years of inequality in such US aid have given Israelis a tremendous economic and political advantage over Palestinians. This US aid, more than anything else, has led to the intransigence of Israel to the creation of a Palestinian state and to the 55 years of bloodshed between the two peoples of the Holy Land. The Canaan Peace Plan will be both the spiritual and the secular instrument for the new covenant of peace and co-operation between Israelis and Palestinians. Canaan will be the manifestation of this new enlightenment and it will serve as a universal model for ending bloodshed in all war-torn regions where two or more populations with differing cultures dispute ownership of the same geographical territory. Through this Canaan Peace Plan vision given to a Jewish Christian, the Holy One has sent It's answer to Zionism and Jihad, an answer that that will finally establish the Promised Land, the Holy Land, whole and Holy, the first step in reclaiming all lands as Sacred Ground.
* *
Jerusalem belongs to God
From Tribune News Services
August 31, 2000
JERUSALEM, MIDDLE EAST -- Israelis and Palestinians who have spent months wrangling over which side should control Jerusalem's holy sites are turning their attention to an idea floated after Camp David's failure: put God in charge. The proposal to declare God the sovereign over Jerusalem shrines is tentative, but it has the potential to help defuse the most emotional dispute in the Middle East peace talks. "This is a very promising solution," said political scientist Menachem Klein, member of an Israeli think tank that has been advising Prime Minister Ehud Barak in the negotiations. Klein said the idea of putting God in charge was first floated after July's Mideast summit.
A working model "Canaanite Community"
There exists a village in Israel as of this writing that conforms to the visionary proposal of the Canaanite Communities, at least as far as that the proposal calls for communities of Israelis and Palestinians living and working together peacefully. The Village is Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam. Below was taken from the Internet description of this village.
"Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is a village in Israel which was established as a model for Jewish/Arab coexistence. The village was founded jointly by Jews and Arabs, and has since been inhabited by both groups. The families and individuals who live, study and work in Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam work to achieve peace, equality and understanding between the two peoples."
* The Assembly of Canaan is modeled on the ancient Canaanite religious model of the Divine Assembly where God Most High presided as President. Although the Canaanites were pagans their God Most High, EL, became incorporated into both Judaic and Islamic conceptions of God as YHWH and Allah. The Canaan Peace Plan thus unifies both religious groups by reaching back into the beginnings of the religions of both Jews and Palestinians.
* The original Canaan Peace Plan was based on the World Community Land Trust proposal I wrote in 1974.
* For the protection of religious and ethnic communities without the need of massive security measures see the Protection Plan for Ethnic Groups page.
* This vision also sees in the future Samaria arising once again independent of Israel or Palestine but sharing internal sovereignty with them in the land of Canaan of their common origin. Its capital center will be Ariel as it is today.
Note on the Republic of Canaan flag
Yes, the basic design is the Israeli flag with its colors inverted. I am Jewish Christian and I feel the weight of Jewish shame that the European Zionist movement has foisted on all Jews because of Israel and Israel's terrible treatment of indigenous Palestinians. Zion is a Spiritual center and the way Zionist Jews have treated it is appalling. Does God stand for race war and territorial possession above all else? That's the way Zionist Israelis seem to think which only goes to show how Zionism is in fact nationalized pathological narcissism in religious form, its a social disease clearly seen as such in violent confrontation with Palestinian natives with a perfect right to fight against European colonial invasion and takeover. As a Jewish Christian religious visionary I too feel the spiritual pull of Zion but it's a Spiritual pull that has nothing to do with the seemingly ceaseless territorial battling between Abrahamic religionists, Jewish, Pauline Christian, and Muslim. The Republic of Canaan flag reflects and does honor Jewish perseverance in pursuing reestablishing Israel as a nation since Canaan never was organized as such and neither was Palestine, but the Republic of Canaan flag stands for the reversal of Jewish Zionism. The flag of the Republic of Canaan centers focus on the spiritual miracle of the Sword of Peace, the true Sword of Jihad, as it shows the way forward to peace in the Middle East by symbolizing the breaking of weapons of war. The Republic of Canaan is the Promised Land where all old Abrahamic religious conflicts are to pass into history where they belong to fertilize the building of a true Holy Land as a land without war.