Architect for Peace - Chapter 6 - The Palestinian Government

This is where I invoke the quote from poet and philosopher George Santayana - Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

So let’s look into the recent past for some examples of attempts to establish Democratic governments. The Afghanistan government is probably as inept as could be imagined. Corruption is rampant and Money disappears. There are voting irregularities. It is hard to retain police and soldiers and the bureaucracy hardly works.

Now lets look at Iraq. Hmm, same thing. And what about the current PA? Looks like a trend here! Of course I’m oversimplifying – these governments are being established in war zones, and thus have great external pressures to contend with.

So how do we avoid Mr. Santayana’s maxim with this new Palestinian government?

Ready made Federal Government

By adopting the Mandate country Canada's Constitution along with its 100+ year record of judicial proceedings, a government can be set up in a minimal time.

Implementation

One of the lessons of past attempts at forming governments is this – amateurs are unable to make it work. It doesn’t matter how much money and time and effort you throw at it, there is no substitute for experience.

This is where the UN Mandate comes in. The mandate country (Canada) is responsible for setting up AND RUNNING the government – until such a time as the Palestinians can do it for themselves.  This timing can only be determined by the Canadians. This ensures that the government will be functional and not (very) corrupt for a period of time.

The natural progression of the future Palestinian government would be to (slowly) remove Canadian bureaucrats and replace them with Palestinian candidates.

Provincial Government

Each province in the West Bank and Gaza would have a premier using the Canadian model. They would be Palestinians chosen by a democratic vote. These Premiers would represent the Palestinian people to the Governor General.