The Commonwealth of Jerusalem

The Jerusalem Commonwealth

Building Bipartisan Cooperation while Maintaining Self-Determination for Israel and Palestine

Rationale

This proposed model assumes that the two state solution may never materialize, and instead proposes an alternative solution: a political structure where self-governing territories for both Palestinians and Israelis are empowered to fulfill their communities’ aspirations, and where the two communities come together in a commonwealth system that carefully and deliberately balances and shares power.  The aim is to replace the current military and sometimes violent sectarian conflict with a political system for sustained conflict resolution and negotiation in a bipartisan commonwealth government structured to promote cooperation and pursuing shared interests and mutual benefits, without sacrificing security. 

Key points in summary

·         A commonwealth of Israel and the West Bank with Jerusalem as the unifying and iconic capital city, rather than as a symbol of division over which two rival states quarrel to make it their own separate capitals.

·         A bicameral commonwealth parliament with two chambers, the Hebrew Chamber and the Arabic Chamber.  Citizens throughout the commonwealth can stand for election or vote for candidates of either Chamber, but the role of the Hebrew Chamber would be to promote and protect Jewish aspirations, and the Arabic Chamber those of the Palestinians and Arab Israelis.

·         Legislation would need the assent of both chambers to become law, so that bipartisanship would be essential and inherent at the commonwealth level, and the parliament would tend towards seeking shared interests and mutual benefits rather than extremist or confrontational positions.

·         Giving both chambers of parliament the right to veto legislation means that demographic concerns of being out-numbered would have little importance, as the size of each chamber does not affect the ability to veto.  While deadlock is possible, mechanisms can be found to break such deadlocks.

·         The executive would not be led by a prime minister or president, but instead the executive would be a directorate[1], seven equal members of an Executive Council, members of parliament chosen by their peers, which because of the demographic balance between Jewish and non-Jewish communities, would be essentially bipartisan (likely to have four Jewish and three Palestinian Councilors).

·         There would be territory governments, each with its own unicameral assembly and executive, governing three areas: Israel, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. 

·         Addressing the enormous problems existing in the Gaza Strip would be critical to the success of the commonwealth, and Gaza would be developed as a dependent special territory associated but not a full part of the Jerusalem Commonwealth until such time it can be admitted as the fourth territory of the commonwealth, contingent on recognition of the right of the Jewish people to a homeland in Israel.

·         Unlike the two state solution, a commonwealth means freedom of movement and residency for all citizens across all three territories, allowing Jewish settlements to remain and Palestinian refugees to return to Israel, but both in an agreed controlled manner.

While most democracies have a governing party or coalition and an opposition, this adversarial majority-rules governance would be counter-productive, in that it would divide rather than unite and build peace between Israel and Palestine.  In contrast, in the unicameral territory parliaments, majority rule would apply, so that territories governments can seek to advance their people’s aspirations. 

THE JERUSALEM COMMONWEALTH IN DETAIL

The Lands of the Jerusalem Commonwealth 

The Jerusalem Commonwealth (‘the commonwealth’) would include the current territory of Israel and the West Bank with the City of Jerusalem as its capital.  The Gaza Strip could be a dependent Territory in formal association with the Commonwealth until such time it can be fully included.  The Golan Heights could also be included subject to negotiations. 

Citizenship

All current Israeli citizens, long term residents of Israel and the West Bank, and Palestinian refugees residing in the West Bank would automatically become ‘founding’ citizens of the Commonwealth.  Future rights to citizenship for new immigrants would be granted as set out   below.  In this proposal, the term Palestinian will be taken to include Arab Israelis, Druze, Bedouins and other non-Jewish communities indigenous to Palestine.

The Commonwealth Territories

Territory of Israel

Based on the current six Israeli administrative districts but without the metropolitan portion of the Israeli district of Jerusalem.

The West Bank Territory of Palestine

Based on the 11 governorates of the West Bank including Al-Quds but without the metropolitan portion in East Jerusalem.  The ‘Judea and Samaria Area’ would no longer exist as an administrative unit, and West Bank Jewish settlements would be a part of this territory.

Capital Territory of Jerusalem

Jerusalem City, including both West and East Jerusalem, but not including the remaining non-metropolitan portions of the current Israeli district of Jerusalem and the Palestinian governorate of Al-Quds.  It would not only be the Commonwealth capital, but also the location of both Israel and West Bank territorial assemblies and governments.

Gaza Special Territory of Palestine

Initially, the Gaza Strip would be a dependent territory of the commonwealth, the Gaza Special Territory, capital in Gaza City.  The people of Gaza would have autonomy to run their own affairs, but not have representation in the Commonwealth parliament. The IDF would manage its borders and maintain security.  The territory would be eligible for full membership of the commonwealth following a process of economic integration and deradicalization, and recognition of the Territory of Israel as a Jewish homeland.

Golan Heights and Land Swaps

Golan Heights would be returned to Syria, unless otherwise agreed during peace negotiations including potentially involving land swaps and following a plebiscite that supported annexation, as either a commonwealth administered district or part of the Territory of Israel. 

The territories would maintain sovereignty over their territory borders but could negotiate internal land swaps if mutually agreeable.  However, only the Commonwealth Government would have the power to negotiate land swaps with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon or Syria but such swaps would be subject to the approval of the relevant Territory government. 

Population of the Commonwealth

The estimated populations of the four territories in 2020 are in table 1 below.

TERRITORY	TOTAL (000)	JEWISH (000 and %)	PALESTINIAN    (000 and %)	ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES
ISRAEL	7570	5667   (74.9)	1903   (25.1)	151
WEST BANK	3173	418     (13.4)	2755   (86.6)	63
JERUSALEM	919	556     (60.6)	363      (39.4)	18
COMMONWEALTH  TOTAL	11,662	6641  (56.9)	5021   (43.1)	232
GAZA	2048	0     (0)	2048    (100)	40

The population estimates are based on latest official estimates for 2018 as at 19 September 2019  from the Central Bureaus of Statistics, of Israel and 2020 projection from the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics released on 6 March 2020 as found at https://www.citypopulation.de/Asia.html .

Division of Power between Territory and Commonwealth Governments

As far as possible, the functions of Government would remain mostly in the domain of the territories, but certain powers would need to be ceded to the Commonwealth Government as shown in table 2.

Table 2 : areas of responsibility for Territory governments and the Commonwealth government

Territory Government	Commonwealth Government
Health, Sport and Recreation	Defense
Education and Research	Internal Security and Justice
Social Services, Child Care	Foreign Affairs and Trade
Environment, Water, Antiquities and Tourism	Immigration and Citizenship
Planning, Housing, Local Government	Taxation and Economic policy
Territory Law and Justice, Prisons	Commonwealth Law (Attorney General)
Employment, Local Transport, Road and Rail	Air transport, Ports, Communication

Elected Representatives

A national election would be held every four years to choose parliamentary representatives.  Elected representatives would sit in the three unicameral territory assemblies according to the electorates which they represent and in addition, the bicameral commonwealth parliament.  This dual parliamentary role would minimize the risk of conflict between the commonwealth and territory governments and engender a sense of unity of purpose.  It would underline that the territories’ representatives are coming together in Jerusalem to form a joint commonwealth government that serves both the Jewish and Palestinian peoples.  Elected representatives thus are responsible for decision making at both territory and commonwealth level.

Members of parliament would be elected by proportional representation with one representative per 50,000 population.  Based on the current populations, Israelis would be entitled to 151 representatives, the West Bank Palestinians 63, and citizens in Jerusalem 18, for a total of 232 elected representatives.  Twenty-two electoral districts would be created so that elected representatives would be more directly accountable at a local level to the voters in their respective districts (table 3).  Compulsory voting by all adult citizens would ensure equality of representation across the commonwealth. 

notes on table 3:                                              

1. Hebron:                           Hebron governorate but some northern areas included in the Central Palestine electorate 2. Central Palestine:         Bethlehem, northern Hebron, and parts of Al-Quds east of Jerusalem toward the Dead Sea

3. Ramallah:                        Ramallah and portion of Al-Quds west of East Jerusalem and south of Ramallah

4. Jordan Valley:                Jericho, Tubas and Jenin governorates

5. Western Palestine:      Salfit, Tulkarem and Qalqilyah governorates

8. Negev:                             Ashkelon and regions** to the south east in the Negev and Eilat

9. Beersheba:                     Beersheba and Dead Sea regions

10. Ashdod:                        Ashdod and hinterland between the sea and Jerusalem City 11. Ramla:                           Ramla including southern parts of Petah Tiqwa

12. Eastern Metro.:         Ramat Gan and environs within Tel Aviv District

13. Southern Metro.:      Holon and environs within Tel Aviv District

20. Lower Galilee:             Nazareth and Shefar’am regions

21. Upper Galilee              Akko, Nahariyya, Karmiel, and north towards the Lebanese border 22. Eastern Galilee            Zefat, Kinneret and Yizreel sub districts except Nazareth region ** here region refers to ‘natural regions’ as defined by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.

The threshold is the percentage of the votes cast required for a candidate to be elected.  The proposed electoral districts were devised so that the number of elected representatives per district is consistently between 8 and 12, using as far as practicable existing Israeli and Palestinian administrative divisions.  This means the threshold to get elected is between 8.33% and 12.5% by the single transferrable vote method of proportional representation, thus raising the threshold for election used currently in the Israeli election system.  The exception would be Jerusalem with 18 elected representatives.

Territory Governments

The three territories would each have its own unicameral assembly located in Jerusalem.  In the Israeli and West Bank territory assemblies, the parties that could form a simple majority would form the territory government.  The leader of the Government would be the Chief Minister and appoint a Territory Cabinet with ministerial portfolios as per table 2 above.  Chief Ministers would automatically be members of the Commonwealth Executive Council (see below) to represent their Territory. 

In the Capital Territory, an Administrator would be appointed by the Commonwealth Executive Council with the approval of the Commonwealth Parliament, who along with appointed assistant administrators would fulfill the executive functions of government for the territory.  The Capital Territory assembly would have the power to sack the appointed administration and accept or reject local laws and measures proposed by the Administration.  This arrangement aims to ensure Jerusalem as a bipartisan national capital, with government accountable to both Palestinians and Israelis, a unifying influence in the Commonwealth, while ensuring local voters’ wishes are respected.

The Commonwealth Legislature

The Commonwealth Parliament would be bicameral, with a Hebrew Chamber and an Arabic Chamber.  The role of the Hebrew Chamber would be to promote and protect Jewish aspirations, and the Arabic Chamber those of the Palestinians and Arab Israelis.   Legislation proposed by the Commonwealth Executive Council (see below) would need the assent of both houses to be passed.  Thus, neither community could impose its will on the other.  If the two houses became deadlocked, a joint sitting with a two thirds majority could override any veto.  Each chamber would have a Speaker who could act as spokesperson for their community’s interests, and have parliamentary committees to study, review, scrutinize and propose amendments to Executive Council legislation.  While segregating parliament along ethnic lines may seem at first unpalatable and run counter to building unity, the advantages of this division are:

·         it offers a stronger voice for Israeli Arabs and West Bank Jewish settlers who would be in minority populations within Israel and the West Bank level;

·         most importantly, it removes the fears of both communities of being outnumbered either now or in the future.

Candidates for election would nominate for either the Hebrew or Arabic chamber of the commonwealth parliament.  For example, in the Beersheba electorate all successful candidates, whether Jewish, Arabs or Bedouin, would sit in the Knesset but if voters voted according to ethnicity, four would be elected to the Hebrew Chamber and six to the Arabic chamber for their commonwealth role.  At the commonwealth level, the numbers in each chamber would be 132 and 100 respectively, assuming voters are in the same proportion as the general population.  However, while mainstream voting would be expected to largely follow such a pattern, smaller minorities such as Druze, Bedouin and Arab Christians may be more variable in choosing which chamber would be best for their interests. 

The Commonwealth Executive

There would be no president or prime minister of the Commonwealth; executive functions of government would be fulfilled by the Commonwealth Executive Council of seven elected representatives, appointed by a joint sitting of both houses of the Commonwealth Parliament for a term of four years.  The Council would provide collective leadership in areas of government functions that cannot be retained by the territories.  For example, a suggested model for the essential functional roles of the Executive Councilors could be the following:

1.  Presiding Officer of the Council, ceremonial head of state, and Councilor for Jerusalem Administration

2.  Deputy Presiding Officer, Councilor for Population and Migration

3.  Councilor for Defense

4.  Foreign Affairs and Trade Councilor

5.   Councilor for Home Affairs, Internal Security and the Commonwealth Police, and Gaza Special Territory

6.   Councilor for the Economy, Transport, and Communications

7.   Attorney General and Councilor for Protection of Minorities

If voting for the Commonwealth Executive Council would be by proportional representation of a joint sitting of both houses and voting was along purely communal lines, then the number of Jewish Executive Councilors elected would be four, and three would be Palestinians.  Furthermore, the Executive Council would inherently reflect the full spectrum of the parties elected according to their voting strength in the parliament, so would always need consensus decision making as no single bloc would ever achieve a majority.  As well as ensuring both communities are represented, so too would the left and right wings of party politics, secular and religious, etc.  Alternatively, election to the Executive Council could require a two thirds majority, which would tend to empower moderates acceptable to both communities and marginalize extremists from both communities.  To function effectively, the Executive Councilors would need to take a bipartisan approach, find shared interests and work cooperatively.  Executive Councilors would no longer participate in parliamentary divisions, in order to promote Council unity and solidarity and avoid schisms in the executive, and no longer sit in their respective territory assemblies. 

The Chief Ministers of Israel and the West Bank would automatically be non-voting members of the Commonwealth Executive Council without ministerial portfolio responsibilities.

The Judiciary

The existing legal frameworks would continue at territory level.  There would be two Supreme Courts, one for Israeli legal matters and the other for Palestinian matters. Israeli law would continue to apply in the Territory of Israel, and likewise Palestinian laws would apply in the territory of West Bank.  A new Commonwealth High Court would be established to adjudicate on matters involving the Commonwealth government and inter-territory disputes.  In the Capital Territory of Jerusalem, initially Israeli laws would apply during a transition to a Commonwealth legal system, but the lower courts in the territory would be directly under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth High Court.  Seven High Court judges would be nominated by the Executive Council and confirmed by both houses of parliament.  At least three places should be reserved for Jewish judges, and three for Palestinian judges.

Security

Recognizing the current existential threat to Israel from terror groups and hostile states, responsibility for defense of the Commonwealth would remain with the existing IDF initially.  Over time if these threats to Israel’s existence sufficiently diminish, the IDF would become an integrated  Commonwealth Defense Force.  Until then, the IDF would have authority over all external borders including the border with Gaza.  The IDF would have no authority over internal civilian movements, and IDF bases in the West Bank would be for purely defensive purposes against external threats. 

Israeli and Palestinian police forces would continue to function separately within their respective territories.  A bipartisan Commonwealth Police would be responsible for security and policing in the Capital Territory and important designated holy sites anywhere.  These three police forces would be responsible for internal security. 

The intelligence services would be under the authority of the Commonwealth Government, but during a transition period the existing services would continue separately to report also to their respective territory governments. 

Rights to Free Movement, Employment and Residence

All 11.7 million ‘founding’ Palestinian and Israeli citizens resident at the time of formation of the Jerusalem Commonwealth would be entitled to free movement and employment throughout the Commonwealth. Similarly, ‘founding’ citizens would have the right to take residence anywhere in the Commonwealth.  Founding Jewish citizens would have the right to live in the West Bank territory and founding Palestinian citizens would have the right to live in the Territory of Israel, but new housing would be subject to territory approval.

Freedom of movement would be subject to existing security checks and controls, including where necessary separation barriers.  However, the West Bank separation barrier would have to be relocated from places that currently unduly disadvantage Palestinian economic and family activities.  Citizens would be automatically allowed access to any area of the Commonwealth, provided they pass the security checks deemed necessary by the respective security services.  The right to access sensitive sites such as religious places of worship and holy sites may be subject to extra controls.

Population and Migration

The right of return of Palestinian refugees and the Law of Return for overseas Jewish populations would be broadly maintained, subject to negotiations of annual quotas between the Commonwealth government and the territories.  In principle, arrival of returning Palestinian refugees and Jewish immigration would be done with a target of maintaining the current demographic status quo.  Territory Governments would be accorded the right to determine which immigrants they accept, with the exception of the Capital Territory of Jerusalem, where immigration intake would be directly determined by the Commonwealth government. 

Return of Palestinian refugees from outside the Commonwealth would be prioritized to those refugees who are currently stateless (such as those in Lebanon and Syria), contingent on those countries making peace with Israel.

To ensure new citizens have been well integrated into the Commonwealth society, they would have a waiting period of ten years before being accorded the right to the freedom of residence which existing citizens of the commonwealth would have.  For example, a Palestinian refugee who has returned from Lebanon and been accepted to reside in the West Bank with only four years of citizenship would not have the right to reside in Israel unless that territory consented.  The international community would need to play its part by increasing third country resettlement, to avoid sudden population strains within the Commonwealth.

Protection of Minority Communities

Jewish communities living in the Territory of West Bank and Palestinian communities living in the Territory of Israel would be able to apply for minority status, on the basis of security or significant cultural concerns.  Applications would be made by local government authorities to the Commonwealth government, and providing consent is provided by the relevant territory, be accepted.  If the territory government withholds consent, adjudication would be by the Commonwealth High Court.  Local governments afforded minority status would have the right to civil protection. For example, Jewish settlements in the West Bank could apply to come under Israeli police protection.  Minority status would apply to local governments and not individuals. For example, individual Jewish citizens wishing to take residence in Hebron could not apply for special police protection.  Protection of minority communities could apply automatically at the founding of the commonwealth, particularly to Jewish settlements.  Minority communities could also be exempted from territory laws that are a significant challenge to that community’s culture.  Territories could thus develop cultural, religious and moral codes in keeping with the majority’s wishes, but without infringing on minorities’ sensitivities, thus avoiding internal ‘cultural wars’.

Integration of Gaza into an Expanded Commonwealth

While the Gaza strip is in a sense an independent city state already, the poverty, the collapsing infrastructure, militancy and capacity to destabilize the commonwealth must be addressed as a key element to founding the Commonwealth.  Integration of the Gaza Special Territory into the economy of the Commonwealth should begin as early as possible, through privileged access to its economy through work visas, and favorable customs and trade arrangements.  The international community would need to play a major role in providing investment to boost the Gaza economy. 

Residents of Gaza would elect their own Assembly which would have a very large degree of autonomy, but its territory borders would be maintained by the IDF.  Subject to security assessment, Gazans would have the right to free movement within the Commonwealth, but not the right to reside, which would be at the discretion of the Territory Governments.  Gazans would gain access to special passports issued by the Jerusalem Commonwealth to allow international travel but would not have the right to vote in the Commonwealth Parliament.  The Gaza government would be able to take disputed matters in its relations with Israel or the other territories to the Commonwealth High Court.

Gaza could later join as the fourth Territory of the Commonwealth, with a territory capital in Gaza City, and sending 40 elected representatives to Jerusalem, provided it met the following conditions:

·         demonstrated de-weaponization with independent checks and monitoring carried out by commonwealth security forces;

·         recognition by the Gaza Special Territory government of the rights of the Jewish people to a homeland in Israel;

·         the Gaza government would have to demonstrate free and fair election processes during its period as an associated territory.

Economic incentives for Commonwealth business to invest in Gaza should be developed, such as freedom from business taxes and reduced goods and services taxes.  Security measures to prevent arms violations would be maintained by the IDF, until such time as they are no longer necessary, however the naval blockade would end, and trade boycotts lifted at the earliest opportunity.

Expansion of the Commonwealth to include Gaza Special Territory would increase the numbers of elected representatives in the Arabic Chamber and influence the composition of the Commonwealth Executive Council, but the veto power of the Hebrew Chamber would be unchanged, and the balance of power in the Territory Assemblies of Israel, Jerusalem and West Bank completely unaltered (see table 5).  In the long term, Gaza could be developed as an important free trade hub in the eastern Mediterranean.

Finance and taxation

Income and corporate taxes would be collected by the Commonwealth Government, while Goods and Services and Property taxes would be collected by the territories.  Reducing the existing wealth disparity between Israelis and Palestinians will be a major challenge, and while the tax and social welfare systems would play a role, the burden should not fall wholly on the tax payers.  Reductions in security spending and wealth generation resulting from increased economic activity would need to be managed to focus on providing equality of opportunity as rapidly as possible across the territories.  The Israeli Shekel would be re-branded as the Jerusalem Shekel, one side of notes and coins in Hebrew the other in Arabic.

Census and Electoral Oversight

To avoid corrupt processes in both population statistics and elections, it would be highly desirable that a single bipartisan Bureau of Statistics and a single fully impartial and independent electoral commission be formed, with the possibility of UN oversight or other means of independent monitoring. 

The electoral system would be overhauled to make the elected representatives locally accountable to defined voters.  Seventeen electoral districts each electing  11 – 18 representatives would be created based on current Israeli sub-districts and Palestinian governorates (annex 3).

Flags

A new Jerusalem Commonwealth flag would fly over commonwealth buildings and throughout the Capital Territory; the Palestinian flag would fly throughout the West Bank Territory, and the Star of David flag over Israel.  

Conclusion

The strength of the proposed Jerusalem Commonwealth is that the political system would be reconfigured to ensure power sharing and cooperation at the commonwealth level while allowing self-determination at territory level and does not rely on an improbable outbreak of goodwill or self-sacrifice by either community.  The model promotes and empowers moderation and bipartisanship and marginalizes extremism.  Particular benefits to highlight are as follows:

For Israelis:

·            Increased Palestinian support would be fostered for achieving peace deals with Arab and other neighboring states, including to recognition of the right of the Jewish people to their homeland in Israel.

·            Israel’s military would maintain strong defense of the borders and current security checks and barriers would be maintained as necessary, but the huge cost of security would be expected to fall substantially.

·            Israelis would be able to live anywhere in the Commonwealth, throughout Judea and Samaria, and existing settlements would become legal, internationally recognized, and still protected by Israeli security.

·            New economic opportunities arise in the West Bank, and possibly the Gaza Strip.

·            Israeli law maintained in the territory of Israel.

·            Jewish customs, culture and right to self-determination throughout the Commonwealth, but particularly in the Territory of Israel.

For Palestinians and other non-Jewish communities:

·            Citizenship for all existing residents and over time, those who resettle from neighboring countries, in an open democratic society where human rights are respected and effective anti-corruption measures would be in place.

·            Access to employment and residency throughout the Commonwealth.

·            Freedom of movement and right to travel beyond the Commonwealths borders.

·            Palestinian law maintained in the territory of West Bank.

·            Arab customs, culture and right to self-determination throughout the Commonwealth, but particularly in the West Bank Territory of Palestine.

·            An immediate relief from the isolation in Gaza, and a pathway forward for greater integration.

For both:

·            Jerusalem would no longer be a symbol of division fought over as a shared capital city of the two competing states in the two state solution, but rather a unifying bipartisan city. 

·            Freedom from fear of domination by the other community.

·            The current demographic balance is used to promote bipartisanship at the commonwealth level, and this benefit is relatively impervious to demographic shifts in the future.  The Jewish Law of Return and the rights of Palestinian refugees would both be respected but with controls.

Achieving the Jerusalem Commonwealth would need the election of candidates supporting the commonwealth in both the Israeli Knesset and the Palestinian Legislative Council who could put into effect the necessary constitutional changes.  Both legislatures would need to enact legal means to join together to form the first bicameral Commonwealth Parliament and elect the first Executive Council that would oversee the first elections and transition to the new structure.  To achieve this requires either current political movements to adopt the model as policy, or a new commonwealth movement to be elected.

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[1] A directorial system of government is when the executive power is equally divided among a select number of individuals, ‘a directorate’, rather than a president or prime minister who appoints the cabinet. Switzerland uses this form of government, where directorates or executive councils govern all levels of administration, federal, cantonal and municipal. It is a system of government that reflects and represents the heterogeneity and multiethnicity of the Swiss people. Israel's Parliamentary System, under which executive power is vested directly in the Multi-person Cabinet, as opposed to the President acting on the advice of the Cabinet in a normal Westminster System, can be seen as semi-directorial.

Annex 1: Schematic diagram of the proposed commonwealth parliamentary structure

Annex 2.  Mapping current ministries of the Governments of Israel and Palestine to the model Commonwealth Executive Council and Territory Governments

Commonwealth Executive Council	Current Israeli Ministries	Current Palestinian Ministries
Executive Council’s Office	Prime Minister's Office, Jerusalem and Heritage	Prime Minister, Information, Jerusalem Affairs
Population and Migration	Aliyah and Integration
Defense	Defense
Economy and Finance	Economy and Industry, Finance,	Finance
Energy, Transport and Communications	Communications, Energy, Transport and Road Safety	Telecommunications and IT, Transport and Communications,
Foreign Affairs and Trade	Foreign Affairs	Foreign Affairs and Expatriates
Home Affairs, Attorney General	Interior, Public Security
Territory Governments
Chief Minister’s Office
Agriculture, Environment and Water	Agriculture and Rural Development, Environmental Protection	Agriculture
Planning, Housing	Construction and Housing	Public Works and Housing
Health and Sports	Health, Sports	Health
Education and Research, Culture	Education, Culture, Science and Technology	Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research, Culture
Employment, Transport	Labor,	Labor, Local Govt.
Justice	Justice	Justice
Social Services,	Social Equality, Social Affairs and Social Services	Social Development, Women’s Affairs
Tourism, Culture and Religious Services	Tourism, Culture and Religious Services	Tourism and Antiquities
	Development of the Negev and the Galilee

AFTERWORD:

AFTERWORD:

Other federal models can be found at:

Federation Movement (FM):  https://www.federation.org.il/index.php/en/the-federation-plan

Israel – Palestine Federation or Holy Land Union (IPF/HLU):  http://www.pa-il.org/

Israel – Palestine Confederation (IPC):  http://ipconfederation.org/

The four models at a glance:

Model	FM	IPF/HLU	IPC	JC (this model)
Citizenship	Israeli only	Both	Both	Commonwealth only
one or two states?	one – Israel, but 30 cantons	two, defined by people not territory	two confederated nation states	one, but with many powers devolved to territory governments
Head of State	Israeli president	Federal president	Three presidents: Israel, Palestine, Confederation	Presiding member of the Executive Council
Head of Govt	Israeli PM	Federal PM	Three PMs: Israel, Palestine, Confederation	7-person bipartisan executive council
Parliament	Knesset with added upper house	Federal and two national parliaments	Federal and two national parliaments	One national parliament with Hebrew and Arabic chambers
National elections	Israeli system	System not stated but 4 year terms	300 districts across confederation, electoral system not specified	proportional representation in 22 electoral districts, 4 yr terms
Power sharing	Majority rules	President / PM must be from opposite ethnic	President / PM opposite ethnicity, with 2 yearly rotation	Bipartisan commonwealth parliament and executive
Veto power	none	not stated	55% of either Israeli or Palestinian MPs	51% of either Hebrew or Arabic chamber MPs
Sub-national govt	20 Jewish Cantons, 10 Palestinian	Israeli (1), Palestinian (3), and six Federal areas	No – Israel and Palestine are separate nations	Israel, West Bank, Jerusalem territories +/- Gaza
Gaza	excluded	included	included	inclusion possible
Golan	included	not included (?)	included	inclusion possible
Jerusalem	Israeli capital	1 of 6 federal districts	not addressed	Commonwealth capital, capital of Israel & WB
WB Settlement	separate cantons	federal districts	not addressed	Integrated into West Bank with protections
Overall summary	Israeli system of govt with semi autonomous cantons added	Supranational federation over two non-territorial ‘nations’	Confederation of two separate nations	Inherently bipartisan Federal state, with structures similar to Switzerland and Belgium