No, I'm perfectly prepared to strong-arm even a very large number of magic sand people. But there are underlying economic and political issues that cannot necessarily be solved simply by throwing money at the problem. If you don't have water, it doesn't matter how many euro you have. If you don't have a house, it doesn't matter how many euro you have. If you don't have citizenship somewhere, it doesn't matter how many euro you have.

The Palestinian population, both inside and outside Palestine, is currently confined to an area that cannot sustain their population in any but the most abject poverty. This can change in three ways:

1. The population can collapse.

2. Some or all of them can move somewhere else.

3. Land can be appropriated for them in the immediate vicinity of their current location.

Deliberately triggering 1) would be a crime of unthinkable magnitude (this, by the way, seems to be Israel's strategy for Gaza). 2) requires that a place can be found to put them. And unless you're prepared to deport them, it requires that they're willing to move there. 3) requires that the people currently occupying the immediate vicinity are either persuaded or compelled to leave and go somewhere else (which creates a type 2) problem on its own).

These considerations have nothing to do with magic sand people and everything to do with physical facts on the ground.

So unless you're prepared to countenance genocide, you'll have to either

1. Find a country (or a number of countries) who are sufficiently attractive to the Palestinians that all but the hardcore magic sand people would want to move there and who are willing to let them in.

2. Find a place to put them where they can survive in reasonable conditions, and then deport them there.

3. Entice the Israeli settlers to resettle in Israel proper (which can certainly support their numbers).

4. Deport the Israeli settlers to Israel proper.

I personally favour attempting 3), and going with 4) if and when 3) fails. Because:

1. The settler population is much smaller than the Palestinian population.

2. The concentration of magic sand people is probably greater in the settler population than in the Palestinian population (since non-magic-sand Israeli have the option to live in Israel proper).

3. There is an obvious place (Israel proper) to lure/force the settlers to relocate to.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.