Currently Israel is making concessions to the Palestinians, but any agreement that emerges will probably be short-lived. Let’s see if we can figure out why, and at the same time try to get to the root of the situation to come up with a real, lasting solution that would bring perpetual peace to the region.

First let’s get an overall picture by looking at territory and growing population from a planetary perspective. There’s just so much inhabitable land in the world and there are only so many resources. As more and more people are born, resources and land become less plentiful and more sought-after by human groups ranging in size from families to nations. That just makes basic sense, and it seems to be at the root of many conflicts. There are some real hotspots in the world (especially where there’s a high birth rate—above 40), many of them in Africa where out-of-control population leads to famine, disease, destruction of forests, mass execution, and other tragic symptoms of desperation. So… population growth stirs up lots of conflicts around in the world.

Now let’s zoom in on Israel, a special case. It’s a relatively tiny country with big neighbors, and is about half wasteland. It has a low birth rate (about 19), but lots of Jews move there from around the world, and the non-Jewish population grows relatively fast, so population grows about twice as fast in Israel (1.7%) as in the USA (0.8%), for example, according to CIA statistics.

The people and the government of Israel divide the population into two segments—Jewish and non-Jewish… so the perpetual conflict between Israelis and Palestinians (non-Jewish mostly Muslims) is mostly a territorial dispute complicated by racial and religious incompatibilities.

Bottom line: As time goes on, the growing population and infrastructure of Israel require more and more land and resources for homes and businesses. Houses are built wherever there is some inhabitable open land… for example, on the West Bank.

Simple, complete solution:

There’s only one complete solution to the problem that would ensure lasting peace and prosperity for Israel—the Vitality Ratio.

The Vitality Ratio adopted in the Mideast would ensure that the needs of society would stay in balance with resources available to Israel and her neighbors. In Israel there would be no need to displace non-Jews from their homes in order to build homes for Jewish families. Religious, racial, and cultural differences in the region would become tolerable—maybe even compatible—once the urge for territorial expansion faded away.

Since November 1967, peace talks and agreements between Israel and her non-Jewish citizens and neighbors have been underway on many occasions, and none has led to a lasting peace and prosperity in the region. To believe that doing the same thing now with better results is crazy. Some people say that’s what insanity is—doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

The Vitality Ratio is the answer.