JERUSALEM -- My previous column, in which I made the analogy between peacemaking and parking, generated an unusual wave of response. I don't know if this is because people are so keen about the prospects for peace in the Middle East, or, as I suspect, they consider parking to be one the major problems in their lives.
One way or another, readers told me that my ideas were maybe good for parking, but not for peacemaking. One reader made a valid point: "You think positive, you enhance the prospects of finding a parking space and eventually you find one and you park. You walk away very happy. But what about the other guy, who has coveted the same parking space? He is left bitter and angry.''
That is true. The concept of ''either/or'' cannot apply to peacemaking. No genuine peace will ever be reached and no peace will be kept if one party is fully content and the other is fully frustrated. For a sustainable peace you need a good compromise, where each party walks away from the negotiation table equally dissatisfied.
Yet, how can Israelis and Palestinians reach such a compromise when their respective dreams and hopes are so high? In their vision of peace, Israelis want their settlements in the West Bank to stay, a united Jerusalem to be their capital and no Palestinian refugees returning to the homes they left in 1948. The Palestinians, on the other hand, demand that Israel should withdraw to the pre-1967 borders, that the settlements be removed, that Jerusalem should be the capital of the Palestinian state and that the Palestinian refugees -- or at least some of them -- should be allowed to return to their homes that, for the last 60 years, have been populated by Israelis. How on Earth can these two huge cars fit into one parking space?
The answer is simple. Assuming that each party must have a car, they will both have to switch to smaller cars. As a matter of fact, those cars exist, and they have the most apt description: Smart. True, if you are overweight, you'll have trouble squeezing in (good reason to start a diet), and you'll have to leave some of your luggage at home. Also, you will not be able to race with this car, and it will probably not be the ideal car for amorous couples. But luxuries aside, it will give you what you really need most: It will take you where you want to go. Furthermore, you and the other guy will be able to share the same parking space, because these cars can park ''nose-in'' instead of side-on.
In the coming Israeli-Palestinian meeting in Annapolis scheduled for later this year, both Israelis and Palestinians will have to trim their grand designs down to a more-modest scale, otherwise they will be fighting over the same parking space forever.
There is, however, one issue that is very difficult to compromise, and that is the holy places. How can you possibly compromise over matters of faith?
Well, you just have to if you don't want to give up hope altogether. If it were up to me, I would leave the holy places to God. What does that really mean? I'm not sure, but a rabbi told me a story suggesting that even in matters of religion, a bit of creativity and pragmatism can help.
A priest, an imam and a rabbi were asked how they decided how much of the offerings of their congregations went to God (the needs of the community) and how much went to their own pockets. The priest said he drew a circle in the sand around him, and threw the money in the air. ''What falls inside the circle goes to God. The rest is mine.'' The imam said he did the same, except that what fell inside was his, and the rest went to God. Then the rabbi said: "I throw everything in the air. Whatever God catches is His; the rest is mine.''
This article was first published in The Miami Herald on October 19, 2007.
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The opinions expressed herein are the author's own personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of the Israel Democracy Institute.