A Modest Proposal

Vicious Mama has a radical proposal for Middle East peace. You need to check out the link for details, but mainly it involves moving Israel to the American Southwest. Based on her Sitemeter map, it has drawn interest from Israel, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and several other Muslim countries, not to mention the US, Canada, and Russia.

She didn't precisely suggest a location, so I have a suggestion: How about that roughly triangular patch of Texas bounded by the Jordan River (formerly known as the Rio Grande) and the line from El Paso to the tip of the big bend. This would include the nine big counties from El Paso in the West to Terrell. They don't fit that well with the rest of Texas anyway - some of them even vote Democratic.

El Paso, of course, would become the New Jerusalem. It would be a big confidence boost to EP which is always the little brother of TX politics and economics anyway. The climate shouldn't be too different from Israel.

Best of all, next Passover, when somebody raises a glass to toast to "Next year in Jerusalem," I could get up, say, "Why wait? Let's go down to Moshe's for a beer and some tamales." Maybe I could finally even get a decent bagel.

How do you say Tamale in Hebrew?

I approve. The Palestinians approve. Iran's President Ahmadinejad approves. Who could possibly object?

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