The Wright Brothers, Jared Kushner, and Gilmore’s law
Palestinian’s pay a price for their obstinacy
For many years, countless engineers around the world tried in vain to create a motor-operated airplane. That all changed in 1903 when the Wright Brothers Wright Flyer took flight at Kitty Hawk, and the rest is aviation history.
What exactly was the genius of these two bicycle engineers from Dayton, Ohio, that eluded so many engineers, many who were much smarter than Orville and Wilbur? Peter Jakab of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum notes that the success of the Wright Brothers was based on their ability to methodically solve the various aerodynamic problems and principles by analyzing them separately.
What the Wright Brothers achieved set in motion all that followed in terms of aviation. Rather than trying to address the aerodynamics of lift and thrust singularly, by separating them, only then was the Wright Flyer able to become the airplane that would change the course of world history.
For the longest time, the Israel/Palestinian problem was seen as a singular problem focusing on Israel and its so-called occupation. The assumption was that Israel could not achieve peace with the greater Arab world until the Palestinian issue was solved.
That assumption was the basis for every peace process and US Presidential administration for over half a century. It was built into the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. After the Jordanian treaty was signed in 1994, no other Arab country was willing to start relations with Israel. Various meetings and countless conferences achieved nothing. However, few in power recognized the problem was the false assumption that for Israel to achieve peace with the Arab world was contingent upon solving the Palestinian issue. That is until Jared Kushner came to town.
John Gilmore is an Internet pioneer and one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Often called Gilmore’s Law, he famously stated of Internet censorship that “the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.”
What Gilmore’s Law means for those who do not have a background in computer networks; is that the virtual traffic cops are a lot like Waze. The software can detect identity obstructions, and ensure your data, gets to the right place, without any interference — be it corporate or governmental.
Kushner’s brilliance was that he could separate the Palestinian issue, seeing that it genuinely had absolutely nothing to do with peace with the Arab world. He used the diplomatic equivalent of Gilmore’s Law, and he was able to route around the Palestinian non-issue, combined with their decades of intransigence. Only then were the Abraham Accords able to be implemented, which is the start of Israel’s peace with a vast majority of the Arab world.
The Wright Brothers had no formal training past high school, but they were able to intuit the principles of flight, which lead to their success. They were able to separate false assumptions that grounded many other inventors.
Similarly, Jared Kushner had no foreign relations experience and was a complete outsider to the US Department of State. Nevertheless, Kushner was able to intuit the real issues to achieve peace with the Arab world that had blinded every previous US Secretary of State. The Palestinians are the diplomatic victims of Gilmore’s law. By refusing to achieve peace with Israel, they have been treated like a barrier and are now being routed around by various Arab countries, and in fact, The Arab League itself.
The Palestinians, like most tribes in the region, were a nomadic people. Nevertheless, the vast majority of nomads in the area, from the Jews in Israel, House of Saud in Saudi Arabia to the Al Maktum family in the UAE, and more have moved on. These nomadic families have left their tents and camels and now prefer villas, Tesla Model X, and peace with Israel.
The Palestinian problem was never a real problem, only a distraction, and illusion. The Abraham Accords have interpreted that as intransigence and routed around them. Moreover, when the Palestinians are ready to deal with that, they can join their Arab brothers in the peace and prosperity that partnering with Israel can achieve.
The world has routed the Palestinians out of the picture, from the EU, who, for the longest time, were convinced that the PA could do no wrong, to the Saudis who are tired of the Palestinian Authority obstinacy. However, that route can be reopened. But only when the Palestinian leadership is willing to open that route.
