Commentary: We can choose war — or peace

Remember World War I? Probably not, since it was soon followed by World War II. The first “great war” made such an impression that more than 60 nations signed a pact to outlaw war. It was signed and effective in 1928, and was named the Kellog-Briand Pact. It is still in effect today, but its effectiveness is obvious.

In 1928, we did not have 15 nations with access to nuclear weapons. We do today, and our future on Mother Earth has become ever more problematic.

We also now have the United Nations, and the forum it provides for the consideration of peace initiatives. No proposals have achieved the resolution of the current Israeli conflict, which has the potential to grow into a wider war.

Here is an idea for your consideration. A two-state solution has been on the list for the Israeli and Palestinian people for many years. That is the goal being pressed by President Biden and resisted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The division between the sides in this conflict could not be greater, and the prospect for a lasting solution within the circumscribed boundaries of the current state of Israel more remote.

Remember how Alaska became part of the United States of America? It was purchased from Russia in 1867, and matured into a state in 1959.

Under the auspices, if not authority of the Kellog-Briand Pact and the United Nations, good neighbors of the nation of Israel should be offered adequate compensation, recognition and gratitude to allow sufficient real estate to be available to allow new borders, and conditions, that would bring a lasting peace to this region.

The membership of the United Nations could have the collective economic strength to fund and negotiate the acquisition of sufficient territory from neighboring nations to provide the land necessary for a workable and lasting two-nation solution.

The funding and encouragement to accomplish this could come from all people and nations who value peace and favor the reduction of the risk of MAD, our acronym for mutually assured destruction.

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Keith Mobley, Dufur, is a retired lawyer who was a Republican candidate for the Oregon House of Representatives in 1980. He lost, and then served as the Antelope city attorney against the Rajneeshees until late 1982, when he was hired as assistant to the president of Oregon State University. He grew up on a wheat and cattle ranch near Shaniko.