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An international commission, presumably organized by the U.N., would supervise elections in the entity to ensure that they were conducted freely; radicals and terrorists must be prevented from subverting the democratic process. The legislature chosen by these elections would draft a constitution and appoint a government that would have power over the entity's domestic affairs: education and culture, economics and commerce, health and sanitation, transportation and communication, etc. To enforce the entity's laws and provide order, the legislature would have the right to create a judicial system and to recruit and arm a civilian —but not paramilitary—police force.
Military Security. To assure that the entity is a threat neither to Israel nor to neighboring Jordan, its sovereignty would be partially limited. It would be unable to enter into alliances or military pacts.
It would be barred from establishing an army, air force and navy. It would not be permitted to acquire combat aircraft, tanks, mortars, artillery or missiles. Such restrictions on sovereignty are not unique.
Japan's military forces, for example, are limited by its constitution, while Austria's are curbed by an international treaty.
To make certain that the terms of demilitarization are respected and to provide early warning of a potential Arab attack that might first roll through the unprotesting West Bank, Israel would be allowed to maintain watch stations at key strategic locations inside the entity—notably sites overlooking the Jordan valley.
The Israeli forces at these stations would be strictly limited in numbers and prohibited from interfering in any of the entity's internal affairs.
With the new entity stripped of the means to protect itself from outside attack, its own security would have to be guaranteed by collective or bilateral international agreements and backed up by an international peace-keeping force.
This force, also presumably under U.N. auspices, would patrol airports, harbors and other points of entry to stop the smuggling of arms into the entity. It would combat terrorism directed at the entity or Israel.
At the end of a relatively long transition period, lasting perhaps 25 years, some of the limits on the entity's sovereignty would be removed. It would have to remain demilitarized and diplomatically nonaligned, but it would be free to seek confederation with its neighbors, most likely with Jordan, some 50% of whose people are Palestinians, or even, as improbable as it now seems, with Israel.
Citizenship. All residents of the West Bank and Gaza would be entitled to become citizens of the Palestinian entity and participate in its elections. This would include; if they so choose, the 6,000 Israeli settlers now living in the two territories.
Since 475,000 Arabs today hold Israeli citizenship, there is at least a precedent for Jews with roots in the West Bank to become citizens of a Palestinian state. As such, these Jewish settlers would be guaranteed freedom from economic, political or cultural discrimination. If the settlers who are there now opt to return to Israel, they would be compensated for reasonable economic loss by a special fund to which the U.S. and oil-exporting Arab states would contribute.