Give the Refugees an Island

There are other options, some better, some worse.

People elsewhere could just say, "Sure, come live here instead of with the crazy people," and eventually the ravaged lands would just empty out except for the lunatics.

Other countries could step in and stop the carnage, which has occasionally worked, but usually interfering in other people's business doesn't end well.

Sanctions and other less-violent solutions are unlikely to work on combatants who aren't exactly being very rational.

Democracy might help, but hell, look at America. It's kind of a wreck. Some other countries have had great luck with it, others not so much. The best ones right now are socialists! What the Middle East needs is sane healthy leadership. The exact format is more open to debate.

Compare it to where they're likely to end up living otherwise: a previously existing crime-ridden slum, or a camp. Sure there's a chance this would go to shit. But I think that the chance of it producing a decent place to live, while far from guaranteed, is probably higher than other options.

Crucially, the donor wants the refugees to build their own homes. Involving people in their own neighborhood drastically raises the chance of success. Just as one example, they would presumably choose a layout and house designs pleasing to Syrian people. This is not necessarily easy to find anywhere else, but on their own island, they would be free to meet their own tastes and needs in housing. It works much better than a top-down solution.

It doesn't always happen, it often happens. Beware of absolutes. Australia started out as a penal colony and is now a lovely nation, although it still faces some challenges due to its roots.

Yes, slums happen. It is bad when they happen. But if we believe they necessarily happen then we abdicate responsibility for them, and close the door to other options.

What I think gives this proposal potential is that the donor is talking about putting people in charge of their own facilities. If it plays out that way, I think the results will be much better than if someone else is in charge of that. When dealing with trauma survivors, one of the most vital ways to help is restoring their agency, and another is giving them resources to solve their own problems. To make it work even better, I'd keep an eye on the practical parts -- "Okay, here's your island and your current budget. Do you have any architects in this group? Anyone who worked in civic support like sewers or plumbing? If you're missing any major work types who need to consult on this, we can fill in gaps from European volunteers, or you can try to attract others of your people who are staying elsewhere."

I think this is a skill we're going to need sadly often in the future. It's not a new idea. The Republic of the Maldives is already working on a resettlement fund and scoping out islands and other properties, understanding that their island nation will almost certainly be flooded within the next century or two. There's another island up in Alaska that's washing away. This kind of habitat foreclosure is typical of climate change. (I would therefore advise choosing a tall Mediterranean island for this project.) If we can learn how to move people in groups and resettle them as a cohesive society, that's less damaging than scattering them far and wide.

Plus it's good practice for settling colonies on other worlds. Our local history with colonies ... has, uh, sucked a lot. Hopefully we could do better, here's a chance to practice, let's do that. Hm, maybe we should see if NASA or other space programs have any good ideas that the refugees might find helpful. We could test out various technology for pop-up, extruded, and other prefab housing -- definitely an improvement over tents or shanties while the permanent buildings are under construction.

I'd call that a negotiable point, and in fact, a feature instead of a bug.

You want to settle on a Greek island? Here's the price for a private island in Greece. Here are the laws and tax code of Greece. Now Greece has a bunch of new people with seed money to get them started. Yay!

You want your own island as a free nationality? That's going to cost a LOT more. Greece now has a ginormous chunk of money to help shore up its damaged economy, and has a new neighbor hopefully fond of Greece for providing a homeland.

It depends on what people are willing to charge/pay and what they want.