It is time for Israel to formally abandon the so-called two-state solution as well as the concept of a Palestinian state and instead push for the complete Israeli annexation of the West Bank and retaking of the Gaza Strip, Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin contended.
Feiglin is chairman of Israel’s Zehut Party and a former Likud Knesset Member.
In a wide-ranging interview, broadcast Sunday on this reporter’s weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” Feiglin outlined a three point plan for Israel to “annex the total territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river.”
He was referring to Israel asserting full sovereignty over Judea and Samaria – territories commonly called the West Bank – as well as the annexation of the Gaza Strip.
There have been attempts within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party to pass legislation calling for Israeli annexation. According to reports, however, Netanyahu asked lawmakers to put those plans on hold until the Trump administration unveils its forthcoming blueprint for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Feiglin blamed Netanyahu and the right-wing in Israel for “failing” to propose a viable alternative to the two-state solution.
“The only reason that the Trump government will go to that concept of a two-state solution is because of Israel,” Feiglin posited.
“Not because of Trump. Trump, even before he got into office, he said the two-state solution is not the only solution. He was open to any other solution that the Israelis will bring. You cannot ask Trump to be more Catholic than the Pope. So, I have no complaints with Trump about it. The only problem is that the Israeli right never offered a real solution.”
Feiglin contended that the foundations for the creation of a Palestinian state rest on wrongful information that claims Israel is occupying Palestinian land. “This is our land,” he exclaimed. “We are talking about justice and not just realpolitik or pragmatism. … This is our land more than 3,000 years already.”
“These territories carry our identity,” he stated. “When you are walking the [Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs] in Hebron, 4,000 years of Jewish identity sticks to your shoes. You cannot run away from it.”
The politician argued that Israel’s past willingness to give up places like Hebron and other towns in Judea and Samaria that are steeped in Jewish history and identity constitutes “an inner identity conflict of the Jewish population in Israel and it has nothing to do with anyone else.”
He panned Israel’s 1967 decision to hand administrative control of the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, to the Waqf association controlled largely by Jordan and currently also by the Palestinian Authority.
With Israel’s acquiescence, the Waqf restricts Jews from visiting the Mount except on small tours for a limited time on certain days. The Waqf does not allow non-Muslims to pray on the Mount or bring holy objects to the site; whereas Muslim prayer is unrestricted. Waqf representatives closely monitor non-Muslim visitors to the site and are known to boot those engaging in prayer.
Feiglin proceeded to outline his Israeli annexation plan as an alternative to the two-state solution. He says he will use the plan as a central portion of his Zehut party’s platform in the next Israeli election.
“Israel has to reverse the Oslo concept,” he stated, calling for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority. This way, he says, Palestinians will “not be afraid anymore of the terror regime” of the PA.
The 1993 Oslo Accords established categories of territory in which “Area A” is controlled entirely by the Palestinians; “Area B” is controlled by Israel, but administered by the PA; and “Area C,” which includes eastern sections of Jerusalem, is supposed to be entirely administered and controlled by Israel.
Stated Feiglin: “There is no a territory A, B and C. Just as Israel knew in 2002 when [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon had to take over, conquer whole cities of Judea and Samaria again after a whole wave of terror actions, we have to do that again and annex the total territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river.”
“And no one besides the IDF and the Israeli police will be allowed to carry weapons and to have any kind of authority to use force between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river,” he stated.
As for the Palestinians, Feiglin’s plan would grant them three options:
- Palestinians can remain as permanent residents of Israel “and not be afraid” of PA reprisal. The Palestinians would need to declare that they are loyal to the Jewish state before becoming permanent residents. They will be fully protected by the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli police.
- Offer Palestinians wishing to leave a generous emigration package that would include the purchase of their homes, money to start a new life, and assistance with expediting the immigration process to new countries.
- Palestinians willing to serve in the Israeli military, pass Hebrew language and Israeli history proficiency tests and pledge their loyalty would eventually be granted full Israeli citizenship.
Feiglin says he believes that many Palestinians will take the second option, citing numerous polls showing a sizable portion of the Palestinian population would chose to emigrate elsewhere if given the option.
He argued fear of PA reprisal and de facto rules that reportedly push the death penalty for Palestinians who sell property to Jews serve as the main obstacles to Palestinian mass emigration. The PA says it imposes a life sentence of hard labor to “anyone diverting, renting or selling land to an enemy state or one of its subjects.” In actuality, there have been scores of reports of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians caught selling property to Jews.
Feiglin was a longstanding member of the ruling Likud party, where he created the Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction within the party. He served in the Knesset, including as the body’s deputy speaker. After a poor electoral showing in 2015, he left the Likud and formed his own party.
Some of his past electoral victories have at times rocked Israeli politics. In 2005, he came in third to serve as Likud chairman, following only Netanyahu and politician Silvan Shalom. In 2008, he took twentieth place in the Likud primaries and in 2013 he finished thirteenth, making it into the Knesset after his party won enough seats.
In the interview with this reporter, Feiglin predicted that early elections will be held due to the numerous investigations surrounding Netanyahu. He believes his party will do well in the next election, whenever it is held, due to the shift in the Israeli mood away from the two-state solution and possible support for his economic platform, which calls for the state to take more of a back seat in the economy and the private lives of citizens.
He stated: “We passed a tipping point in the Israeli conscience. … We are touching Israelis from different segments of Israeli society. We are talking about young Israelis in Tel Aviv. We’re talking about religious. Non-religious Israelis. Men. Women. … Israelis who want this combination. Want the full identity, want the whole country, but with less involvement of the state in their private lives.”
The so-called two-state solution calls for the creation of a Palestinian state, ostensibly in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and some eastern sections of Jerusalem, in exchange for the Palestinian Authority ending its conflict with Israel and living at peace with the Jewish state.
The “two-state solution” has been the defining formula for all Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and so far every Israeli offer of a state has been rejected by the PA.
Israel offered the Palestinians a state with territory in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem at Camp David in 2000, Taba in 2001, the Annapolis Conference in 2007, 2008 and during U.S.-brokered talks in 2013 and 2014. Israel has since been willing to restart talks at any time.
According to some reports, Israel went so far as to offer the Palestinians control of the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, in at least two separate, desperate bids to make peace.
In each of these cases, without any exception, the Palestinian Authority rejected Israel’s offer of a state and bolted the negotiations. In most cases, they countered statehood offers with major escalations in violence, including infamously launching the deadly Second Intifada, or terrorist war, in response to the Camp David peace talks.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas currently refuses to come to the bargaining table. Besides the PA’s rejection of all previous statehood offers, a major issue blocking the “two-state solution” is that the PA, which would rule a future state, supports terrorism, incites against Israel, celebrates the killers of Jews and pays monthly stipends to those who murder Israelis. Abbas’s security forces have participated in scores of deadly attacks against Israelis. There have been ongoing attempts at reconciliation between Abbas’s Fatah Party and the Hamas terrorist organization.
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
Nice to see Feiglin on the same page at last. Wasn’t he advocating land swaps at one point?
Kahane was the the first to advocate annexation and compensated emigration in the early 70’s. He outlines his plan in his book, “They Must Go.”
It’s more detailed, and deals as well with those who refuse to cooperate. It’s at least a couple of pages and goes into some detail. I think he really nailed it more than anybody who has recently revived that idea without giving credit where credit is due.
One respect, in which I think Lenin is to be emulated, as opposed not only to Stalin but almost everybody on the Left or Right, is that he believed in giving credit where credit was due, like Marx, his role model, actually, and not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, even when referring to opponents, even long defeated opponents with whom he otherwise disagreed. In that respect, at least, Lenin was intellectually honest.
@ Edgar G.:
To correct a silly error I made- It was not the “enticements” etc that could never be assured, but the “professed loyalty” of the Arabs. Sorry…! I was thinking about 2 lines ahead when I wrote that.
@ ms:
So if the enticements that you offer can never be assured, and you agree that this flaw hugely undermines it’s efficacy, I ask you now…why include them in your otherwise excellent treatise. It’s a stick-carrot approach which turns on itself and accepts that it is very flawed and unlikely to be honourably adhered to.
(reminds me of the story about Sadat returning from the Israel Peace Agreement waving a piece of paper gleefully shouting and I got all that (Sinai) just for this little scrap of paper)
You eventually wash it all into the sea by admitting that their ” sincerity or durability can never be assured “.
By now my brain is turning cartwheels whilst my body teeters on the verge of collapse.
I’m convinced seriously that you should be part of any negotiating team.
@ Edgar G.</b
You write:
I fully agree.
While I endorse instituting funded emigration for the non-belligerent Arab residents of Judea-Samaria – diluting of this measure by offering them various options of permanent residency/citizenship based on professed loyalty – the sincerity or durability of which can never be assured – will hugely undermine its efficacy.
I’ve always really liked Feiglin, the man who told it as it was, the conscience of the Knesset, if he may be described as such, but I do NOT like his “Plan”. I am totally against giving Arabs PERMANENT residency in Israel. For FAR too long, FAR too much heartless terrorism has been committed on US from THEM, and it cannot be forgiven, and they are brainwashed fro the next 3-4 generations. If not open, the Israeli Arabs in general gave tacit support to their terrorists, and Israel Arabs , living under enlightened rule for the first time in their lives, could not walk away from their indoctrinations.
It seems that politicians, no matter how righteous and honest, seem to have fallen into 2 evils at least. One is to refer to the Arab squatters and interlopers as “Palestinians”, and second, to fall in love with the word “annex”. Is there a need to annex land that is ours by at least 5-6 solemn, irrevocable, permanent treaties and agreements made by the Great Powers between the end of WW1 and 1924, with the final act in 1945 when the UN was founded, that those preceding binding agreements would be assumed by the United Nations in toto.
So I ask, WHY is it needed to annex what we already own. Would it not be more in keeping with a Sovereign State, to “assert our Sovereignty in full over our Land”. Of course a decree of annexation could be held in the wings in case there is some legal impediment that an ingenious Anti-Semite has found, to hinter our progress.
I am not against compensation to Arabs leaving, I am against GENEROUS compensation, a term which can be interpreted to mean as much as $350,000 to $400,000, which I have seen from an esteemed writer. Another point is that those Arabs so eager to leave, are PA Arabs, if the PA is removed, and Israeli Law is installed throughout the Land, they may not be so keen to leave then. Israel Arabs mainly don’t want to leave..A point overlooked by every single writer, and there have been hundreds.
I favour giving the emigrant Arabs enough to get to Jordan, their legal home country, ot perhaps Egypt, if that country will take them, and that would be in the amount of about $5000, or less. Moving costs and transport, in other words. Even if needed for some, purchase of a home. Pie in the sky has been eaten long ago. Arabs staying should be under increasing restrictions, which will eventually make the most stubborn happy to leave. This is NOT their country, they or their grandfathers were interlopers, who piled into Israel for financial benefits, and free goodies. And they were all eager and ready to murder Jews, especially the weak and unprotected, Those days are OVER….!!
We must begin to act like a real country again, after 2160 years in limbo. dated from the time Pompey ransacked the Temple and took possession of the country for Rome.