THE ISRAELI VIEWPOINT
It could happen –
Yossi Alpher
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The vast majority of both peoples would lose out.
The current Likud-led Israeli government would do everything possible to avoid assuming responsibility for administering the West Bank, lest it be faulted for destroying the peace process that created the PA and which the Likud is at least nominally pledged to maintain. Nor would it wish to resume the financial and security burden of running West Bank Palestinian affairs, as in the pre-Oslo era.
New political opportunities? –
bY Amnon Lord
Eventually, it would become clear that the same problems have to be negotiated, only with a new partner. Or perhaps an old one.
ARAB VIEWPOINT
Without a remedy, it is Possible
– Ghassan Khatib
There are four factors that suggest the Palestinian Authority is in danger of collapsing.
an interview with Samir Abdullah
We are seeing new Israeli politicians who feel that it is better not to have the Palestinian Authority.
I don’t dream, Norman. I’m schooled both in journalism and communications, which means professional propaganda development and dissemination, and urban and regional planning, which means the art of filling up spaces with development at a hopefully planned and sustainable pace. So dreams hold no interest for me whatsoever. What I focus on is how to turn the endless wars against Israel to the long-term advantage of both the Jewish nation and state.
The present leadership cadres of the Jewish state admittedly are piss-ants. But political cultures of Israel, like all other societies, can and will change in response to issues of perpetual low-grade conflict with the Arabs and perceived needs and opportunities to expand the territorial grasp of the state. As for the present supreme court and how its members are selected, that too is subject to modification as is everything else in a modern society.
Have patience. Greater Israel will emerge and take shape if today’s enemies are not able to destroy the Jewish state in one grand and immediate rush. And I thank they are not in fact capable of that.
In the meantime, I neither expect nor desire authentic peace, because that would preclude development of the Greater Israel that I have in mind. Nor do I think I am the only person who thinks this way.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
The collapse of the PA would create havoc for Israel. It would mean that a large IDF force would have to be deployed in the west bank indefinitely. Economically, that would create a huge financial drain.Many services and support facilities which the PA is providing at present becomes Israel’s responsibility. Not a pleasant possibility .Israel benefits by the cooperative arrangement in effect now. All that would be scrapped.
Arnold, you’re giving Israeli officials too much credit.
They are afraid of what Obama and their own Left will say and intellectually and morally they are cowards at heart.
They cannot stand up to the citadel of Israeli Hellenism – the Israel Supreme Court. How in the world then do you expect them to stand up for Jewish rights and against the Arabs?
Dream on.
No possible outcome would please me more, or be more in the long-term interests of the Jewish nation and State of Israel, than the implosion and dissolution of the “Palestine Liberation Authority”.
Israel could — and should — then:
1) Annex in entirety parts of Shomron and Yehuda not already officially a part of the Jewish state.
2) Commence expedited Jewish settlement in all parts of the newly-annexed lands.
3) Shut down all remaining UNWRA permanent refugee camps, deporting all UNO personnel who have foreign passports, and expelling the camp residents across the Jordan River into Trans-Jordan or Gaza. The only exceptions would be made for camp residents who would agree to reside in one or another of the Israel-administered Arab cities of the annexed territory, and who would agree to live in peace with the State of Israel and with their neighboring Arabs.
4) Make separate local autonomy arrangements with the chiefs and municipal councils of the main Arab cities: Hebron, Bethlehem, Jericho, Ramallah, Nablus (Shchem), Jenin, Tulkarem, Kalkilya. These arrangements would cover all specifics of municipal management, infrastructure, access to water, pollution control, roads and transportation, management of local schools. Where no local community should choose to negotiate and sign an agreement, then the State of Israel would take over direct management of their affairs, and would be free to establish Jewish neighborhoods, Jewish-owned industrial parks, and other urban improvements anywhere and everywhere within these communities.
5) The entire population would be screened either individually or by family for purposes of ascertaining willingness and preparedness to live in peace with the Jewish state. Those refusing such willingness and preparedness would simply be expelled to live anywhere outside Israel’s jurisdiction. In general, there would be little need for additional prisons, because expulsion would be the only legal punishment meted out for crimes against communal or regional peace.
6) No additional Arabs would be added to as citizens of Israel, with national voting rights or social services privileges. But additional councils representing the local Arabs could be set up to meet regularly with the Knesset for purposes of representing their local communities. For purposes of foreign travel, these “autonomy Arabs” could be issued Israeli passports so identified.
7) Small Arab villages located outside boundaries of the eight main autonomous areas could each be represented by the closest autonomous Arab city located closest to them, except that all policing and other services would be provided directly by the State of Israel.
Once these steps were taken, neither the UNO nor any of its members could take attempt to interfere with what then would be the internal affairs of the State of Israel and all its annexed lands, because that would be contradicted by the free choice having been previously agreed to by each of the autonomous Arab cities. But there would be no mistaking the fact that these territories, once so annexed, would remain part of the domain of the Jewish nation and the Jewish state.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI