No to unilateral measures. Yes to a Palestinian state.

T. Belman. Amidror is an insider and close to Netanyahu. He argues, as does Netanyahu,

Imposing Israeli sovereignty on Area C would be akin to a nonverbal declaration of a binational state, because should this move be pursued no one in the Palestinian side would be willing to negotiate with Israel. The bottom line here is that if a binational state is the endgame, it should be pursued openly and honestly.

And he warns,

Should that be the case, the international community would punish Israel mercilessly, and some are likely to push for statements, perhaps even sanctions, harsher than anything seen today, including a potential official boycott of Israel.

Instead, he argues, as does Netanyahu,

Israel should focus on improving the lives of the Palestinians, as well as on how to navigate the situation the day after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ regime ends, as he has no heir apparent.

Obviously the international community and Netanyahu aren’t prepared to say “no” to a Palestinian state. Nor are they prepared to support a plan for compensated Arab emigration. In fact they support the opposite, namely, the Arab “right of return”.

By Yaakov Amidror, ISRAEL HAYOM

Amidror[..]
With little optimism as to the future of the peace process, there is little wonder that many in Israel are feeling distressed. The prolonged stagnation, compounded by the inability to present any viable alternative that would lead to a comprehensive change, has bred suggestions meant to promote their proponents’ various worldviews, all under the guise of “partial steps seeking to meet current challenges.”

An in-depth study of these suggestions, however, reveals that they do not solve any of the problems at hand, as all they seek to do is promote the various parties’ interests. Worse, the majority of these suggestions include unilateral measures, which are harmful and cannot help the situation.

Those advocating for a Palestinian state say that, while a comprehensive solution cannot be brokered at this time, steps must be taken to advance it, as taking such steps is in Israel’s best interests. The proponents of this approach seem willing to pay a hefty price for meager results that could, at some point, work in favor of the notion of an independent Palestinian state.

Those advocating for a Palestinian state are willing to roll the dice and risk a potentially devastating result, one that would tear Israeli society apart for no actual achievements in the international theater or opposite the Palestinians, who are sure to keep fighting the remainder of the “occupation.” Moreover, terrorism will only become worse, as it has after every Israeli concession, this time without the benefit of having an agreed-upon border, as said concession would be the result of a unilateral withdrawal to an internationally meaningless line.

Remember, in 2005, the proponents of the disengagement from the Gaza Strip explained how the unilateral move would win Israel precious points with the international community, but that did not last for more than a few months.

Those advocating subjecting Area C — placed under full Palestinian control by the Oslo Accords — to Israeli law or sovereignty without outlining a final agreement, are just as mistaken, if not more.

Should that be the case, the international community would punish Israel mercilessly, and some are likely to push for statements, perhaps even sanctions, harsher than anything seen today, including a potential official boycott of Israel.

Practically speaking, such a move would do little to serve Israel’s interests or benefit Israelis living across Judea and Samaria. The Shin Bet, for example, finds it easier to operate in an area under military rule, thus meeting the area’s residents’ primary need for security.

Moreover, the global community will never believe Israel’s explanations as to why such a move is necessary or justified, and everyone will claim such a policy shift means to do one thing and one thing alone — torpedo any chance of future negotiations with the Palestinians.

Imposing Israeli sovereignty on Area C would be akin to a nonverbal declaration of a binational state, because should this move be pursued no one in the Palestinian side would be willing to negotiate with Israel. The bottom line here is that if a binational state is the endgame, it should be pursued openly and honestly.

Seek a consensus

When standing on the edge of the cliff, keeping still is better than stepping forward. This is always solid advice, and it is doubly true for the chaotic Middle East.

It is obvious that the differences between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are so significant that any negotiations held at this time are doomed to fail. Given the circumstances, while moves promoting the inception of an independent Palestinian state should be deferred, there is no need to make a bad situation worse.

Israel should focus on improving the lives of the Palestinians, as well as on how to navigate the situation the day after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ regime ends, as he has no heir apparent.

Simultaneously, it is imperative to determine the motives for the current wave of terrorism and how to undercut it. Israel has to devise moves that would debunk the hostility leveled at it from the different corners of the globe. Some of this hostility is fueled by the claim that Israel’s expressed support for a peace process is merely lip service, especially when it undermines any possibility of future negotiations by approving settlement expansion.

There are no simple solutions to this complex situation, but any step taken must adhere to one vital principle: A wide public consensus is more important than the details of any proposal if Israel is to maintain and bolster its internal resilience ahead of future challenges. The greatest danger in implementing a proposal that discounts the legitimate differences expressed by public opinion is that it would create a rift in society. To avoid this situation, it would be best to relinquish some principles, important as they may be, as nothing is as important as ensuring that Israel weathers the challenges ahead.

May 14, 2016 | 14 Comments »

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14 Comments / 14 Comments

  1. Be patient!! Who would have believed that Syria would implode just a decade prior!?!? Can Jordan survive 2mm Syrians? Turkey!?!? Wait, history is slow and time does not favor those who sit on their hands and wait for others to deliver democracy and economic sustenance on a silver platter. It may be hard on Israel, but make it even harder for the Arabs!!

  2. CuriousAmerican Said:

    Part of the reason no solution is coming for this problem is because NO ONE IS HONEST ENOUGH TO STATE THE MATTER BLUNTLY, WITHOUT LEGALESE!

    The only reason there is no solution to date is because nobody wants a solution… The conflict is useful to some and profitable to others and there is no common agreeable point of compromise our interests and theirs are too far apart to be bridged… In the end we will prevail because we have the power to prevail militarily and economically.

    I would love to have Bernies Toll Booth Concession 🙂

  3. @ CuriousAmerican:

    We Jews have three choices:

    A- Succumb to the Palis and Islam.

    B- leave the field of conflict for other parts.

    C- fight to defeat the Palis and Islam. Remain where we are and maintain our Jewish sovereignty.

    Israel should preserve the rights to life and property for Palestinians as long as that does not involve attacking Israelis. But there is no right to have a country, let alone a country within specific borders; that is done by force. The violence, moreover, is not endless.

    If twentieth-century Jews had used force, the Arabs would have had no problem, but the Israelis made a crucial mistake: they attempted to justify their claims not by force but by religion. It is one thing to say to someone, “Give me this thing, because I’m stronger and will kill you if you do not.” It is quite another to argue that you want to take this thing for ideological reasons which are irrelevant to him. He will not only find counter-arguments but will also develop the will to fight, because as he sees it, your position is wrong and his, right. People are more sensitive to infringement of religious values than of their compatriots’ property interests.

    The fact is, the Israelis took the land because they wanted it and could take it. That is reasoning, not justification. They need no one else’s help, as they did not in campaigns so widely separated in time and yet so similar as Joshua ben Nun’s conquest of Canaan and the 1948 War of Independence.

    Israel cannot be built on agreements with the Arabs. International agreements are the legal by-products of inhumane military victories.

  4. NO arab state in territory belonging to Israel! The arabs never wanted a state; they just want to destroy Israel. Terrorists must be executed. Every anti-Israel act must be severely punished, including the death penalty. Teaching anti-Semitism must be punished without equivocation. Mosques must be shuttered or destroyed. All schools in Israel and her territories, Samaria, Judaea, all Jerusalem and Gaza must teach a pro-Israel curriculum. Eventually Israel will have peace.

  5. CuriousAmerican Said:

    Part of the reason no solution is coming for this problem is because NO ONE IS HONEST ENOUGH TO STATE THE MATTER BLUNTLY, WITHOUT LEGALESE!

    obviously you refer to yourself and your usual rant
    the institutionalized muslim hatred of Jews is the source and crux of the problem… nothing further of value is worth discussing… once that is known and the enemy is properly categorized as a criminal lunatic needing incarceration and supervision… details of states become irrelevant… one does not give states to criminal lunatics and one should have no concern for the fate of their existential enemies whom they should destroy. No one cares about your pals, just like they dont care about us….. dont worry they will be sent to europe to plague their employers…. I will put a toll booth on the beach so they can pay to leave.

  6. Cutting through the malarky,

    A state has:

    A) Control over its population registry and immigration

    B) Control over its own export and import

    C) Control over its own borders – even landlocked Switzerland has airports which answer to no one but the Swiss.

    D) Control over its own airspace. During WWII, Switzerland shot down both Allied and Nazi airplanes to maintain neutrality.

    E) Ideally an army, which has already been ruled out for Palestine.

    Israel will never concede any one of those. NEVER! Not one!

    So there is no possibility of a two state solution. When Netanayahu talks about a two state solution he means one state (Israel) with a Muslim reservation (which he calls a state, but he is fooling no one). But Indians in Canada and the USA have the national vote. These Arabs would not.

    We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state … Rabin

    I wish you luck! Try your best. There might be an Arab leader out there who will deliver the goods to you. I doubt he will live long.

    Part of the reason no solution is coming for this problem is because NO ONE IS HONEST ENOUGH TO STATE THE MATTER BLUNTLY, WITHOUT LEGALESE!

  7. Bear Klein Said:

    Israel has two rational choices to the conflict

    actually there is a third way which requires no initiation of force on the part of israel
    1- enact a law making anti semitism a serious crime requiring deportation and the demolishing of institutions engaging in anti semitism. this is not racist and not directed at any collective and gives the choice to abandon anti semitism and incitement.
    2- Utter the words of Jewish settlement legitimacy and legality based on the LON mandate.. then… create a massive affirmative action program to mitigate the damage of UK, Jordan and Israel which gives free land grants to diaspora Jews making aliya to YS in keeping with the original mandate. Limit it at the beginning to non Israelis so as to circumvent the GC occupation laws.. there is NO legal argument against Jewish settlement, only Israeli settlement.
    3- do NOT aid the pals or alleviate any suffering while they teach their children anti semitism

    this would require a reversal of the brainwashing of Israelis by the left and the pretend right. Surely no one could argue a zero tolerance for anti semitism in the Jewish homeland and certainly it would be expected to be severe in punishment. Apply those 3 and they will leave on their own or be deported under the anti semitism law over time. There is no need to make any change in the status quo of keeping the criminal lunatics under supervision except to abandon risking soldiers lives to protect the enemy civilians and their despicable spawn.

  8. Since the 1920s the Jewish – Arab middle-east conflict has continued because the Arabs (now called Palestinians) do NOT accept the presence of Jews in the area. Before the state of Israel was recreated in 1948 the Arabs were killing Jews and inciting via falsehoods that the Jews are planning to destroy or defile the Mosque on The Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In 1929 the Palestinian Riots occurred for these same lies. This resulted in 100s of dead Jews including 68 in Hebron. The Arabs drove the Jews out of Hebron. Jews had lived in Hebron for 100s of years (at least). They killed Jews all over what was then called Palestine.

    Rather than accept a Jewish State and a Palestinian Arab State as proposed by the UN in the late 1940s the Arabs tried to drive the Jews into the Sea. They killed 1% of the Jewish population but lost the war. Since then the Jewish population has risen from 600,000 to about 7 million. The Jewish State of Israel is growing population wise, and economically. The state is highly advanced in technology, medical science and water resources.

    Yet the Palestinians still refuse to accept the reality of the Jewish State and constantly are finding ways to kill Jews and try and drive them out.

    Israel has two rational choices to the conflict. No one is not a two state solution for two people as the Palestinians do not accept the permanence of the Jews.

    One is try and minimize damage caused by the Palestinians and keep fighting with one hand tied behind its back when the Palestinians try their various forms of attack periodically as advocated by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ya’alon.

    The second option is drive out forcibly all terrorists and their supporters. Allow Arabs who demonstrate loyalty (such as the Druze and many Bedouin) to keep enjoying full civil rights. Palestinian polls say 78% of the population of East Jerusalem, Gaza and Judah/Samaria (West Bank) would like to emigrate to the west. Assistance (including financial) to these people should be extended to fulfill their desire to emigrate. This would allow for actual peace between Israel and the remaining Arabs.

  9. “There are no simple solutions to this complex situation,…”
    Actually, there are not only no simple solutions, but there are no solutions at all. Anyone who discusses the situation in Israel without discussing the role that the doctrines of Islam play in the conflict, really doesn’t know what he is talking about. The brutal truth is that the sacred doctrines of Islam from Allah in the Koran and from Muhammad in the hadith command Moslems to make war on the Jews and either subjugate them to Islamic rule or to kill them. Therefore, no Moslem can make peace with Israel without flagrantly violating the sacred commands of his god and his prophet. Good luck with that! The Hamas Charter makes this all perfectly clear. The conflict over Israel is not an ethnic conflict and it is not a territorial conflict. It is an Islamic holy war – jihad – against the Jews. Because the vast majority of “Palestinians” are Moslems, they cannot make peace with Israel, ever. They can only be held in check.

  10. Zero tolerance for anti semitism requiring mandatory deportation coupled with a massive settlement of Jews in YS as according to the LON mandate. In such a scenario Israel need annex nothing. I would settle diaspora jews with massive free land grants and only annex after they have settled it fully. In such a scenario the GC cannot be invoked in order to obfuscate.

    Some of this hostility is fueled by the claim that Israel’s expressed support for a peace process is merely lip service, especially when it undermines any possibility of future negotiations by approving settlement expansion.

    Notice how BB/Armidore are pushing the pal narrative? Linking settlement expansion with torpedoing negotiations when BB himself has intentional refrained from uttering these words for the past 9 years:
    JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN JUDEA SAMARIA IS LEGAL AND LEGITIMATE
    while at the same time facilitating the illegal euro building of muslim homes in YS.
    You see, BB did have a plan… a plan to get the Jews to forget Judea Samaria…. and such a person will next seek to get them to forget Jerusalem…. and then what will happen to the “right hand”
    It is insane that Jews are pushing this canard and despicable that moles pretending to be for zionism covertly obstruct and destroy any real zionist attempt to remember who the Jews are. Its called brainwashing… and the eunuch who campaigned on annexing YS and defending zionism cant even get his ministry of education to educate the children that the Jews are Judea Samaria.
    We shall see that the abandoning of YS will lead to the ultimate abandonment of Tel Aviv because the same narrative obtains in both… illegal and illegitimate jews stealing muslim lands. It is BB Netanyahu that daily reinforces the canard of thieving Jews by saying and doing nothing to end it.

  11. everyone will claim such a policy shift means to do one thing and one thing alone — torpedo any chance of future negotiations with the Palestinians.

    Israel should seek no negotiations with a collective who teach their children that Jews are sons of apes and pigs.

    It is obvious that the differences between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are so significant that any negotiations held at this time are doomed to fail. Given the circumstances, ….

    there has NEVER been a right time, a good circumstance… it has ALWAYS BEEN DOOMED TO FAIL. Delusional Jews who are concerned about the fate of the muslims never ceasing to attempt to kill their children dwell in the realm of the absurd. if only they could accept that fact and enter the real world it becomes obvious that what is advocated by BB is the opposite of what should be done. Once the truth is accepted then they can be seen as an existential enemy needing to be destroyed or kept incarcerated; an enemy who is not to be aided economically but kept in poverty and suffering to encourage their flight to europe. Jews die daily because BB has this plan of peace and has been trying to destroy the right wing by rendering it eunuchs from within to achieve that plan… with the agenda to move the mind of the Israeli public to concessions to satisfy the criminal lunatics. The pals have NEVER had a plan for peace… only a plan to get what they cannot in war… dumb Jews!

  12. T. Belman. Amidror is an insider and close to Netanyahu. He argues, as does Netanyahu,

    If this is true then we have confirmation here that Netanyahu has clearly gone over to the dark side. This article is a justification for maintaining all the evils of muslim anti semitic abuse that are facilitated by the fake status quo, which breaches all agreements, while ludicrously advocating making the lives of the source of the abuse more comfortable rather than treating them as an existential enemy who never ceases to murder Jewish children.

    Those advocating subjecting Area C — placed under full Palestinian control by the Oslo Accords — to Israeli law or sovereignty without outlining a final agreement, are just as mistaken,…

    I assume this is an error as Area C is under FULL ISRAELI control.

    the global community will never believe Israel’s explanations as to why such a move is necessary or justified, and everyone will claim such a policy shift means to do one thing and one thing alone — torpedo any chance of future negotiations with the Palestinians.

    And we can thank BB for that because the greatest justification are those enunciated in Balfour, San Remo, and the LON Mandate: the obligation to settle Jews in the historic Jewish homeland. By intentionally NEVER uttering the words that “JEWISH SETTLEMENT IS LEGAL AND LEGITIMATE IN YS” BB has allowed the concept to disappear from the minds of Israel and the world. Therefore, due to BB’s intentional MO all that remains is the occuptation of the thieving Jews on the land of the muslims. I have been saying for a long time that this is no accident, that BB did it intentionally and this article proves that fact when we see the conclusion of his mouthpiece armidore:

    “…any step taken must adhere to one vital principle: A wide public consensus is more important than the details of any proposal ….

    that is the key phrase which proves my assertion that BB has been intentionally trying to move Israeli public opinion leftwards…. AWAY FROM A CONNECTION WITH JUDEA SAMARIA….

    No zionist discussion obtains to day that seeks new settlements in YS outside the ghetto boundaries of the major blocks and this was accomplished by focusing the struggle on Jerusalem rather than both Jerusalem and YS… Jerusalem was already annexed so why is the PM always filling discussion with Jerusalem… Berfore Netanyahu this was a discuassion.
    another tactic is the demonization of settlers and nationalists to get the Israeli public against them..
    another tactic is the intentionally soft reaction to the arab terror wave which gets the Israeli public fatigued and wanting out of YS
    another tactic is not facilitating the euro canards of illegal jewish immigration in order to increase tough love pressure on Israelis who are confused as to why they are there other than security… he is removing intentionally the Jewish will to retain YS

    it would be best to relinquish some principles, important as they may be, as nothing is as important as ensuring that Israel weathers the challenges ahead

    and yet much of the challenge is created by netanyahu’s intentional failures, his willful neglect, his intentioal incompetence and his covert behaviors… such as facilitating the illegal euro building while obstructing Jewish settlement.

    It will be all futile, because the muslims hate the Jews and no agreement will be sustainable over the long term. Look at the population of egypt and jordan… Israel must still maintain a constant war footing as if at war with none of the benefits of war and conquest. its a delusion, any fool can see that it is all a failure.. a humpty dumpty patched up temporarily… we saw how Morsi was moving towards breaching the treaty. The problem lies with their muslim hatred of Jews and teaching their children that Jews are evil creatures, sons of apes and pigs. why would anyone seek a peace which gives those criminal lunatics anything more than a controlled environment of supervision?