Okay, for the sake of argument, let’s say all those (on the right and the left)
who say it is too late for the two-state solution are correct. Let’s agree that
the Oslo idea was nice in theory but in reality is/was not implementable.
History, so far, is on their side; after all of the years of negotiations and
attempts, there is no Palestinian state next to Israel.
The settlement
enterprise has been quite successful, at least in terms of limiting Palestinian
development, with Israel in direct control of 62 percent of the West Bank and
with effective control of 100% of it. So, as the argument goes, tomorrow
morning, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas either throws in the
towel or disappears for reasons of health or convenience. What then? What
options do we really have?
1. It’s all ours. All of the territory of Judea and
Samaria, or the West Bank, which ever you prefer, becomes part of Israel. The
government and the Knesset pass a law annexing all of the territory and Israeli
law is imposed on all the land and all the people living on it.
The 2.5
million Palestinians living there will get citizenship and will become Israelis
with passports. They will inherit our flag, school systems, taxes, social
security, national anthem, the whole package.
Most of them will at first
refuse to take Israeli citizenship, like in the Golan Heights, But it doesn’t
really change anything. They will learn the school curriculum that we teach in
Israeli Arab schools. The use of Palestinian flag will be illegal. Those who
fight against the annexation will be thrown in prison. Those who use violence
and try to organize can be expelled.
Eventually they will get used to us,
like the Israeli Arabs did. Those who learn quickly will benefit the most. They
have a lot to gain by being good Israeli citizens and a lot to lose if they are
not. As for the Jewish majority, well, God is on our side, so we’ll pray for
more Jewish babies and more Jewish immigrants.
2. It’s all ours, but we
don’t want the people. All of the territory is ours and we annex it all, but we
don’t offer citizenship to the Palestinians living there. They become permanent
residents, like the Palestinians of east Jerusalem.
The Palestinian
Authority will not exist, but local governments can exist under Israeli
sovereignty. The Palestinians will have all of the privileges of citizenship
without the right to vote in Knesset. Israel will administer all of the
government services, collect taxes, run the health, welfare and education
systems.
Like in east Jerusalem, they will pay for and receive social
security benefits. They will be issued Israeli travel documents. We can allow
them to continue to hold Jordanian passports so that they can continue to travel
in the Arab world. We won’t force them to become Israeli citizens nor will we
encourage them to take Israeli passports.
They can continue to say they
want independence, it won’t change anything. We will limit their development and
as long as they are peaceful we will allow them access to the Israeli
economy.
3. It’s all ours but we will only annex the settlement blocs
now. We will control the rest from the outside. Israel will annex about 11
percent of the West Bank, which includes all of the major settlement blocs along
the west side of the Green Line, and also the Ariel finger, leaving most of the
Jewish population of the West Bank under Israel sovereignty.
Israel will
construct a wall/separation barrier around the rest of the Palestinian areas and
control the entry and exit of people and goods into the Palestinian territories.
Inside those territories the Palestinians can have full autonomy and control
themselves with the continued assistance of the international community, if it
is interested in helping them.
Those Palestinians who are friendly and
observe our security needs will have the possibility of entry into the State of
Israel for business purposes. Israel would be willing to provide financial
resources to improve the Palestinian health system so that there would be no
need to rely on the Israeli system.
Imports and exports will continue via
Israeli ports with Israeli security control on everything coming and
going. Palestinians can have their state inside of the territories under
their control. Israel will not object to a Palestinian state such as this being
a member of the UN, as long as Israel controls all questions of
security.
4. It’s all ours – we are willing to give up part of it, but
there is no partner. In this option we continue to play the peace process game,
declaring that we want peace and support the two-state solution but arguing we
have no partner for peace, as the Palestinians refuse to come to the
table.
As long as the Palestinians continue to “cooperate” and they are
the peace refuseniks, we can continue to do whatever we want. We control all of
the territories. We control who comes and goes, what comes and goes, we build
where we want, block whatever roads we want and as long as the economy continues
to grow, everything is quiet.
Palestinians have their Palestinian
Authority, which collects taxes and international aid and provides services, or
is supposed to provide services, to 95% of the Palestinians living in the
territory. They have “security” forces that coordinate with ours and for the
most part behave themselves.
They have learned the lessons of the past:
if they allow cells of terrorism to develop, we will destroy them, their forces,
their economy and their chances to live a normal life. They have a lot to lose
and they have learned their lesson well.
There are all kinds of other
options that some dreamers dream of, like an agreed-to binational state, or some
kind of dream-world federation or confederation where everyone will agree that
Israeli settlers can live wherever they want and Palestinian refugees can
resettle anywhere within the borders between the river and the sea and each side
will be in control of its own people.
I don’t believe any of those kinds
of proposals are remotely possible. Let’s face it, neither Israelis nor
Palestinians want to live under the control of the other side. As far as I can
see, this basic reality will not change.
So if we want to take the above
options seriously, we only have to ask ourselves if any of them are doable,
acceptable (to a majority of Israelis and Palestinians) and to the international
community? Would we have any partners anywhere in the world for implementing any
of the above options?
In my opinion, the answer is a big “no.” What is
acceptable and doable then? Use your imagination for a moment. The answer is not
too difficult.
The writer is the co-chairman of IPCRI, the Israel
Palestine Center for Research and Information, a columnist for The Jerusalem
Post, a radio host on All for Peace Radio and the initiator and negotiator of
the secret back channel for the release of Gilad Schalit.
|