Jpost-logo
JPost.comPremium Magazine Opinion
Magazine

Israel should annex the Jordan Valley

A ground invasion from the east would be detrimental to the existence of the Jewish state.

A settlement in the Jordan Valley [illustrative]
Photo by: REUTERS
There is nothing that should prevent Israel from annexing the Jordan Valley, a territory that encompasses 25 percent of the West Bank.  Israel has not annexed the West Bank because it is undesirable to give citizenship to 2.5 million Palestinians, but the demography of the Jordan Valley is different.  Merely 60,000 Palestinians live in the Jordan Valley, so there is no demographic problem that would result from annexation.

Israel would be annexing a territory that has provided the best natural defense against conventional warfare along Israel's eastern front. Since this valley includes the relatively small border between the West Bank and Jordan (97 kilometers), Israel has been able to easily prevent the movement of military personnel from Jordan into the West Bank, and ultimately into Israel. 

Read More...
 
 
Jpost.com, the online edition of the Jerusalem Post Newspaper - the most read and best-selling English-language newspaper in Israel. For analysis and opinion from Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East. Jpost.com offers expert and in-depth reporting from Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including diplomacy and defense, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Arab Spring, the Mideast peace process, politics in Israel, life in Jerusalem, Israel's international affairs, Iran and its nuclear program, Syria and the Syrian civil war, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel's world of business and finance, and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.

All rights reserved © The Jerusalem Post 1995 - 2013