Annexation/Incorporation – the paradox

This explains why the PA and its supporters reject the possibility of a TSS and a viable state. They don’t want a state alongside Israel; their goal is a state instead of Israel.

By MOSHE DANN
A Palestinian uses a sling to hurl stones during clashes with Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank December 14, 2018. (photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMAD TOROKMAN)
A Palestinian uses a sling to hurl stones during clashes with Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank December 14, 2018.
(photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMAD TOROKMAN)
Advocates of a “two-state-solution” (TSS) argue that incorporating Area C of Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”) into the State of Israel prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state. Actually, the opposite is true. As long as Israel does not incorporate/annex this area, the TSS and a just resolution of the conflict cannot move forward.
The reason is simple: As long as Arab-Palestinian leaders and their supporters demand and believe that the Jewish communities (“settlements”) in Area C will be destroyed – as were those in the Gaza Strip in the “Disengagement” (Israel’s withdrawal in 2005) – they will not agree to the TSS.
In addition, as part of the TSS, Arab-Palestinian leaders demand that all “Palestinian refugees,” their descendants who are currently living in UNRWA-sponsored towns in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and millions more in other countries – an estimated five to six million people, or more – be allowed to return/immigrate to what they claim were their homes and properties in Israel.
Furthermore, backed by many in the international community, they demand that Israel retract its annexation of eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights (areas conquered by the IDF in the 1967 Six Day War) and remove all Jewish inhabitants who live there.
Arab-Palestinian leaders also insist that Israel withdraw to the armistice lines of 1949, or to the plan proposed by the UN General Assembly in 1947 – which was rejected by all Arab countries, which instead attacked the Jews of the fledgling state.
No Israeli government would agree to uproot more than a half-million Jews who live in Area C plus another half-million more who live in other areas, or to other Arab demands in order to facilitate a TSS. That standoff prevents any progress.
Moreover, according to a December 2018 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace study, Palestinian leaders and institutions “do little policy-making, pursue no coherent ideology, express no compelling moral vision, are subject to no oversight and inspire no collective enthusiasm.” Although the PA (including Hamas) is one of the largest recipients of international aid in the world, it is drowning in corruption, promotes antisemitism, anti-Israeli activity and supports terrorism.
This explains why the PA and its supporters reject the possibility of a TSS and a viable state. They don’t want a state alongside Israel; their goal is a state instead of Israel.
TSS advocates who claim that Israeli plans to incorporate/annex Area C harm “The Peace Process” are, ironically, supporting Arab-Palestinian rejection and intransigence, and guaranteeing that peace will never happen.
Paradoxically, only Israel’s incorporation/annexation of Area C will break the deadlock by forcing Arab Palestinians to choose: accept reality and end the conflict, or continue to oppose Israel’s existence and promote “resistance” and terrorism.
The author is a PhD historian, writer and journalist in Israel.