Our Arab neighbors have always rejected any kind of so-called peace plans

Our rights to our land should not and will not be contingent in any way shape or form as to whether we agree to the creation of another enemy state.

FEBRUARY 7, 2020 06:24

A Palestinian reacts next to a fire during a protest against the U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank February 6, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/MUSSA QAWASMA) — A Palestinian reacts next to a fire during a protest against the U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank February 6, 2020

(photo credit: REUTERS/MUSSA QAWASMA)

I met earlier today one of the leaders of Judea and Samaria standing outside Beit Hadassah. He does a tremendous amount of work for all of the communities in Judea and Samaria. I asked him if they had determined what kind of an answer they were going to give as to acceptance of the Trump plan, including some kind of Palestinian state together with sovereignty over the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, or whether to reject them both. He answered that they had not yet determined their policy decision. I said that the answer is easy.

It’s really very simple. What can we expect from Donald Trump and even from Jared Kushner who don’t live in Israel and are willing to accept creation of a Palestinian state, when there are so many Israelis who also back creation of such a state? If Israelis who have lived through intifadas, terrorist attacks, wars following the expulsion and abandonment of Gush Katif, including the current continuing rocket fire and explosive balloons, still back the idea of Palestinian state, what can we expect from people that don’t live here such as Trump and Kushner?

So what’s the answer?

There is an expression that’s used in the Talmud, which in Hebrew is palginan dibora, which means you take what is said and divide it into two, accepting one part and rejecting the second. That’s exactly what we should do at present. We should say that we accept the Trump plan as far as it backs sovereignty for all of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and at the same time reject the idea of creation of Palestinian state. That must be our policy.

Then, of course, everyone is going to ask how could we possibly do that? And that answer is also very simple.

If we start from 1947, our Arab neighbors have always, but always rejected any kind of so-called peace plans that were put on the table. We don’t have to go back to 1947. We can go return to the year 2000 when Ehud Barak offered Yasser Arafat well over 90% of Judah and Samaria, including east Jerusalem. He said no and started a war.

We can talk about the numerous times that Olmert offered PA President Mahmoud Abbas more than Barak’s offers. He rejected one after another. As a matter of fact, the last time that Olmert spoke with him about some kind of a settlement, he put a map on the table and said that he wanted an answer, which he’s still waiting for.

AS FOR KUSHNER, he referred to the Palestinian Authority as a police state. His final remarks during the CNN interview, very telling remarks, were that a situation worse than at present, is a failed state. That would be catastrophic both for Israel and for the United States, and for all the other the Sunni Muslim countries around us.

Such a failed stated could quite easily turn into an Iranian-Hezbollah-Hamas proxy. And that would be a major issue, not only for Israel, but for Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and for all the other Sunni Arab countries in the region.

So, we have every right in the world to accept what we think is positive and good for us, and reject whatever is not. That must be our answer, our policy.

We certainly cannot say no to sovereignty, but the on the other hand we certainly cannot say yes to a Palestinian state. We have to accept what’s good and reject that which is bad. And that seems to me very very simple. That’s what has to be official policy of the communities in Judea and Samaria.

As Trump said, the ideas that he put on the table are open to negotiation. And we have to be the first to put our position on the table. And that’s what our policy should be. Those who don’t like it, that’s their problem. We already know that we’re never going to reach a stage where a Palestinian state, according to the Trump doctrine, will ever come to fruition because they will never ever ever be able to meet the conditions that Trump has laid down for recognition of such a state.

But that doesn’t make any difference. Right now we have to express the truth as we see it and know it. And that is that Israel has a historic right to all our land. And finally, after so many years, the United States, which moved its embassy to Jerusalem, has recognized that we have right to our land.

Our rights to our land should not and will not be contingent in any way shape or form as to whether we agree to the creation of another enemy state which could definitely be an existential threat to the continued existence of the State of Israel. That’s what has to be said and that’s what has to be done.

No question about it.

The writer, a Hebron resident since 1981, is the former international spokesperson for the Hebron Jewish Community.