(Ynet News) Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland - Total calm on the Palestinian front is impossible. On the one hand, a comprehensive peace agreement according to a two-state solution is unfeasible. On the other, the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem can't accept the existing situation as permanent. This leaves us with two possible courses of action: either examining alternative solutions to the conflict and avoid obsessing over the only direction pursued since 1993 or "managing the conflict." Managing the conflict requires Israel to understand the interests of the other actors. The leadership in Gaza understands that its rule is at risk if it fails to improve, by even a little bit, the state of infrastructure, employment, energy, and water resources. Israel's current policy, which both facilitates a controlled increase in the number of Gazan workers that enter the country and infrastructure projects, is the right move. The silent majority of Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as the Palestinian security apparatus, can put up with Israeli military operations as long as they are relatively focused and as long as the number of fatalities stays low. Israel cannot give in to the rioters. But if the purpose is to "manage the conflict," the trick is to avoid actions whose cost far outweighs their benefits. The writer is a former head of Israel's National Security Council.
2022-04-25 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive