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Applying Israeli Law in West Bank Is Not Illegal
(Jerusalem Post) Jason Greenblatt - On Friday, an opinion piece by Yousef al-Otaiba, UAE ambassador to the U.S., was published in an Israeli newspaper. I spent three years at the White House working to bring Israel and its Arab neighbors closer, and I commend Otaiba for writing it. I am glad he spoke directly to an Israeli audience. I strongly disagree with parts of the op-ed. For example, I don't agree that the extension of Israeli sovereignty to the areas being contemplated would be an illegal seizure of land. The U.S. government also does not believe so. I also strongly disagree with his use of the term "Palestinian land." It is not Palestinian land. It is land that is disputed, and the only way to resolve this is if the two sides can negotiate a settlement of the dispute directly together. The leadership in Ramallah rejected the vision for peace before it was even published. Indeed, they rejected, again and again, plans and ideas put forward by prior U.S. administrations. Our view was that the leadership in Ramallah should no longer have a veto on what happens to this land and to the Israelis living there. After spending countless hours throughout the Arab capitals over three years, I came to learn that we agree on far more than we disagree on. Despite our deep differences on some of these issues, I will forever be grateful that in some capitals in the region the leadership was always willing to have frank, sincere, and in some cases very surprising conversations. These difficult discussions and debates, including the topics covered in the op-ed by my friend Yousef, have to happen to make meaningful progress. The writer was the White House's Middle East envoy for nearly three years.