|
Trending Topics
|
Source: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-oslo-discord/
Flaws in Conventional Thinking about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
(Israel Hayom) Maj.-Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen - As the Palestinian Authority loses control over its cities, the terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria are getting stronger. The new terrorist threat should have Israel rethink its policies since the Oslo Accords that came into effect in the 1990s and were supposed to usher in a new era of peace. One rationale was that separation from the Palestinians was a prerequisite for any resolution of the conflict. In northern Samaria, the IDF pulled back from Jenin in 1996 and uprooted several Jewish communities in northern Samaria in 2005. In both cases, this turned the area into terrorist hotbeds that threatened Israelis on the coastal plain, much like the Gaza disengagement that turned that enclave into an even greater threat to Israel. Thus, terrorist hotbeds are the direct results of the void created by the lack of Israeli troops and civilians in the area. The writer, a senior research fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, served in the IDF for 42 years, commanding troops in battle on the Egyptian and Syrian fronts.