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Stop Pursuing a Two-State Illusion and Commit to a Realistic Two-State Solution

(Washington Post) Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin laid out his vision of peace in a speech to the Knesset in 1995. The Palestinians would have "less than a state," Israel would retain security control over the Jordan Valley "in the broadest meaning of that term," Jerusalem would remain united under Israel's sovereignty, and settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria would become part of Israel. For 20 years, successive Israeli prime ministers have tried to advance peace with the Palestinians. Palestinian leaders have rejected every Israeli peace overture while systematically promoting a culture that rejects peace and glorifies terrorism, including by providing a lifetime of financial support for terrorists who murder Jews. To coax the Palestinians into negotiating a reasonable compromise, many international leaders simply moved the goalposts closer to them. In December 2016, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2334, which declared everything beyond the 1967 lines "occupied Palestinian territory," including, most outrageously, the Western Wall in Jerusalem. By constantly moving the goalposts and expecting nothing of Palestinians, the two-state "consensus" has moved to a place that makes any peace deal impossible. While the international community's memory is short, the people of Israel have not forgotten that the Palestinian response to Ehud Barak's generous peace offer in 2000 was a terrorism campaign that murdered over a thousand Israelis, or that territory Ariel Sharon vacated in Gaza in 2005 has been transformed into a terrorism base that has repeatedly forced millions of Israelis into bomb shelters. The Trump peace plan also calls for a two-state solution. But it addresses the root cause of the conflict by insisting that Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state and by making clear that Israel has a valid legal, historical and moral claim to Judea and Samaria. The Trump plan also seriously addresses Israel's security needs. The peace deal it envisions would leave Israel with defensible borders and security control west of the Jordan River. Not surprisingly, after refusing direct negotiations for nearly a decade, the Palestinians have summarily rejected the Trump peace plan. In the face of this rejectionism and determined to advance a realistic solution to the conflict, Israel plans to extend sovereignty to territories that will remain part of Israel in any realistic peace agreement. Israel hopes the decision will convince the Palestinians that another century of rejectionism is a losing strategy and that the Jewish state is here to stay.
2020-06-22 00:00:00
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