At a conference at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya last Sunday, MK Zippi Hotobeli (Likud) suggest that Israel stop being ambiguous when it comes to sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, and annex the area. Arab residents of Judea and Samaria will have to become Israeli citizens, through a gradual process and under certain conditions.

The Israeli Initiative supports the idea of stopping the ambiguity and working towards sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, especially as an alternative to two-state solutions that plan to establish a Palestinian State that will cause instability in the region and threaten the State of Israel's existence. However, the issues are much more complicated than Hotobeli described them.

Even if we accept the most optimistic approach to the demographic issue, annexing the Arab population of Judea and Samaria is a strategic attack on Israel. The Israeli Initiative opposes and continues to oppose such a plan, as do most Israelis, who want to keep Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

In order to deal with this problem carefully, The Israeli Initiative presents a plan that deals with all of its aspects.
First, the Initiative aims to reduce the Arab population in Judea and Samaria by continuing the process of population exchange that began in the War of Independence, by having the refugees rehabilitated in third countries. This process's success will decrease the Arab population in the area by about 25%, allowing most of the hostile elements out.

The rest of the population will not be granted automatic, comprehensive Israeli citizenship: Since there already is a Palestinian state east of the Jordan River, which residents of Judea and Samaria had been citizens of, The Initiative proposes to involve Jordan in a regional solution that will return Jordanian citizenship to these residents. They can continue to be residents of Israel and enjoy the rights of all residents, but their political rights will come from Amman.
This is not a simple solution, but the problem is not simple either, and requires a complex and creative solution.

Only when Israel focuses on these two issues – rehabilitating the refugees and returning Jordanian citizenship to the Arabs in Judea and Samaria – will the final step of the process, annexing Judea and Samaria with full Israeli sovereignty, be possible. Until then, we can take a significant step to reinforce Israel's status in Judea and Samaria, by passing a law to apply Israeli law to Israeli municipalities in Judea and Samaria, as we explained in previous updates. We call up MK Hotobeli and her colleagues to promote this law, thus contributing to the prevention of the establishment of a Palestinian State in these territories. Now, when Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to balance out the building freeze - this proposed bill is an excellent political opportunity for him.

A year has passed since Operation Cast Lead, and the IDF, like Hamas, is learning its lessons and preparing for the next round. The only difference between the previous operation and the expected one, according to army intelligence, is that next time will be even more complicated. As opposed to last year, Hamas will be more ready to resist the IDF when it enters the Gaza strip.

Just like in the northern border, Israel also began to prepare for another war the second the one in Gaza ended. Gaza continues to be under a reign of terror, and the closure of the northern and southern borders does not allow any improvement in the quality of Gazans' lives.

There is no solution on the horizon, and the situation creates an atmosphere of despair in the population of the Gaza strip. This can be seen in the recent music festival in the Gaza strip as a "celebration" of the anniversary of Operation Cast Lead. The general style of songs was sad, and the songwriters complained of the difficult lives Gazans lead, lives full of destruction and poverty. Of course, these songs also blamed Israel for the situation.

For years, Israelis and others claimed that the reason for the "cycle of violence" in Israel is the "occupation." Rather than solve the real problems in Gaza, which had become a giant refugee camp, Israel and the west have put their energy to promote the so-called "political solution," building a Palestinian state. Six years ago, Israeli troops left the cities of the Gaza strip, and two years later, all Israelis were expelled and no reminder of their presence in Gaza remained. The Disengagement process brought much pain and divided the people of Israel; however, there were those who said that this was the price Israel had to pay in order to finally solve the problems in Gaza. Four years after the disengagement and one year after Operation Cast Lead, Israelis are wiser. We understand where the key to solving the conflict is NOT found. The occupation is not the problem, retreating is not the solution. What is the problem? What is the solution? Israeli society is still perplexed.

You, our friends and partners, have answers. You already know that the cycle that began in 1948 is still violent. You know that as long as we do not deal with the refugee problem, and do not fee ourselves from the "political solution," we will stay in the endless cycle of violence. You know that there is an alternative, that we can offer the Gazans a better life, and offer Israelis life - a good life, a life of peace. This peace will come from Israeli strength, from sovereignty and not from weakness and ambiguity. The Israeli Initiative offers a clear plan for a true solution to the conflict, which we all – not just Gilad Shalit – have become hostages of.

The Associated Press recently published an article exposing the various ways residents attempt to escape from the Gaza Strip. Desperate Gazans fake fatal diseases in order to get permission to enter Israel and receive medical care, or pay hundreds of dollars to smugglers and counterfeiters in order to cross the border to Israel or Egypt.

These actions reflect a deepening feeling amongst Gazans. Official polls show that half of the residents of the Gaza Strip would like to leave the Strip. Hassam Riashi, a 27-year-old Gazan who paid to sneak over the Egyptian border said that, in his opinion, "everyone needs to leave Gaza. Even the air is cleaner outside of the Gaza Strip!"

Absurdly, the Western and Arab worlds send huge sums of aid money to the Gazans and support their battles against Israel, but this does nothing to allow the Gazans to leave their homes, which aren't even their ancestral homeland. (More than 3/4 of Gazans are descendants of refugees of the 1948 War of Independence, in which Gaza became part of Egypt.) Although Israel is threatened by the unstable border with Gaza, it does nothing to help the Gazans build a new life elsewhere.

The irony is beyond all belief. The Palestinians in Gaza are begging to leave and put an end to the problems that cause instability in the region. At the same time, the whole world, including Israel, hasn't allowed this.

At The Israeli Initiative, we believe that a humanitarian and permanent solution to the refugee problem is clearly in Israel's interest. It is the first step in any peace process.

The Arab world has ignored the option of rehabilitating refugees and allowing them to leave Gaza in order to strengthen the Palestinian National narrative and to continue to claim "the right of return," even if Gazans suffer in the process. These goals are shared by UNRWA, the organization that is meant to help, but actually perpetuates the problem. This has made the Israeli-Arab conflict impossible to solve.

How can the problem be solved? When Israel, the West and the moderate Arab countries will take a new, simple direction: Stop waiting for a political solution and start rehabilitating the refugees through an international mechanism, as The Israeli Initiative recommends.

Source:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories


I'm happy to answer any questions and read your comments,

Sincerely,

Yoav Sorek
Manager, The Israeli Initiative
www.Israelinitiative.com