(Fathom-BICOM-UK) Brig.-Gen (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser - Compared with the extremely dangerous security plan of the previous U.S. administration, prepared by General John Allen, the new plan is much better. The Allen plan did not provide security and was going to cause inevitable bitter quarrels between Israel and the U.S. In the new plan, Israel is expected to defend itself by itself and has overriding security responsibility in all the areas. It will control the crossings and the areas around the future Palestinian state. It will be able to carry out security-related operations inside the territory of the Palestinian state, according to its own decision. Unlike the Allen plan, there are going to be no foreign forces involved in any security matters. Moreover, the plan recognizes that the Jordan Valley is critical for Israel's national security and therefore will be under Israeli sovereignty. Yet, the plan is not perfect from Israel's security point of view. First, since Israel does not have an equivalent area to the Jordan Valley along the border between Egypt and Gaza, the Palestinian-controlled route under/over land that is going to connect Gaza and the West Bank constitutes a threat that was not sufficiently addressed. Second, the review committees that overlook the security and the crossings issues have an American participant which may erode Israel's overriding responsibility, though fortunately these committees are going to be much less involved in day-to-day issues compared with the Allen plan. Third, the Palestinian state may be established well before the new narrative the Palestinians have to adopt is inculcated into their culture and psychological infrastructure. The timetables in this respect are vague. We have to remember that the main obstacle to peace is the existing Palestinian narrative, and the entire plan is focused on the need to change it. The writer, former head of the IDF Military Intelligence Research Division and director general of the Strategic Affairs Ministry, is director of the Project on Regional Middle East Developments at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. This is from his presentation at the Jerusalem Center on February 9, 2020. View the video.
2020-03-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive