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Executing the Vision of Israel's Pre-War 1967 Borders Presents Some Serious Logistical Issues

(Fox News) Leland Vittert - For Israel, President Obama's announcement of basing a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders creates not only huge strategic and tactical issues, but practical ones as well. About 6% of Jewish Israelis live outside the '67 borders in the West Bank. Of the 350,000 Jews in the West Bank, about 270,000 live in the so-called "settlement blocs," which are on land relatively close to Israel's original borders and would almost certainly be included in the "land swaps" the president touched on in his address Thursday. Many of these settlements are far closer to suburban towns in America than outposts on the Wild West. In settlements like Maale Adumim, there are 10-story apartment buildings, schools and shopping centers. While it's not impossible to move 80,000 people who live outside the settlement blocs, it will prove to be a very expensive and politically difficult process. In 2005, then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered a unilateral disengagement in Gaza, withdrawing all Israeli troops and forcing 8,000 settlers from their homes. To say it proved a messy process would be an understatement, and six years later it still remains an open wound in Israel. In addition, the tactical and strategic military situation of the West Bank makes it much more dangerous for Israel to give up than Gaza, as the West Bank is the literal high ground overlooking the country's major population centers.
2011-05-24 00:00:00
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