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Obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian Peace

(Ynet News) Brig.-Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi - Israel does not deal with a single, unified Palestinian system. Rather, a Hamas state has risen in Gaza which has its own policies and which is not subordinate in any way to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Thus, the PA, for its part, does not represent roughly half of the Palestinian nation located in Gaza. Even in the West Bank itself, there are many Palestinian elements who do not view themselves as subordinate to the PA, but rather, they are affiliated with groups such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or with other hardline Islamist entities. Unfortunately, there is a tendency to utterly ignore this reality, and to try and negotiate with the PA in a way that fails to take into account the fact that it does not represent all of the Palestinians. This means that the Israeli desire to receive guarantees of security and peace in exchange for concessions cannot be met. There is no one on the Palestinian side who can supply the goods. Moreover, all of the major Israeli political parties agree that Israel should continue its control of the Jordan Valley, seeing such control as an existential security need for the State of Israel. There is also an across-the-board understanding within the Israeli political system that in light of the severity of the terrorism threat in the West Bank, the IDF will need near full freedom of operation there in any future scenario. The PA, for its part, is quietly in favor of the IDF's many actions against Hamas in the West Bank, as this helps it survive and prevent a Hamas revolution. Thus, the PA has a basic interest for the IDF to continue its activities.
2018-03-08 00:00:00
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