(Bloomberg) Zev Chafets - 53 years after Israel defeated three Arab armies and took control of the West Bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to begin the process of annexing the Jordan Valley area and most of the Jewish communities in the territory. He will do so at the head of a large government coalition that represents 2/3 of Israelis, and with the blessing of the Americans. The arguments haven't changed much in decades. What has changed is reality. Today, over 400,000 Jews live in the West Bank. They are a heterogeneous mix of homeowners who commute to work in nearby Israeli cities. The Jordan Valley has become Israel's strategic eastern border. It is these communities and that border area that Israel intends to annex in accordance with the American plan. That plan doesn't leave the Palestinians homeless, as some have suggested. It offers them roughly 70% of the West Bank (and all of Gaza) for a demilitarized state. Israel can live with that. The Palestinian leadership, so far, cannot. The writer served for five years as director of the Israel Government Press Office.
2020-04-30 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive