Daily Alert Archives

A Limited Palestinian State

(Washington Post) Benjamin Netanyahu - In our quest for peace with the Palestinians, three imperatives unite Israelis: Terror must end, our borders must be secure, and the Palestinians must abandon the goal of destroying Israel. That is why we insist that the terror organizations be dismantled, that we not return to the indefensible 1967 lines, and that the Palestinians give up their claim to a "right of return" - a euphemism for destroying the Jewish state by flooding it with millions of Palestinians. Israel does not want to rule the Palestinians. The only reason our forces are deployed in Palestinian cities and towns is to prevent the savage terror attacks being launched from these places against us. Ceding full sovereignty over Judea, Samaria, and Gaza is doubly wrong. First, most of Judea and Samaria is barren and empty. The combined Palestinian and Jewish populations live on less than one-third of this territory. But the empty swaths of disputed land, comprising the heart of the Jewish ancestral homeland, are vital for Israel's security. Second, full Palestinian sovereignty over these areas would so weaken Israel that it would tempt the Palestinians to roll back the peace and use the strategically placed territory as a base for even more lethal terror attacks on the shrunken Jewish state. Every time Israel was forced to cross the border to root out terror, it would be accused by the UN of invading a foreign country and threatened with sanctions. A third option would give the Palestinians all the powers needed to govern themselves but none of the powers that could threaten Israel. For example, the Palestinians would have internal security and police forces but not an army. They would be able to establish diplomatic relations with other countries but not to forge military pacts. They could import goods and merchandise but not weapons and armaments. Control over Palestinian daily life would be in the hands of the Palestinians alone, but security control over borders, ports, and airspace would remain in Israel's hands. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed these ideas last year, and most Israelis support him. Indeed, those Israelis who support a Palestinian state are in effect calling for limited Palestinian sovereignty with Israel retaining control of vital security powers. Do those in the free world calling for a Palestinian state really want unlimited sovereignty for the Palestinians? Do they really want to have a Palestinian state with its own army, free to dispatch suicide bombers all over the world? By insisting on these safeguards, we will not be thwarting peace but enabling the emergence of a genuine peace that is stable, secure, and ultimately successful.
2003-06-20 00:00:00
Full Article