> > > March 27, 2005 > > E-1: the end of a viable Palestinian state > > By: Jeff Halper* > > The fatal flaw in most analyses of the Israel-Palestine conflict is the > assumption that if the Palestinians can just get a state of their own, > then > all will be fine. A state on all the Occupied Territories (UN > Resolution > 242), on most of the Occupied Territories (Oslo and the Road Map to the > Geneva Initiative), on even on half the Occupied Territories (Sharon's > notion) - it doesn't matter. Once there's a Palestinian state the > conflict > is over and we can all move on to the next item on the agenda. > > Wrong. A Palestinian state can just as easily be a prison as a > legitimate > state that addresses the national aspirations of its people. The > crucial > issue is viability. Israel is a small country, but it is three times > larger > than the Palestinian areas. The entire Occupied Areas - the West Bank, > East > Jerusalem and Gaza - make up only 22% of Israel/Palestine. That means > that > even if all of the territories Israel conquered in 1967 were > relinquished, > it would still comprise a full 78% of the country. Would the > Palestinian > areas constitute a viable state? Barely. Just the size of the American > state > of Delaware (but with three times the population before refugees > return), it > would at least have a coherent territory, borders with Israel, Jordan, > Syria > and Egypt, a capital in Jerusalem, a port on the Mediterranean, an > airport > in Gaza, a viable economy (based on Holy Land tourism, agriculture and > hi-tech) and access to the water of the Jordan River. An accepted > member of > the international community enjoying trade with its neighbors - and > enjoying > as well the support of a far-flung, highly educated and affluent > diaspora - > a small Palestinian state would have a shot at viability. > > This is what Israel seeks to prevent. Ever since becoming the head of > the > Ministerial Committee on Settlements in the Begin government back in > 1977, > Ariel Sharon has been completely up-front about his intention of > securing > the entire Land of Israel for the Jewish people. “Security” has > nothing to > do with Israel's expansionist policies. Successive Israeli governments > did > not establish 200 settlements because of security. Nor did they build a > massive infrastructure of Israeli-only highways that link the > settlement > blocs irreversibly into Israel for security reasons. Nor can the route > of > the Separation Barrier, nor the policy of expropriating Palestinian > land and > systematically demolishing Palestinian homes be explained by > “security.” > They all derive from one central goal: to claim the entire country for > Israel. Period. > > Still, Israel cannot “digest” the 3.6 million Palestinians living in > the > Occupied Territories. Giving them citizenship would nullify Israel as a > Jewish state; not giving them citizenship yet keeping them forever > under > occupation would constitute outright apartheid. What to do? The answer > is > clear: establish a tiny Palestinian state of, say, five or six cantons > (Sharon's term) on 40-70% of the Occupied Territories, completely > surrounded > and controlled by Israel. Such a Palestinian state would cover only > 10-15% > of the entire country and would have no meaningful sovereignty and > viability: no coherent territory, no freedom of movement, no control of > borders, no capital in Jerusalem, no economic viability, no control of > water, no control of airspace or communications, no military - not > even the > right as a sovereign state to enter into alliances without Israeli > permission. > > And since the Palestinians will never agree to this, Israel must > “create > facts on the ground” that prejudice negotiations even before they > begin. > Last week's announcement that Israel is constructing 3500 housing > units in > E-1, a corridor connecting Jerusalem to the West Bank settlement of > Ma'aleh > Adumim, seals the fate of the Palestinian state. As a key element of an > Israeli “Greater Jerusalem,” the E-1 plan removes any viability from a > Palestinian state. It cuts the West Bank in half, allowing Israel to > control > Palestinian movement from one part of their country to another, while > isolating East Jerusalem from the rest of Palestinian territory. Since > 40% > of the Palestinian economy revolves around Jerusalem and its > tourist-based > economy, the E-1 plan effectively cuts the economic heart out of any > Palestinian state, rendering it nothing more than a set of non-viable > Indian > reservations. > > If there is any silver lining in the E-1 plan, it is that it has > highlighted American complicity in Israel's settlement expansion. The > Bush > Administration, while calling the E-1 plan “unhelpful,” nevertheless > formally recognized the Ma'aleh Adumim settlement bloc, together with > E-1, > in last year's agreement between Bush and Sharon - a fundamental > American > policy change that was ratified almost unanimously by Congress. This > puts > the US in the very uncomfortable position of undermining its own Road > Map > initiative, which stems from the “Bush vision” of an > Israeli-Palestinian > peace. It also neutralizes completely America's role as an honest > broker, > and pits it against the other three members of the Road Map Quartet - > Europe, the UN and Russia - who deplore the change in American policy. > Most > tragically, American support for Sharon's settlement project destroys > forever the possibility of a viable Palestinian state, dooming the > peoples > of Israel-Palestine to perpetual conflict. How this squares with > American > interests in a stable Middle East is anybody's guess. > > > > * Jeff Halper, Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House > Demolitions (ICAHD) >
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