Israeli sovereignty as a forerunner of Palestinian self-determination

JULY 2, 2020 20:40

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) greets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Monroe Room of the State Department in Washington September 2, 2010. (photo credit: REUTERS/JASON REED) — Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) greets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Monroe Room of the State Department in Washington September 2, 2010.

(photo credit: REUTERS/JASON REED)

Whether this means a state or some other political entity remains to be seen, but a separate political existence for the Palestinian Arabs seems to be in the offing.

In accordance with the Trump plan, the Israeli government seems set on granting the Palestinians the self-determination they forfeited in 1948. Whether this means a state or some other political entity remains to be seen, but a separate political existence for the Palestinian Arabs seems to be in the offing.

However, this step must follow only on a clear indication of Israeli sovereignty for the larger towns Israel has set up in territory that it claimed for itself. In many instances, these towns were set up on sites where a Jewish community existed before the 1948 Palestinian assault on the Jewish state, followed by the Jordanian invasion.

In any case, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has categorically declared that no Jew will be permitted to reside in territory assigned to Palestinians.

Anyone who thinks that Israel will abolish, or allow large towns of 100,000 Jewish residents or more to come under Palestinian administration, is fooling himself. No Israeli government will entertain the thought that such towns and communities would be under any authority other than that of the Israeli government. They will be secure in the knowledge that they are protected from terrorism and other ravages, no less than all other parts of Israel.

Jews are mindful of the fate the Jewish community suffered at the hands of the pogromists in Hebron in 1929, in the Arab riots in Palestine in the 1930s, the war of 1948, and the desolation that the Jewish Quarter suffered after its conquest by Jordan in 1948, not to speak of unrelenting Arab terrorism since then.

Once the areas of Israeli self-determination will be defined, then the establishment of a free, separate Palestinian entity can be created, and Palestinian self-government given free reign. Thus, Israeli assignment of sovereignty is not a barrier to Palestinian self-determination, but the precursor of Palestinian self-expression.

In Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheme, it is the precedent that will facilitate Palestinian self-rule and open the door to mutual and friendly relations with the Jewish state. In this case, delineation of assigned territories for Israelis and Palestinians is a vital necessity if peace and tranquility are once again to preside.

Those who are arguing that Israeli sovereignty will negate Palestinian self-determination are quite misguided. They fail to appreciate that no meaningful settlement can be provided for until the fate of these Jewish towns is attended to. It is a condition precedent, and defining their location and providing for their security will pave the way for a resolution of the Palestinian quandary, not the reverse.

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In short, if there is no solution for these towns, there is no solution for Palestinian self-determination. Peace entails resolution of both manifestations of self-determination.

The writer is a professor emeritus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem