Designed to Reject? Israel Presents Wall as Border

Offer Seemingly Aimed at Staving Off Palestinian Criticism

With the peace talks on the brink of collapse, the Israeli government made a last ditch offer seemingly not worth mentioning. The Israeli envoy proposed Palestinian “statehood” be defined along the boundaries of the existing West Bank wall.

The wall juts about wildly in the West Bank and would separate Palestine into walled in statelets, with transport between them entire under the control of the Israeli government. The PLO, as expected, rejected the plan.

So why was it even proposed? Israeli analysts believe the offer was made because Palestinians often complain about the Israeli government’s refusal to discuss borders. Though a ridiculous one, the West Bank wall would technically be a border, so Israel can insist they did present something border-related.

The talks were never expected to go anywhere, and the only reason that Israel and the PLO even met was because the Mideast Quartet gave them an “ultimatum” and neither side wanted to be blamed for not meeting. As has so often been the case, both sides seem to have positioned the talks to creating talking points for why they failed, as opposed to trying to reach an actual deal.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.