Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office today rejected media reports that they plan to offer 90% of the West Bank to the Palestinians in direct negotiations, calling the reports “unfouned.”
According to the report, first leaked by a London-based Arabic language newspaper, the offer would have come in the form of a long-term interim agreement and could have led to the evacuation of some 50,000 Israeli settlers from the region. The 90% figure was said to have not included East Jerusalem.
But East Jerusalem aside, the 90% offer would have been a major upgrade from previous reports, which had Netanyahu standing firm at allowing the Palestinians to keep only 60% of the occupied territories.
The 90% figure would have almost certainly sparked a revolt among his parliamentary allies however, as well as a number of figures in his own party. Netanyahu’s government consists largely of extremely pro-settler blocs, and many of them have objected to the idea of peace talks in principle, let alone an actual deal.
Of course, Israel must give up occupation of the territories, 100%. What I fail to understand is why the “settlers” must be evacuated. This will turn out to be an enormous expense as these “settlers” will demand outrageous payment for them to give back land that they essentially stole. Talk about a moral hazard – richly rewarding land theft. And I’ll give you one guess who will be expected to pay this ransom – it will be America.
A better solution would be to declare all of occupied land as Palestine and all occupants, Palestinians. If the Jewish “settlers” after insisting upon being on that so-called “holy land” then decide they can’t abide being in Palestine, let them sell their interests there (good luck, on finding a valid deed) and return to Isreal proper on their own dime.