The core of a tolerant Palestinian state

In 1922, the League of Nations, the predecessor of the UN, established a Jewish national house in Palestine and charged Great Britain with facilitate this objective. It was badumed that the biblical regions of Judea and Samaria, the foundation of the Jewish state since time immemorial, would be part of this eventual national home (or rather state). Indeed, the mandate given to Britain included even the vast territory east of the Jordan, or Transjordan as it was called at the time (it is now the Kingdom). Hashemite of Jordan).

That did not have to be. The emir-king Abdullah I of Transjordan conquered these territories during his 1948 attack on the nascent state of Israel and made it the West Bank (of his kingdom) two years later, for their future to become an Israel during the June 1967 war. Over time, and in violation of Security Council Resolution 242 of November 1967, which established the principle of land for peace and Israel's retention from some captured territories during the war, the West Bank is perceived as "occupied". The Palestinian territory "has become a widely accepted axiom, with Israeli communities established in this region (or colonies as they are commonly called) ridiculed as a flagrant violation of international law.

Given the impenetrability of Jewish ancestral attachment to these territories, Jerusalem needs a new argument to counter today's dominant paradigm that Jewish communities in the West Bank are the forerunners of a Binational state – something that Israeli Jews would not accept – or unilateral Jewish rule in the West Bank region, which Palestinians, the international community and many Israelis can not accept. , a third attractive option for Israel and the international community must be developed, one that defends Jewish communities in the West Bank as the core of a tolerant and pluralistic Palestinian state.

Israel is a Jewish state Almost 9 million citizens, including 2 million non-Jews, live in peace and security with their Jewish neighbors. There is no reason why a Palestinian Arab state does not welcome a large Jewish minority. It is certainly true that at the present time the chances of a Jewish minority living in peace and security in an independent Palestine are practically nil. Yet, it is precisely the huge gap between the deplorable situation in the present and the desirable result to be sought in the future that must be fully exploited by Israel to advance its interests.

If Jewish communities in the West Bank are internationally recognized as the nucleus of a democratic and tolerant Palestine, they will no longer need to be built stealthily, as is happening nowadays. If Israel advocated that these communities be essential for a future Palestinian state to be as tolerant and pluralistic as Israel, Mahmoud Abbas will eventually have to abandon his plans to clean up the West Bank of the Jews. Once this happens, Israel could more effectively lobby Palestinian leaders to demonstrate their seriousness and commitment to peace by teaching coexistence in Palestinian schools and repealing all punitive Palestinian laws. of death to the Palestinians who sell the land to the Jews. fair and progressive that even the European social democrats who denigrate Israel would not be able to criticize them. And once the Palestinian Authority has accepted them, these reforms could eventually trigger a process that could eventually lead to the emergence of a tolerant and pluralistic Palestinian state.

Many Israelis will rightly argue that it is a chimera and that in no way is emerging from an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank. They must, however, make a credible case for building more Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria that are not vulnerable to prosecution to advance a binational or apartheid state. . Until now, none of the champions of a strong Jewish presence in this region has presented a vision or plan that justifies Jewish residential rights in the name of the enlightened and democratic values ​​that Israel has approved.

Without a defense of Jewish residential rights in Judea and Samaria based on values ​​to which Western public opinion can identify, the Jewish presence in the region will be vulnerable to constant international criticism and condemnation. Israel must therefore defend this Jewish presence in the name of peace and coexistence between Jews and Palestinians, and then leave the ball in the PA Court.

As long as democratic values ​​are openly rejected by Palestinian leaders, Israel will be in a much stronger position to reject the creation of a Palestinian state. The reason is simple: Israel no longer wants to say that Jewish communities in the West Bank are not an obstacle to peace to defend these communities as catalysts for authentic peace and coexistence. As such, the settlement company would evolve from a serious responsibility into a valuable badet for Israel's international diplomacy.

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Rafael Castro is a political badyst trained at Yale University and in Hebrew. He can be reached at [email protected]

Prof. Dr. Efraim Karsh is Director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Emeritus Professor of Studies on the Middle East and the Mediterranean at King's College London and Editor-in-Chief of The Middle East Quarterly

BESA Center Perspectives Articles are published thanks to the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler family