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C2. Ami Ayalon, Orni Petruschka, and Gilead Sher, Call for Israel to Adopt

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C2. Ami Ayalon, Orni Petruschka, and Gilead Sher, Call for Israel to Adopt DOCUMENTS AND SOURCE MATERIAL 197 C2. AMI AYALON, ORNI PETRUSCHKA, AND settlement construction east of the secu- GILEAD SHER, CALL FOR ISRAEL TO ADOPT rity barrier and in Arab neighborhoods “CONSTRUCTIVE UNILATERALISM” TOWARD of Jerusalem. And it should create a THE PALESTINIANS, NEW YORK TIMES, plan to help 100,000 settlers who live 24 APRIL 2012. east of the barrier to relocate within Is- rael’s recognized borders. Former lead Israeli peace negotia- That plan would not take full effect tor Gilead Sher, former Israeli Security before a peace agreement was in place. Agency head Ami Ayalon, and Israeli But it would allow settlers to prepare for entrepreneur Orni Petruschka (organiz- the move and minimize economic dis- ers of a new group called Blue White ruption. Israel should also enact a vol- Future) made the following proposal in untary evacuation, compensation and a New York Times op-ed titled “Peace absorption law for settlers east of the without Partners.” While most of the fence, so that those who wish can be- steps recommended by the authors are gin relocating before there is an agree- already being undertaken by the Ne- ment with the Palestinians. According tanyahu government or have previously to a survey conducted by the Israeli been discussed among Israelis in the pollster Ra! Smith, nearly 30 percent of course of the peace process, the initia- these 100,000 settlers would prefer to tive is notable for openly labeling them accept compensation and quickly relo- as unilateral steps to determine !nal cate within the Green Line, the pre-1967 status and urging the Israeli imposition boundary dividing Israel from the West of a solution “regardless of whether the Bank, or to adjacent settlement blocs Palestinians leaders have agreed.” The that would likely become part of Israel op-ed appeared online on 23 April, and in any land-swap agreement. in print the following day. The op-ed was Our organization, Blue White Future, obtained from the New York Times web- holds regular meetings with settlers. We site at www.nytimes.com. have found that many would move vol- For three years, attempts at negotia- untarily if the government renounced tions between Israel and the Palestinian its sovereign claims to the West Bank, leadership have failed because of a lack because they would see no future for of trust. It now seems highly unlikely themselves there. that the two sides will return to negotia- Critics will argue that unilateral moves tions—but that does not mean the sta- by Israel have been failures—notably the tus quo must be frozen in place. hasty withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in Israel doesn’t need to wait for a !nal- 2005, which left settlers homeless and al- status deal with the Palestinians. What lowed Hamas to move into the vacuum it needs is a radically new unilateral ap- and launch rockets into Israel. proach: It should set the conditions for But we can learn lessons from those a territorial compromise based on the mistakes. Under our proposal, the Israeli principle of two states for two peoples, Army would remain in the West Bank which is essential for Israel’s future as until the con"ict was of!cially resolved both a Jewish and a democratic state. with a !nal-status agreement. And Israel Israel can and must take construc- would not physically force its citizens to tive steps to advance the reality of two leave until an agreement was reached, states based on the 1967 borders, with even though preparations would begin land swaps—regardless of whether well before such an accord. Palestinian leaders have agreed to ac- We don’t expect the most ideologically cept it. Through a series of unilateral motivated settlers to support this plan, actions, gradual but tangible changes since their visions for Israel’s future differ could begin to transform the situation radically from ours. But as a result of our on the ground. discussions and seminars with settlers of Israel should !rst declare that it is all stripes, we believe that many of them willing to return to negotiations any- recognize that people with different vi- time and that it has no claims of sov- sions are no less Zionist than they are. ereignty on areas east of the existing We have learned that we must be can- security barrier. It should then end all did about our proposed plan, discuss JPS4104_13_Documents.indd 197 09/08/12 5:59 PM 198 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES the settlers’ concerns, and above all not demonize them. They are the ones who would pay the price of being uprooted from their homes and also from their deeply felt mission of settling the land. The Palestinian Authority has already taken constructive unilateral steps by seeking United Nations recognition as a state and building the institutions of statehood in the West Bank. Neither ac- tion contradicted the two-state vision. Although many Israelis and the Obama administration objected to the bid for statehood, it could have moved us closer to that outcome had Israel welcomed it rather than fought it. After all, Israel could negotiate more easily with a state than with a nonstate entity like the Palestinian Authority. And statehood would undermine the Palestinians’ argument for implement- ing a right of return for Palestinian refu- gees, since the refugees would have a state of their own to return to. Constructive unilateralism would also be in the interest of the United States. If President Obama supported this strat- egy, he would simply be encouraging actions aimed at facilitating an even- tual negotiated agreement based on the parameters proposed by President Bill Clinton in 2000. We recognize that a comprehensive peace agreement is unattainable right now. We should strive, instead, to estab- lish facts on the ground by beginning to create a two-state reality in the absence of an accord. Imperfect as it is, this plan would reduce tensions and build hope among both Israelis and Palestinians, so that they in turn would press their lead- ers to obtain a two-state solution. Most important, as Israel celebrates 64 years of independence later this week, it would let us take our des- tiny into our own hands and act in our long-term national interest, without blaming the Palestinians for what they do or don’t do. JPS4104_13_Documents.indd 198 09/08/12 5:59 PM.
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