WORKING OUT THE SPECIFIC TERMS OF THE “DIVORCE SETTLEMENT”... THE NEEDED NEXT STEP  Howard LAITIN 12-14-12

 Rabbi  Berenbaum:(1.) We should undertake a divorce situation in which two people agree to separate, divide resources and live apart and not together. (2.) Also in a divorce, both parties have to give us something which they feel is rightfully  theirs.

 Rabbi Silver:I believe that the long term viability and security of Israel is immensely enhanced by the two state solution and that efforts to frustrate that development are harmful to the interests of Israel.

To move the discussion forward to the point where concrete proposals can be made , would you be willing to specify, as a 1st cut, the terms of  the divorce (  and/or the terms of the “2 state solution”)that would guarantee Israel( from Israel's viewpoint) both peace and security ?

HL: This is true (both parties have  to give up something). In today's Washington Post one of the opinion writers stated that any successful deal leaves both sides somewhat unhappy. In my experience,  a successful deal leaves both sides  relieved. In economics, a successful deal requires that both sides get increased utility.

a.      Isn't Israel currently riding the proverbial tiger: it can't get off without being eaten? How does Israel prevent the West Bank from being used as a base for attacks on Israel, especially if the West Bank gets its own airport and seaport and the IDF does not have a presence?

b.      Isn't the right of return the ultimate deal breaker. All factions maintain that no one,  absolutely no one on the Palestinian side has the right to negotiate, bargain, compromise or in any way give up this right. The PA latest  position---- that  even when the Palestinian state includes the entire West Bank and Gaza and East Jerusalem---Palestinian citizenship will not be given to those currently in camps  in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and even in Gaza or the West Bank-- but that they and those located anywhere else in the world ( now numbering more than  5,000,000 according to PA claims) are entitled to unlimited right of return to what is now the state of Israel.

c.      How does one deal with a constant reaffirmation of demands no matter what the previous agreement was ....All agreements are interim (stopping points) on their way to achieving the domination they seek. “We have the patience and we have the objective... time is on our side”.

d.The Palestinians demand  a Jew -free West Bank and  a Jew- free East Jerusalem . Years have passed because the PA strategy still is (as it was then): NO RECOGNITION; NO NEGOTIATION; NO PEACE. 

e.   The peace/nonaggression agreement with Hezbollah (supposedly supervised by the UN) has been violated on a tremendous scale; the peace treaty with Egypt is very tenuous at best; the PA never ceased their incitement as they agreed to in the Oslo Accords. In the divorce settlement has to be some enforcement mechanism such as the courts with power. When Israel pulled back from the Suez and “UN observers” were put in place they were removed immediately at the Egyptian demand prior to Egypt's attack on Israel. 

f.  The Jews rejected a one state solution in 1937 onward and it was the Arabs who fought for a one state solution believing correctly so that with one state, they triumph.   That is still their goal... one state from the river to the sea... Arab dominated... preferably Jew-free.

 CAN YOU COME UP WITH A CONCRETE PLAN/PROPOSAL WHICH WOULD COUNTER MY BELIEF? That as  long as the Palestinians  maintain the Arab League position: no negotiations; no recognition; no peace; demand that any area they takeover should be Jew-free. ; maintain that even if they get a State, the residents the camps on the West Bank,Gaza,  in Jordan, Syria, etc. would not be citizens  of this new state  but would have the right of unlimited return to the state of  Israel; and that all of Israel is unredeemed Islamic territory, THERE WILL NEVER BE PEACE.