I am growing increasingly concerned about the equivocation by the administration, based on pressure from the Arab states, EU, and UN, and the changing bar. The U.S.-America peace deal provides that Israel can proceed with right-to-return to certain ancient lands in Judea and Samaria (about 30% of the land mass), where about 500,000 Jews live, as well as the Jordan Valley. These lands have never belonged to the Palestinians, they’ve never belonged to Jordan. The Jewish people are the indigenous people of these areas. This is not an “annexation,” but a return to original, biblical lands, and only a small percentage of the land. Thus, the peace deal essentially recognizes Israel’s sovereignty over only a limited part of their homeland.
Moreover, the Palestinians can establish their own state, but only if they meet, among certain basic human-rights requirements, ending terrorism, pensions for terrorists who kill Jews, recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, etc. Of course, Hamas is a terrorist group and is not part of the process. And Abbas, the dictator who controls the Palestinian Authority, has rejected the U.S.-Israel peace deal. But Israel ought not be prevented from immediately instituting that part of the deal that finally recognizes Israel’s right to establish actual sovereignty of the areas I’ve mentioned. Yet, that is what is happening.
Read the article linked below. If you’ve been following news reports since January, first the bar was set at waiting for the Israeli election to determine who the prime minister would be. Well, that’s done and the prime minister is Benjamin Netanyahu. And he is more popular now than he was even several months ago. Furthermore, he campaigned on executing the peace deal and right-of-return. Israel is an independent country, an election was held, and Netanyahu and his policies prevailed. However, now the Arab states and the EU, among others, are objecting to the deal and insisting it be abandoned. And the Democrat Party in our country, including Biden, Pelosi, and several senators and congressmen, are objecting. This is what happens when rather than proceeding, there’s dithering and wobbling. And today, according to this article (linked below), yet a different bar as been set, i.e., the deputy prime minister, Gantz, among others, must also agree to the immediate institution of sovereignty over these lands as a condition precedent to Netanyahu acting. Keep in mind, Gantz’s party only has about 15 members in the Knesset out of 120 members. Gantz has lost a vast amount of his political support in Israel as his coalition fell apart once he decided to join a Netanyahu coalition. But why create another barrier to implementing what has already been agreed to and promised? It won’t appease opponents of the plan. Indeed, some settler groups in Israel oppose the plan altogether as it cedes great portions of Judea and Samara and presents at least the possibility of a Palestinian state.
If our country did not want to adhere to the spirit, intent, and goals in the peace deal, then why agree to them in the first place? It is time to act. It won’t get easier. Indeed, it’ll get more difficult. But as we know, great leaders become historic leaders when they do great and historic things — which, in this case, are also morally and politically right.