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<P><SPAN class=past-event-title>Suicidal government</SPAN> </P>
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<P>This week opened with big headlines, informing us that if
negotiations with the Palestinians collapse, the Europeans will lay
the blame on the State of Israel - specifically, on the Netanyahu
Government’s insistence upon announcing spectacular settlement
construction projects. Such assigning of blame by the EU might have
far-reaching consequences to the Israeli economy. The logical
response of a rational Israeli government should have been an
intense diplomatic effort in the capitals of Europe , in order to
gain support for the Israeli point of view.</P>
<P>Conversely, what was the actual reaction of the actual government
which governs Israel nowadays? Adding insult to injury, piling
provocation upon provocation, as if on purpose to conclusively
convince the Europeans that they were right in determining the
identity of the culprit. The immediate response of the Netanyahu
Government to the storm clouds in the European sky was to approve
(so far, only in a ministerial committee) a bill to annex the Jordan
Valley . In the past month, the Jordan Valley became the focus of
negotiations and debate - between Israel and the Palestinians,
between Israel and the United States, as well as among factions of
Israelis. This was not by chance, nor is it the first time. One of
the main reasons for the failure of the Camp David summit in 2000
was the demand of then Prime Minister Ehud Barak to maintain a long
term Israeli military presence in the Jordan Valley.</P>
<P>Among the Israel public, the full implications of such as demand,
made in the name of "security", are not always fully understood. The
Jordan Valley constitutes in effect a huge cork, bottling in the
Palestinians and blocking their free access to the outside world.
Israeli control of the Jordan Valley means that it would be Israel
which is in control of the borders of the State of Palestine,
determining who will go and out and who will be banned, which goods
may or may not be imported and exported. It would mean that
Palestine will not be a truly independent state, but an enclave
under a continued Israeli rule. It would mean that Israeli
occupation of the Palestinians will go on - and if the occupation
goes on, so will the conflict between Israelis and the
Palestinians.</P>
<P>According to various unofficial reports, the security plan
submitted by the Americans to the parties includes a continued
Israeli military presence in the Jordan Valley for quite a few more
years - a very bitter pill for the Palestinians to swallow. They
just might agree to sign, reluctantly and with a gnashing of teeth,
an agreement specifying a long transition period before the
termination of occupation in the Jordan Valley – provided that it is
a binding agreement with a clear-cut date by which the last Israeli
soldier will depart from that region. But is there an Israeli
partner ready to make such a commitment? I rather doubt it.</P>
<P>According to the same unofficial leaks, the American proposal
does not include any provision for the continued existence of
Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley. Nor is there a reason to
include such a clause. The security arguments brought up by
Netanyahu and others certainly do not require the presence of
Israeli farmers in the Jordan Valley. Israeli settlements in the
valley do maintain a flourishing agriculture, based on intensive
drilling of water which causes the drying up of the springs which
had been used for generations by the nearby Palestinian villages. A
security value to these settlements cannot be detected even with a
magnifying glass. There is one purpose and one only to these
settlements: to make a clearly visible statement that the Jordan
Valley is to remain an Israeli territory for decades and centuries
to come.</P>
<P>That is also the precise message conveyed by the bill which was
authored by Knesset Member Miri Regev and enthusiastically endorsed
by Gideon Saar and senior ministers of the Likud and Jewish Home
parties, at the vote in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation.
The message is loud and clear: Your attention please, Palestinians
and Europeans and Americans! If any of you still entertained any of
shadow of a doubt, please get rid of it: we have no intention
whatsoever of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians.</P>
<P>How would you define a government which behaves like that? The
definition which naturally comes to mind is: a suicidal
government.</P>
<P><EM>Adam Keller</EM></P>
<P><CITE>The Hebrew version was published at</CITE> <A
class=reference href="http://news.walla.co.il/?w=/4996/2708367"
target=_blank>http://news.walla.co.il/?w=/4996/2708367</A></P></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>