G

reen Line Debate: Maybe, Maybe Not

Those who have always favored the concept of land for peace, mainly the Israeli left, will argue that Jews and Arabs are destined to share the same land, so we might as well face that reality and make concessions accordingly.

Opponents argue that by following President Clinton’s lead in the Oslo Accords, Israel put the Arabs on equal footing and legitimized Arab claims to Eretz Yisrael that have no basis, either in modern or Biblical history.

According to the annual West Bank Jewish Population Stats Report, which bases its numbers on the Ministry of the Interior population registry, 770,000 Jews, or some 12% of Israel’s Jewish population, live either in one of Judea and Samaria’s 11 settlement blocs or in one of the Jerusalem neighborhoods liberated during the 1967 Six Day War.

These communities are geographically intertwined with Arab neighborhoods and villages. It would take cartographers with the wisdom of Shlomo Hamelech to divide the baby in half and satisfy both peoples.

International diplomacy deals in the big picture, and not the nitty-gritty. Grandiose plans can fail when they can’t possibly be implemented on the ground, even with all the goodwill in the world.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 749)