But the US Peace Plan, unless radically amended, will endanger Judea and Samaria. It is not because the US is now against the Jewish State, but because the maximum they can offer to Israel in a deal with the Arabs will endanger the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria.
The biggest damage, alongside the very idea of a Palestinian Arab State, is the freeze of Jewish life in the so called “enclaves”.
If you live in Kiryat Arba, Hevron, you won’t be able to reach Jerusalem via Gush Etzion, but only via the southern route from Beersheba. The same kind of detour if you live in Shiloh. The time needed for driving to the capital under the US peace plan will double.
The greatest damage, alongside the very idea of a Palestinian Arab State, is the freeze of Jewish life in the so called “enclaves”. These are the most proud and brave Jewish “settlements”, where the Jews who dare to build new outposts live, and they will be condemned to a siege. The planned “blocs” are like ghettos, the Israeli left’s dream come true, even if plan means they have to accept an Israeli presence in the post-1967 regions. All the “Hebron Hills” area will be in peril, communities like Adora, Negohot, Beit Hagai and Otniel.
According to the plan, all the region around these settlements will be be turned over to the Palestinian Authority. Ghettos within the Palestinian State. It’s death sentence for these communities. Israel won’t evacuate Jews as they did from Gaza. Except for a few hilltop youth, ordinary citizens will leave on their own when the Arabs start assaulting these towns.
It has been said that only 3 per cent of “settlers” live in these 15 enclaves. Correct. But these communities, if you know the geography of the region, are those preventing an Arab-Islamist continuity, letting the Jews retain larger territories and controlling strategic locations.
Also, these enclaves are close to the Jewish holy sites, from Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem to Hebron’s Cave of Patriarchs. Elon Moreh, Har Bracha and Otniel are holier to tradition than Beitar Illit.
It is also a question oj justice. These communities are the oldest and were created between 1978 and 1984, before any “peace talks”, when for a Jew living there meant being abandoned among terrorists. No lights on the roads, no bypass roads, no cell phone antennas, no fences….You don’t abandon heroes, you don't ask them to return to their original perilous conditions.
70 per cent of Judea and Samaria plus an area within the Green Line (Umm al-Fahm, Taibeh, Kafer Kasem, Tira…) will become “Palestine” under the US Peace Plan, if it comes to pass.
One would ask: what is the alternative? The status quo, until the Arabs accept their definitive defeat.
Serve them another Arab state on a silver platter as Israel did in Gaza and they will use it to attack the Jews
Giulio Meotti, an Italian journalist with Il Foglio, writes a twice-weekly column for Arutz Sheva. He is the author of the book "A New Shoah", that researched the personal stories of Israel's terror victims, published by Encounter and of "J'Accuse: the Vatican Against Israel" published by Mantua Books, both in English, in addition to books in Italian..His writing has appeared in publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, Frontpage, Gatestone and Commentary.