Why I Hate That Bibi Raised The Issue Of A Population Exchange

I am not talking here about the merits or lack thereof of the proposal itself — but of its context.

Supposedly big news coming out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in the form of a “leaked” phone call with USA President Trump. Bibi is now supporting an idea floated years ago by current Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman by which Wadi Ara, a region largely populated by Arabs be exchanged for Gush Etzion and Ma’aleh Adumim in the disputed territories of Judea & Samaria (aka The West Bank).

אדוני ראש הממשלה @netanyahu
Welcome to the club https://t.co/i5weRN8VR6

— אביגדור ליברמן (@AvigdorLiberman) July 27, 2017

Here is what the supposed border of the proposed Palestinian State would look like (rough guess) with Wadi Ara incorporated within it:

From our Israeli perspective, this does not look like a bad idea — certainly not after the display of Arab treachery toward the state in which they live.

The level of anger shown by #Palestinian in #Jerusalem&#Israel is an indication to what is coming next.Vid from Um alFaham calling4 intifada pic.twitter.com/4iybCjg8kd

— Nasser Atta (@nasseratta5) July 27, 2017

I still hate Netanyahu’s idea, however. By raising this proposal, Bibi is once more promoting the myth of a two-state-solution, or perhaps resuscitating it. More and more Israelis are against the two-state-solution, and even Lebanese-Canadian Fred Maroun, a popular blogger at Times of Israel no longer supports the idea:

Bibi talks too much. I heard him say at the Salomon shiva that he supports the death penalty for murderous terrorists. I heard him say a lot of things over the years. I do not believe what he says anymore. I suggest, that rather than talk about population exchanges with a state that fewer and fewer Israelis believe in, that his government proposes a bill to annex Gush Etzion and Ma’aleh Adumim — that would be a unilateral decision I and lots of other Israelis would welcome (in contrast with the withdrawal from Gaza, for example).

If he could annul the Israeli citizenship of each and every participant in the celebrations of the “martyrdom” of the three Umm al Fahm residents who killed our two police officers, that would be fine with me too. If he could make sure the entire town, in fact, from which not one word of support for Israel or condemnation of terror could be heard, were to come under the administration of the Palestinian Authority, that would also be fine with me. They picked their side.

This was originally posted on Israel Diaries.

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