Tag Archives: Judaea & Samaria

So much, so much to deal with! Prime Minister Netanyahu had indicated on July 1 – the first date on which he would have been able to bring decisions about application of sovereignty in Judaea & Samaria to the Cabinet – that there would likely be news next week. But …

Palestinian Arabs often share a series of maps which show that “their land and country” are in a perpetual state of shrinking when the opposite is the truth. Local Palestinian Arabs never had self-rule until 1995. The Ottomans ruled the region from 1517 to 1917 and then the British until …

The difficulty of moving forward in the Jordan Valley and Area C One of the major ways our personal lives mirrors the sweep of history is in the realm of decision making. Both individuals and nations face decisions on a daily basis. Most are mundane and inconsequential. There are however, …

We stand just weeks after celebrating that the Balfour Declaration of 1917 moved from a statement of British intent, to the legal process of affirmation of the Jewish Homeland at the San Remo Conference in April 1920 – and its then formal ratification by the League of Nations. This is …

  I do not doubt that many of you are wondering about the title of this posting, which may seem more than a bit enigmatic. Uti possidetis juris is a term that refers to a doctrine in customary international law.  And in a moment my reference to it will become …

The feasibility of Trump’s “Deal of the Century” will be dramatically impacted by the nature of the regime east of the Jordan River and its prospective stability. With the media in a furor over the election deadlock and the legal woes of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, some of the other …

Despite possible short term difficulties, Israel should seize on the impending collapse of the Palestinian Authority as an opportunity to extricate itself from the deadly cul-de-sac, into which the Oslo process has lured it The Oslo Agreements, which spawned the Palestinian Authority, were born in sin. Today that is beyond …

Intensive investment must be made in civil society frameworks that can not only draw the idea of extended Israeli sovereignty into the main-stream discourse as a legitimate political objective, but as one that can dominate that discourse.   In a significant departure from his usual ambivalent and non-committal policy formulation regarding …

Once inconceivable, the dismantling of UNRWA; the naturalization of stateless Palestinian residents in Arab countries; and the emigration of Palestinians from Judaea-Samaria & Gaza are slowly emerging as realistic outcomes  Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth – Sherlock Holmes, in “The …

There is no greater irony than the spectacle of scores of ex-senior security officials, who spent their adult life defending Israel, now promoting a political initiative that will make it indefensible.   I used these very excerpts in an article I wrote some thirty months ago, entitled “Imbecility squared”, addressing …

Had Haaretz wanted to give a fair portrayal of my policy proposal, instead of alluding to “Transfer, the headline would have read “Evacuation-compensation for Arabs: An answer to Israel’s geographic and demographic imperatives?”.  Martin Sherman, the founder and CEO of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies, is probably the most …

Only by resisting territorial concessions on the Golan, Israel prevented deployment of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on the fringes of the Galilee; only by resisting territorial concessions in the “West Bank” can Israel prevent them from deploying on the fringes of Greater Tel Aviv.  Israel has a strategic interest in …

By rigorous process of elimination, we are left with the Humanitarian Paradigm, as the only possible policy prescription able to adequately address the imperatives needed to preserve Israel as the nation state of Jews. O, who can hold a fire in his hand; By thinking on the frosty Caucasus? Or …

Only one policy paradigm can sustain Israel as the nation-state of the Jews and prevent it becoming untenable either geographically or demographically—or both.  …when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth, – Sherlock Holmes in “The Sign of the Four” Hobson’s Choice: a situation in which it seems that …

“Peace for our time” a famous four word phrase from Benjamin Disraeli, who said upon returning from the Congress of Berlin in 1878, “I have returned from Germany with peace for our time”. This was echoed in a speech given on 30 September 1938 by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain …

Arabs opposed the State of Israel before there were settlements—and they oppose it still today. It’s time to clear up 5 false myths about settlements. The U.N., as well as some American media and politicians, claim Israel doesn’t want peace, since Jews build houses in disputed territories of Judaea and …

The perception of Liberman as an abrasive hardliner is due more to his blunt statements regarding the loyalty of Israeli-Arabs, rather than to any territorial intransigence regarding the Palestinian question Anyone who wants to apply Israeli sovereignty to Judaea and Samaria needs to understand that such a step will bring …

Israeli settlements in the West Bank have been tried in the New Zealand court of public opinion and found to be illegal.  Waikato Professor of Law, Alexander Gillespie, recently declared in the NZ Herald that  “There is no question in international law that these settlements are illegal.”  Similarly, many of …

As their vision of two-states descends into irrelevance, two staters wax increasingly desperate &  delusional, and their policy proposals, increasingly unhinged & unethical …we need a clear map showing Israel’s eastern border and the limits of its territorial demands. .. The eastern border must be based on the required minimum …

If one knows a storm is brewing, but takes no measures to prepare for it, when the storm hits, who is to blame for the damage? The storm… or those who did not prepare for it?  “If the aim of the Israeli government is to prevent a peace deal with …