The claim: This is the only way to reach permanent peace and therefore it is worth paying prices and doing everything possible to bring peace.
The response: It is not true.
- There are four alternatives that the Israel Defense and Security Forum (“Movement suggests instead of a “two states for two peoples” solution and you can read them here.
- The paradigm of “territories for peace” was shattered into pieces when the State of Israel signed agreements to normalize relations with some of the Arab countries – the Abraham Accords – without giving up a centimeter of the territory of the State of Israel.
- The price of giving up Judea and Samaria is very high, and it is not worth it in exchange for a fragile and dangerous peace agreement:
- Our land reserves are there. The settlement in the Land of Israel in the last 100 years ignored the basic features of the topography of the Land of Israel: from a historical point of view, the main presence in this country took place on the mountainous area to the east of the coastal strip, i.e. Judea and Samaria and the coastal plain has always served as a bridge between north and south. Today 60% of Israelis live between Netanya and Rishon LeZion. Never before have so many people lived on this bridge as there are today.
- Currently the main traffic artery in the State of Israel is on the coastal plain (Ayalon, Geha, the Coastal Road). Judea and Samaria are the key to creating a national transportation plan – longitudinal and latitudinal roads that we need. If it were imagined that there would be regional peace here after the establishment of a Palestinian state, there would be massive traffic between Damascus and Cairo – through the coastal plain which is densely populated in any case.
- The territories of Judea and Samaria are essential for maintaining infrastructure that will prevent natural disasters and sanitary disasters in the coastal plain: a flood of rainwater falling on the crest of the mountain range flows to the coastal plain and may flood the Greater Tel Aviv area, unless proper infrastructure is maintained in Judea and Samaria. Also, a proper sewage system is needed in Judea and Samaria so that wastewater does not flow to the coastal plain and contaminate the Greater Tel Aviv area.