Brigadier General (res.) Avivi: withdrawals will lead to a slippery slope and a battle for the Negev and the Galilee. The political solution is Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and expanding Gaza in the direction of Sinai.
Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi spoke at the special panel discussion held by the Sovereignty Movement (4.4.19) in Jerusalem, where he presented the main principles of the political plan that he is promoting together with a team of senior officials from Israel and the U.S.
"It really bothers me that when you say the word "separation" it sounds logical and acceptable to many people but it has no connection with reality and the result would be disastrous", stated Brig. Gen. Avivi, explaining: "The Palestinian Authority is hanging by a thread. They exist thanks to us. Every night our soldiers arrest terrorists. All of this has been happening since Operation Defensive Shield on a regular and it doesn't end. What would happen if we didn’t act? Why, within a year, Judea and Samaria would become like Gaza". In his opinion, "The last ones that want this separation are the Palestinians because they understand quite well that they would be the ones to pay for it".
Later on, he presented an analysis of the main arguments on the Left for separation and withdrawal, the first one being the sense that the place does not belong to the Jewish People but to the Palestinians. "This argument is unacceptable and unwise, because when it comes to negotiations and we say from the outset that it is not ours, this is not negotiations. One should come to negotiations with the claim that this is ours".
Besides this claim, Avivi reminds us, there are two key claims. One is in the diplomatic arena and the other is in the demographic arena: "One claim relates to international backing. They argue that if we take unilateral steps the world will act against us. But we have seen with the annexation of the Golan Heights that even if there are difficulties to cope with, the fact is that we made the annexation and the world accepted it and now they are beginning to recognize it".
"The other argument relates to the 2.6 or million and a half Palestinians in Judea and Samaria. If we apply sovereignty over area C, we will have made them citizens, but this is not true. It is possible to annex this area and leave the PA as it is. It is possible to apply sovereignty over the territories around the PA".
About the political plan that he and his people are working on, a plan that, according to him, is accepted with understanding and encouragement in the U.S. and Europe, he says: "The British caused many problems for us when they tried to form two states on a territory with a width of seventy kilometers. These would have been two states with a population of millions abroad who would want to come here. This is not logical. Any reasonable person must understand that we must bring more territory into the discussion. Why, in another twenty years, there will be twenty million people here. Where will we put them"?
Avivi sees the answer to this question in the Sinai Peninsula. He mentions that in Gaza there is a government, borders and an army. Actually, this is a state. The problem is that it is too small and has no future. Therefore our suggestion is to expand Gaza to ten percent of Sinai along the shoreline, which the Egyptians would lease to them, and to create there a broad, sovereign, free Palestinian state along the shoreline, with the potential to become a state. The two million Arabs in Judea and Samaria would become citizens of their state in Gaza".
"We must leave behind the exile mentality of accepting the world's plans and we must propose our own solutions", Avivi says, explaining that the Arab world is also willing to hear proposals of this sort and the Palestinian issue no longer occupies them. "The Arab world needs Israel in the battle against Iran and in order to become closer to the U.S. They are not interested in the Palestinians. The Egyptians need an economic and security solution and they are willing to listen to this idea. We are speaking with them", he says.
Avivi concluded his remarks by relating to the position of the former generals who support Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. On the same day that there is a withdrawal, the battle for the Negev and the Galilee will begin. There will be no end. Many people in Israel do not understand that we live on the edge and if there is a change in consciousness and we are perceived as weak and it would be possible to destroy us, this would be the start of a slippery slope that would spill over to the Israeli Arabs".
It should be noted that in the panel discussion where Avivi presented the principles of his plan, former MK and current director of the Land of Israel Lobby Orit Struk also took part and disagreed with Avivi's position in the matter relating to the Gaza Strip, which, in her opinion, was and will be an integral part of the Land of Israel and the State of Israel. And human rights activist and resident of east Jerusalem Bassam Eid, who spoke of the mood of the Arab street in Judea and Samaria as well as the Gaza Strip, also disagreed.