Report: Seeking to Avoid Evacuations, Netanyahu Proposes Leasing Settlements
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by Gidon Ben-Zvi
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Photo: GPO.
Jerusalem has proposed to the Palestinian Authority that some of the disputed land located over the Green Line could be leased by Israel from a future Palestinian state, senior level diplomats involved in the ongoing negotiations between Israel and the PA told Israel’s Channel 2 on Wednesday.
Israeli negotiators did not convey this idea directly to PA officials but rather through American mediators, Channel 2 said. Under the proposal, Israel would transfer sovereignty of isolated Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria – those that are not a part of large, heavily populated blocs – to the Palestinian Authority. In return, the PA would allow Israel to lease the land on which far flung Jewish homes are situated for decades to come.
Channel 2 said that the Palestinian Authority rejected the Israeli initiative outright.
This approach has been proposed before, with Israel at one time suggesting that a similar solution be applied to the Golan Heights. For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once broached the idea of solving outstanding territorial disputes pertaining to the Jordan Valley by way of Israel leasing land from the Palestinian Authority.
According to Channel 2, this latest attempt at kick starting the stagnant framework peace agreement talks sheds light on Netanyahu’s current mindset. As he articulated yesterday at a Likud party meeting, the prime minister does not want to evacuate the large blocs of Jewish communities that dot the area located over the Green Line.
Netanyahu seems determined to avoid the heart wrenching scenes associated with Israel’s 2005 “disengagement” from the Gaza Strip, in which Jewish families were driven out of their homes by IDF soldiers, Channel 2 stated.
However, according the Channel 2, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Netanyahu may not be able to reconcile his desire to avoid evacuating Judea and Samaria with the likely outcome of any agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
