-The head of the national Religious party Benny Elon has proposed his solution: Israel would take sovereignty over the entire West Bank, and all refugee camps would be closed down. Palestinians would be allowed to remain in the West Bank only if they became Jordanian citizens. (The Jerusalem Post)
-And that plan is backed by a US presidential candidate. (The Jerusalem Post)
-Shmuel Gordon argues that Israel should be much more willing to release prisoners to meet assorted goals, and that there is no definition of any specific “blood on their hands” standard that has yet faced a legal test. (Ynet)
-Dror Zeevi argues that Israel should relinquish the Shebaa Farms in exchange for “a Lebanese government declaration, and a parallel declaration by Hizbullah leaders, that upon the return of the Shebaa Farms, the territorial dispute between Lebanon and Israel would come to a complete end.� (Ynet)
-Alexander Yakobson argues that “it is in Israel’s interest to convince the international community that the conflict between the countries does not stem from Israel’s desire to control Syrian sovereign territory forever. ” (Haaretz)
-The OneVoice movement has garnered more than half a million Israelis and Palestinian signatures for a petition calling on the Israeli and Palestinian governments to reach a peace agreement within the next year based on a two-state solution and an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines. (The Jerusalem Post)
-Carlo Strenger is concerned that “Israel’s way of dealing with the Palestinians and Lebanon in the last few decades has led to a long-term process in which the Western world is beginning to see Israel as a pariah state that has no true affinity to Western values. Hence, it is not on the ‘right’ side of the clash of civilizations.â€? And asking that it be judged by the standards of the middle east won’t work : “the day we are no longer judged by the standards of the West is the beginning of Israel’s end, because it means that the West has decided we are no longer part of it, and hence will not be committed to Israel’s existence.â€? (Haaretz)
