The prevailing European assumption is that Jerusalem decides whether there will be a Palestinian state while Ramallah determines its borders. They have not considered whether the reverse is true, meaning that Palestinians could well have a state if they de-radicalized (the vast majority of Israelis would support it and it is thus an exclusively Palestinian choice) while Israel determines its own borders with the Palestinian state: the majority of Israelis will not give up on defensible borders and will therefore under no circumstances return to the indefensible Jordanian-Israeli 1949 armistice lines.
Europeans repeat that ”settlements” (i.e. restored indigenous communities) are obstacles to peace and a two-state solution yet the Trump peace plan proves the opposite. ”Settlements” are perfectly compatible with Palestinian statehood. The truth is that the Europeans want Israelis to return to what former Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban referred to as the ”Auschwitz lines” thus endangering millions of Jewish lives. Israelis will never agree to this. This is out of question. What is instead feasible is a trajectory of Palestinian de-radicalization leading to a Palestinian state which through agreement annexes the three major Arab regions of Israel plus the Halutza dunes as intended for urban resettlement of millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees while Israel annexes the restored indigenous areas of Judea and Samaria. Mind my words, there will be no Palestinian state without Palestinian de-radicalization and the alternative is Israeli annexation of the entire Judea and Samaria later in this century when Jewish demography in Israel so permits, i.e. thanks to the Haredi demographic revolution.
The truth is that Europeans want Israel to return to the Auschwitz lines because they don’t care about Jewish lives and never did and don’t care about Palestinian statehood either since ”settlements” are perfectly compatible with Palestinian statehood as conclusively proven beyond any doubt by the Trump peace plan. Rather than obsessing about ”settlements” which yes are a means for preventing return to the Auschwitz lines and by extension establishing defensible borders with a Palestinian state, Europeans should laser-focus on Palestinian de-radicalization and subsequent exchange of populated territories which are the only avenue to a two-state solution.
Aliyah Organization 