“She is an outspoken advocate of annexing parts of the West Bank territory that Palestinians hope to obtain for a future state. Just this week, a government committee she heads approved a bill that aims to extend the jurisdiction of Israel’s district courts over a portion of the West Bank she wants Israel to annex.”
“If this legislation becomes law, it would prevent Palestinians from petitioning Israel’s High Court over land disputes with the settlements, a development Palestinians fear will weaken their cause and strengthen Israel’s control of the land.”
Q: If you are not talking about a Palestinian state, aren’t you talking about a continued occupation?
A: No. I’m talking about a confederation, that Area A, B and Gaza become part of Jordan, which is majority Palestinian anyway.
You know that in the 1980s, [Israeli peace activist] Abie Nathan was jailed because he met with [the late Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser] Arafat. It was illegal then to speak to Arafat. No one was talking about a two-state solution until the ’90s, then it became an acceptable solution.
“Today, Israeli sovereignty in Area C and a confederation in area A and B with Jordan looks like a bizarre option to the international community, but this is something we will continue to talk about and explain.”
“I believe that in three years from now, the international community will understand this is the right solution.”
Q: Does this idea look even more possible now that President Trump is in the White House?
A: “Of course. With the Obama administration, this issue was more difficult. The White House is [now] more open, and I think Trump is a very brave president. He thinks outside the box and is not tied to the State Department’s old paradigms.”
So, just one month before the 2020 US presidential election, the GOP MAGA ex-president Trump reversed a long-standing US policy based on a 1978 1978 memo by State Department legal adviser Herbert Hansell, which deemed Israeli settlements beyond the 1949 armistice lines as illegal. This reversal was formulated by the Kohelet Policy Forum – the right-wing Israeli think tank behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial judicial overhaul efforts.
Gronda Morin 