The Israeli Right Has a Peace Plan

"......Listen to the Right

It's important to monitor the Israeli far Right. The settlers' ideology is usually shared by the Israeli military, and the military is the central political agent in Israel, much more important than any short-lived government or prime minister. This is why plans, demands, and suggestions of the Israeli far Right, no matter how lunatic they sound when launched, are often the best prediction for future reality, which usually lags just a few years behind.

For example, I still have in my archives an old ad published by the Moledet Party back in June 1996, demanding "a full, permanent closure on the Arabs of Judea and Samaria" (that's how they call West Bank Palestinians). At that time, only a far-right party could dare suggest such a appalling idea. A few years later, this became a reality, unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

Save the Refugees

So what is Benny Elon proposing? At the core of his program is a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem. It's indeed touching to see a representative of the settlers – the civilian sector most responsible for the harassment and dispossession of Palestinians all over the occupied territories – so concerned with their true misery. Elon urges to rehabilitate millions of Palestinian refugees by dismantling UNRWA (an old anti-Palestinian dream); consequently, "all residents of refugee camps will be offered permanent places of residence, citizenship, and a generous rehabilitation grant. The refugee camps will also be dismantled following this process."

Sounds great, doesn't it? The only riddle is where these "permanent places of residence" will be. Elon is intentionally vague at this point: he speaks generally of "immigration countries." One thing is clear, though: Israel is not one of them; otherwise Elon couldn't promise that "dismantling of the refugee camps as part of a process of rehabilitation will reduce the Arab population in Judea and Samaria." Clearly, then, the Palestinian refugees now residing in the West Bank and Gaza will be "rehabilitated" somewhere else on the globe (how about Canada, Alaska, or Europe, to strike a familiar chord?). So here it is: the old "transfer" or deportation desires of the Israeli Right, now with a more fashionable haircut. Beyond Left and Right you always find the far Right......."