Jerusalem Post author calls on Israel to define a permanent eastern border — Jerusalem Post

Former Foreign Ministry director-general Avi Gil, in a column for The Jerusalem Post, called on Israel to define a permanent eastern border without postponing the issue until a final settlement of the status of the territories beyond it. The author links this discussion to the 33rd anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords and the 10th anniversary of Shimon Peres's death.

The logic of the Oslo Accords

According to Gil, the failure of the Oslo process resulted from a combination of Hamas terrorism, the powerlessness of the Palestinian leadership, the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and the policies of Israel's right-wing governments. At the same time, he believes this does not refute the core logic of the agreements: Israel cannot govern millions of Palestinians indefinitely if it seeks to remain a Jewish and democratic state.

The author noted that Peres initially did not consider an independent Palestinian state to be a desirable solution. According to him, Peres considered the Jordanian option or a confederative model, and the phrase “Palestinian state” does not appear in the original Oslo Accords.

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A border of sovereignty and security

Gil proposes separating the issue of Israel's permanent borders from the future political arrangement of the territories beyond them. He believes that the border of sovereignty should ensure a Jewish majority and the democratic character of the state, while the security border may provide for control up to the Jordan River for as long as circumstances require it.

In his view, an internationally acceptable agreement will be based on the 1967 lines with land swaps. The author believes that Donald Trump's presidency may be an opportunity to gain American, Arab, and broader international support for such a border, which would keep major settlement blocs under Israeli sovereignty and take Israel's security needs into account.

Gil also suggests that establishing a border of sovereignty would not mean a security withdrawal and would not determine whether the territory beyond it becomes a confederation with Jordan, a demilitarized Palestinian state, or has another political arrangement. He noted that implementing this approach requires Israel to have a political leader, whom, in his opinion, it currently lacks.