It's not too late.
When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided on a unilateral withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip and the evacuation of four settlements in Samaria, I had a long conversation with him. Arafat, to do everything possible to stop the second intifada. He was not ready for that. His answer was that he did not trust Arabs and that in his eyes there was no difference between Fatah and Hamas.
During the conversation, I asked him what the legal status of the area that would be evacuated in Samaria would be, with its four localities: Chumash, Sha-Nur, urns and gardens.
Sharon turned his gaze to his political adviser, Shalom Turgeman, and asked him.
Turgeman said he would check, and after a few minutes he left the room and left us alone.
We moved on to another topic, and then the secretary came in and handed Sharon a note. That was Turgeman's answer. The settlements will be evacuated, and Israelis will not be allowed to enter them. But what will happen to the area where the settlements are located, I kept asking, this is an area that is twice the area of the Gaza Strip. I again suggested that he consider transferring the area to be evacuated to the Palestinian Authority in an agreement with Mahmoud Abbas, as part of Israel's commitment to the autonomy agreement. Sharon did not respond.
The settlers were evacuated and compensated, and the army closed the area. Palestinian landowners (as in the Chumash, established on private Palestinian land through a seizure order), were not allowed to enter the area. Groups of settlers who ignored the law returned to the area, and the establishment of the yeshiva was not done there precisely because it was the most suitable place for religious studies. The murder of the yeshiva student Yehuda Dimentman strengthened the settlers' demand to re-establish the evacuated settlements. In
terrorism, of course, it is necessary to fight resolutely, but this war is done by detecting cells, capturing terrorists and prosecuting them, and not by violating international and Israeli law. Sharon's folly - both to vacate territory from Israelis and not to transfer it to the Palestinian Authority - has made it an area that invites those to whom the law is not a candle to their feet. The unfulfilled Israeli commitment.
Meanwhile, the government is with the Golan. On June 16, 2019, the Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, ascended the Golan Heights to announce the establishment of the Ramat Trump settlement. The event was very exciting, it was decided to allocate NIS 10 million for the re-establishment of a settlement based on the abandoned settlement Baruchim. Success has been limited, and these days there are actually twenty caravels there.
On Sunday this week, the government, led by Naftali Bennett, ascended to the Golan Heights. At the gala meeting, it was decided to invest NIS 1 billion in the area and establish two new localities, Assaf and Matar, to establish a center for renewable energy, to build infrastructure and to upgrade the medical system. There was an exciting consensus at the meeting. Everyone supported the decision, and only Minister Issawi Farage did not participate in this farce.
Everyone wants to help Bennett get a little stronger in his "base".
Everyone understands that when there are currently 116 empty plots in the Golan Heights, and no one wants to purchase them, the new settlements look like a sketch by Ephraim Kishon.
Everyone knows that it is currently impossible to reach peace with Syria, which is headed by Bashar al-Assad.
Everyone knows that if his successor wants peace with Israel, and is freed from the embrace of the Iranian bear, the Israeli leader will understand that this is a great opportunity for strategic change, and will be willing to withdraw from the Golan like most of his predecessors.
Meanwhile, the government with the Golan.
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