The breaking news is that in negotiations in 2007-2009, the Israelis sought ethnic population swaps: Jewish settlements in the West Bank would become part of Israel, while Palestinian villages in Israel would become part of the new Palestinian state. And the same records of these talks (released by Al Jazeera) show that the Palestinian negotiators were trying to imagine the two peoples getting along in a single polity. In one of the discussions, Abu Alaa, a leading Palestinian figure and former prime minister, calls for a binational state. Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister, said she’d have to think about it.
Read these documents, my fellow liberal Americans, and tell me whose side you’re on in this conversation, the people who want to dump a minority out of their state or the people who speak earnestly of their willingness to live with a minority. And remember, these Israeli negotiators are from Kadima– what is now the liberal party in Israeli politics. And remember that Tzipi Livni brought down the white phosphorus of Cast Lead on the people of Gaza just a few months later.
Here’s the record of an April2008 meeting. Livni brings up the villages whose Palestinian population she wants to get rid of. And note the response by Abu Alaa, let’s try to live together:
Livni: There are some Palestinian villages that are located on both sides of the 1967 line about which we need to have an answer, such as Beit Safafa, Bartaa, Baqa al-Sharqiyeh and Baqa al-Gharbiyyeh.
Abu Alaa: This solution is not the two-state solution. It is the five-state solution: a state in Gaza, a state in Jerusalem, a state for settlers, a Palestinian state and an Israeli state. I do not think this will be the basis for any discussion… I agreed to listen to your propositions because I thought you would come with realistic propositions.
In light of these circumstances and these unrealistic propositions, I see that the only solution is a bi-national state where Moslems, Christians and Jews live together. In Israel they do not realize our needs...
Is our demand for 1967 borders too much for us?
Livni: I did not say it is too much for you.
Abu Alaa: Is it because settlers have come and settled in our land? Many countries occupied other countries and set up colonies but in then end they left them. The Soviet Union is the best example. They colonized many Islamic countries in Central Asia and left everything. There are many other examples from the world that shows this.
Livni: What you are saying is that there are no settlements you can live with?
Abu Alaa: For the sake of the Palestinian state I may be ready to swap for small percentage…
Livni: The gap is not big. It is about 350 450 square kilometers. Future generations will blame us and never forgive us if we lose this opportunity because of this gap.
Abu Alaa: Then like what I said. The solution is a bi-national state from the sea to the river.
Livni: I suggest that during next meeting you present your ideas about this subject.
But in the next meeting, again it is Livni’s side talking about ethnic population swaps, and the Palestinians speaking of people getting along. June 21st 2008, and Livni speaks of a visit she made to the Israeli Palestinian village of Wadi Ara, where “there are 12,000 Palestinian members of Kadima…
Livni: I said from the beginning that it can be part of the swaps.
Abu Alaa: Absolutely not.
Livni: We have this problem with Raja in Lebanon. [Norwegian] Terje Larsen put the blue line to cut the village in two. [This needs to be addressed.] We decided not to cut the village. It was a mistake. The problem now those living on Lebanese soil are Israeli citizens.
Udi Dekel [Israeli negotiator]: Barka, Barta il Sharqiya, Barta il [Garbiya], Betil, Beit Safafa…
Abu Alaa: This will be difficult. All Arabs in Israel will be against us.
Tal Becker: We will need to address it some how. Divided. All Palestinian. All Israeli.
Saeb Erekat: Have you thought seriously about Jews becoming Palestinian citizens? Or is it just out of the question? Have you asked your team for 50 year projections? Have they thought about it?
Livni: Truly? No.
Erekat: You are not willing?
Becker: In previous meetings you thought about the security aspects [of having Israeli population in Palestine].
Livni: But do you really think that this is possible?
Erekat: Yes. [Notes the long term positive impact of such integration.] Think of all of the anti-discrimination laws we will have. It doesnt cost you anything to think about it.
[Livni and Erekat debate if the conflict is one of sectarian clashes or national movements.]
