In a move that would thwart the reported “security arrangements” in John Kerry’s draft peace proposal, a committee of Israeli government ministers today approved new legislation to annex the occupied Jordan Valley.
Kerry’s proposal is said to include plans to imprison Palestinians behind another wall on the border with Jordan and provide Israel control of the border with Jordan for a few years before switching to a coordinated arrangement with Palestinians. And then gradually, with Israel’s approval, Palestinians would assume control, 10 to 15 years down the road. Mahmoud Abbas has already rejected this idea.
But many Israeli ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet believe even this loose arrangement affords too much leeway for Netanyahu to make concessions during the negotiations so as to get a deal. The new legislation is intended to hand-tie Netanyahu in consideration of the upcoming American proposal. It was first proposed last week by Miri Regev (a member of Knesset from Likud) and then approved today by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, by an 8 to 2 vote.
If the legislation becomes law it prevents Netanyahu from agreeing to any plan leading to eventual Palestinian control over the Jordan Valley or the border with Jordan.
Jerusalem Post, Ministers vote to annex Jordan Valley:
If the bill becomes law, Netanyahu would be unable to accept the American offer to put the Jordan Valley and border crossings into Jordan under Palestinian control, with IDF soldiers posted at the border and the US providing additional security.
“The ministerial committee’s approval of this bill now, when there are talks with the Palestinians, is a clear statement by the government that the towns in the Jordan Valley are a strategic and security asset of the State of Israel that must stay in our hands,” Regev said.
According to Regev, the Jordan Valley is the “safety belt” on the eastern border.
Eight ministers on the committee, all from the Likud, Yisrael Beytenu or Bayit Yehudi, voted in favor of the bill, while Hatnua and Yesh Atid ministers opposed.
Livni, Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Health Minister Yael German said they would submit an appeal of the vote.
“It’s no secret that the towns in the Jordan Valley have tremendous importance in terms of defense and strategy…Ultimately, we have a responsibility to the citizens of Israel,” Regev declared.
“Not every round of negotiations has to end with land concessions and forcibly evacuating Israeli towns,” she added. “If this continues, eventually we’ll end up with just central Tel Aviv.”
And tommorow they will apparently accept more settlements..
Just another day in the colonialist regime called Israel.
“The ministerial committee’s approval of this bill now, when there are talks with the Palestinians, is a clear statement by the government that the towns in the Jordan Valley are a strategic and security asset of the State of Israel that must stay in our hands,” Regev said.
The Jewish civilian prescence in the Jordan Valley is actually a security problem for the IDF, not an asset. No one with any military training wants to defend an isolated enclave in the middle of another state with vulnerable lines of communications. It’s an-age old recipe for disaster. The goal is to continue to occupy and control all of the surrounding Palestinian territory.
Anyone who has seen the video of Netanyahu bragging about killing the Oslo process knows this “security zone” or “military site” label was adopted for purely political, not military purposes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaIQHWfj5f4
In the big scheme of things these are good moves. It makes it hard for Israel’s enablers to hide behind the farce of two states. It shows the true face of Israel. How many times do you get a finger in your face before you realize your bring disrespected enough to slap it down…the interesting thing is even if the governments of the world continue to enable (mostly the US and Canada) the people of those countries care. I was in Costco and overheard a lady (white middle aged) take a pass on Sabra hummus because of the boycot…small but hopeful sign
Thank you Hostage for your fact laden posts which adds facts to support our outrage at the Supreme Evil which is the Zionist monster called Israel. Netanyahu is of the same breed of deceitful, duplicitous Prime Ministers who have guided this pariah state to where it is today. Those of us in the MW community must continue to educate the populace until finally It has had enough and Moral America will demand an end to this perversion with a cessation of funding and the U.S. Congress asserts itself.
Should the headline read ,”Ministers vote to steal The Jordan Valley”.
Hopefully we will see regev and co in the Hague sometime soon.