From Conflict to Consensus: Cultural Conflict and the Israeli Debate Over Territorial Withdrawal

Diplomacy's value: creating security in 1920s Europe and the contemporary Middle East

“…In this view, withdrawing from the territories was a prerequisite for maintaining Israel as a liberal democratic state. Maintaining control over the Palestinians morally corrupts the Jews, threatening the Israeli commitment to human rights and engendering the hatred of its Arab neighbors (Sassley 2010;Waxman 2008). This was particularly true given the demographic changes occurring in the region; that is, the Arab birthrate has been much higher than the Jewish birthrate.…”

“…The Israeli public was almost unanimous in its belief that the Palestinians had initiated the violence to extract additional concessions, exploiting Barak's willingness to make historic concessions (Bar-Tal and Sharvit 2007). By the end of 2000, 70 percent believed that the Palestinians did not accept the very existence of Israel (Hermann and Yuchtman-Yaar 2002; see also Waxman 2008).…”

“…did not expect to meet the Palestinians halfway, not even twothirds of the way, but we expected to meet them somewhere" (in Rabinovich 2011: 115). Following the failure at Camp David, Barak became the fi rst Israeli leader to publicly propose the construction of a security barrier between the Israeli and Palestinian populations (Waxman 2008).…”

“…Sharon's actions were indicative of a commitment to pragmatic statecraft, a different diplomatic style (Waxman 2008;Rabinovich 2011: 129;Arian and Shamir 2008: 700). The prime minister had come to the conclusion that demographic realities made it impossible for Israel to continue to hold the territories while still retaining the Jewish identity of Israel (Freilich 2012: 180;Bar-Siman-Tov and Michael 2007: 264-65).…”

Israel's Palestinian Minority in the Two‐State Solution: The Missing Dimension

“…Israel's withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territories has long been domestically "sold" to the Israeli-Jewish public as necessary to maintain Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state, and it is this belief that underpins a lot of Israeli-Jewish support for such a territorial withdrawal. 62 If this withdrawal eventually takes place, and Israeli Jews are then asked by Palestinians in Israel to agree to anything that could be lel Halkin puts it, "The problem of Israel's Arab citizens has been overshadowed by Israel's prolonged conflict with the Palestinians living in the territories occupied in the 1967 war. And yet, just as the problem existed before 1967, so it will continue to exist, only in a more acute form, if and when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is settled.…”