As long as the Trump Administration does not uproot the idea of a Palestinian state , in its new decrees against the PA there is something new but nothing real.

The only way to change the situation fundamentally is to address their false nationalist pretentions and cut them off from the root.

This calls for political resolve: the application of an umbrella of Israel sovereignty over the entire expanse of Judea and Samaria and eliminating the Palestinian Authority.

Motti Karpel, Makor Rishon Friday Sptember 21, 2018

Translated into English by Sally Zahav for the Sovereignty Movement

Each morning, as I check how relations between the Trump administration and the Palestinian Authority are changing, I search eagerly for the key piece of information.  The decrees that the Trump administration issues against the PA indeed continue at a dizzying pace and every week we hear more news on the subject, but none of this is what I hope to find. Cutting off funds for UNRWA, changing and redefining the status of the refugees, closing the offices in Washington, the recent news regarding the Palestinian emissary’s expulsion from Washington and cutting off funding for organizations that arrange meetings between Palestinians and Israelis – all of this is refreshing news, but it is not what I am looking for.

The main question is whether the rhetoric of the Trump administration’s representatives is sincere – whether all of these decrees are just meted out to the PA as punishment for refusing to take part in the president’s “deal of the century” and their purpose is only to bring the PA back to the negotiating table; or alternatively, perhaps the decrees are intended to dry out the Palestinian Authority and eliminate it once and for all. Both possibilities are still open. If the first possibility is correct, we are happy about the decrees but they cannot produce a fundamental change and they cannot lead to a true solution of the “Palestinian problem”.

The key piece of information that I am so eagerly awaiting is a disclosure that there is ongoing contact between American and local leaders of the Arab residents of Judea and Samaria – heads of clans, mayors of cities and villages, people like the activist for human rights Bassam Id for instance- while ignoring and circumventing the PA. This is the news that I am looking for.

Because any agreement with the Palestinian Authority, even under the best conditions from our point of view, cannot change the situation fundamentally. An agreement with the Palestinian Authority and the PLO will never be able to solve the “Palestinian problem”. Because the root of the problem is the Palestinians’ false claim to national ownership of this Land – a competing, conflicting and hostile claim to our own claim. As long as there is no resolution of this issue nothing will have changed. An agreement with the PA must be signed by those who make this fraudulent claim, and therefore, it will remain as is. This claim can only be overcome by utterly uprooting it.

As long as the Palestinian flag is hoisted over parts of the Land of Israel, whether on top of one isolated facility in Ramallah or as part of a “confederation” with Jordan, this fraudulent national claim will not be eliminated. At any rate, in the best case, there could only be a local improvement in the political-security and geopolitical situation that we are subject to. This is not a fundamental change. Tomorrow, Trump might fall or be replaced, the interests of the “moderate” Arab states might change, Hamas might take over or win electorally and this root bearing gall and wormwood would bloom anew with even greater strength, even though it had been cut down.

We compare the various political plans according to the parameter of area: are we talking about annexing the entire Area C or only settlement blocs, or only Greater Jerusalem, and so forth. But this is not a suitable criterion: the main question is not the size of the annexed area but the political status of the remaining territory. Will Israeli sovereignty be applied upon it or not? This is the most important question.

As long as the PA exists, it must be hostile to Israel. It must incite against us and we will remain its main enemy, because there is no other “togetherness” that is capable of consolidating and uniting this rabble – it is a collection of individuals who are deceptively called “the Palestinian people”. “The resistance” is their only glue.

The only way to change the situation fundamentally is to address their nationalist pretentions and cut them off from the root. This calls for political resolve: the application of an umbrella of Israel sovereignty over the entire expanse of Judea and Samaria and eliminating the Palestinian Authority. Under this umbrella of Israeli sovereignty, on the basis of the individual, the regional or the clan – but decidedly not on a national basis – there could many, varied types of solutions.

The question that bothers me is whether the Trump administration’s decrees are intended to bring the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiating table, or they are intended to cause its collapse. If it seems that together with these decrees, the Trump Administration is beginning to have political contact with authentic local representatives, who are not engaged in nationalist claims, but rather, humanitarian efforts to improve the lives of the Arab population in Judea and Samaria – on the basis of the clan, local council or even cantons, as suggested by Dr. Mordechai Kedar – this would be a sign that there really is something to the American plan.

There are many Arab public figures who understand that the goal of the Palestinian Authority is only to take care of itself and that it actually harms the interests of the people, and they would be very happy to see it end and have somebody else take its place. If the United States of America, with all of its political and economic weight and importance, would stand with these people, they would feel that there is someone to depend on, someone to work with and talk with, they would dare to take the chance, take responsibility and take the step.

As long as this horizon is not opened, the Trump administration’s decrees are new but do not accomplish much.