Members of the Israeli delegation to Washington's satisfaction with the relatively minor attention given to the Palestinian issue during Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's meeting with US President Joe Biden could turn out to be premature. The US administration will not initiate a diplomatic move concerning the Palestinians at this point in time, at least not until the Knesset officially passes the state budget in November. Nor will it present its own diplomatic initiative at this stage. Yet alongside issues such as Iran, Iraq, the Gaza Strip, the replenishment of the Iron Dome missile defense system, and the US visa waiver program, the Palestinian issue was nevertheless present during the prime minister's meeting with the American leader Friday.
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Biden asked Bennett to refrain from unilateral steps in the settlements. Bennett adhered to a policy based on natural growth. According to Bennett's Israel, the built-up area in the settlements may now stand at around 21,500 acres, spread out across just 1.52% of Judea and Samaria, but in principle, construction, in accordance with the natural growth of the half a million strong Jewish population, will spread out across the entire area under the settlements' jurisdiction – meaning around 132,695 acres, or 9.38% of Judea and Samaria, and will include the addition of several thousand new housing units every year.
The Americans disagree with the Israeli interpretation of "natural growth." They're barely willing to put up with construction within the Green Line, and definitely not thousands of units each year. The question as to how many units will be built and where exactly they will be constructed will be laundered in US-Israel talks behind the scenes at this point in time. That is the agreement that has been reached between the two sides. Bennett will try to gain approval for as much as possible, while the US will pressure Israel to do as little as possible. If understandings on the issue are not reached, the dispute, which both sides have for the time being declined to refer to as such, will come to light.
The Palestinian issue and that of Jewish construction were also raised in the Jerusalem context. Biden talked about the Arab families residing in Jewish homes in the Shimon HaTzadik / Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem's seam line. He asked for Israel to avoid an unfair solution. Bennett responded that the matter was now pending a legal decision.
The issue of US plans to reopen a consulate to the Palestinians in east Jerusalem also came up in their meeting. Disagreements on the issue remain. Nevertheless, Bennett can be pleased that, for now, the US does not have a structured plan for the Palestinian issue and that the American leader is now largely focusing his attention on other foreign affairs as well as the coronavirus pandemic. The dispute with the Americans on the two-state solution may remain – Bennett opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state while Biden and his White House think this is the only solution to the conflict. For now, though, the two sides have agreed to disagree.
Our experience in our own neighborhood has taught us that when the "peace process" comes to town, it is usually accompanied by blood and terror. The Palestinians translate "peace" to mean secession. Terrorists understand "peace" as weakness. The result is terrorist attacks. While the most conspicuous examples, of course, have been the bloody Oslo peace process and the "disengagement" from the Gaza Strip, we have had our share of similar "peace" experiences throughout the years.
We must hope, then, that the policy and decision-makers in the Biden administration are familiar with this "peace"- filled history. We must also hope that there is someone on the Israeli side to remind them just how thin the line between peace process and terror is in the Middle East.
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