A panel of experts discussed Israel’s dropping plans for declaring sovereignty in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley in exchange for the peace accords signed with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain last week. Herb Keinon, senior contributing editor at The Jerusalem Post, moderated a discussion between Major General (ret.) Yitzhak “Jerry” Gershon, former Home Front Commander and a senior member of the Habitchonistim – a group of senior Israeli security officials that pushed for sovereignty; Michal Cotler-Wunsh, MK from Blue and White and Eugene Kontorovich, head of the International Law Department at the Kohelet Forum and professor of law at George Mason University.
Gershon, whose group supported sovereignty, agreed that the peace agreement has the potential to change the geo-strategic situation in the region, and even throughout the world. Nevertheless, he still supports sovereignty, saying that “we must ensure that future generations won’t need to live side by side with a hostile entity in Judea and Samaria.”
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Kontorovich, when asked if the agreement was worth the exchange, said that it is difficult to know with certainty, since “we don’t know what is in the agreement, and we don’t know if sovereignty was going to happen anyway. If we promised not to apply Israeli law to Judea and Samaria, it was almost certainly not worth it, but I doubt it was in there explicitly.”
Cotler-Wunsh suggested that the agreements with the UAE and Bahrain reflect a possible paradigm shift of a real and lasting sustainable peace, in which these countries have answered “yes” to negotiations, recognition, and peace. Their acceptance of Israel, she said, is inextricably linked to the prospect of this leading to talks with the Palestinians, and their acceptance of the State of Israel’s right to exist.
She added that, while credit should be given to those who negotiated the agreement, it is important to depoliticize and depersonalize Israel’s governing processes. “The State of Israel,” said Cotler-Wunsh, “has to move forward and create long term plans and good governance.”