Foreign Policy magazine: The 5 Percent Solution to Settlements
December 1, 2003

The following is from the September/October issue of Foreign Policy. It was sent to us by Audrey Seagraves, the Public Relations Coordinator for the magazine. She found the listserv and felt it would be of interest to our subscribers, which it is. Our thanks to her.
 
The stunning conclusion of the article, in the words of Ms. Seagraves, is that “Israeli settlements are routinely described as a ‘major obstacle’ to peace in the Middle East,” yet, “David Makovsky and Eran Benedek from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy argue the solution would require redrawing just five percent of the West Bank map and persuading 60,000 people to move.” The implications of this article are well worth considering. In the least, it should help temper the nonsense about a binational state being the only viable solution. 
 
Are settlements a major problem? Many would argue that, yes, they are. They dot the Palestinian landscape, requiring crisscrossing security roads and military outposts that make Palestinian life intolerable, and cost Israel millions in defense. Most critically, the ultimate goal – a two-state solution – is clearly frustrated by the continued growth of settlements, which blur the lines between the two peoples.
 
On September 29, William Burns, our assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and a major diplomat, spoke at the U.S.-Arab Economic Forum in Detroit. “As Israeli settlements expand and their populations increase, it becomes increasingly difficult to see how the two peoples will be separated into two states,” Burns said. “The fact is that settlements continue to grow today, encouraged by specific government policies and at enormous expense to Israel's economy, and this persists even as it becomes clear that the logic of settlements and the reality of demographics could threaten the future of Israel as a Jewish democracy.” Reuters reported that Burns referred predictions by some experts that Jews will become a minority in the area encompassing Israel, the West Bank and Gaza by 2020.
 
Even if one accepts some of the criticisms leveled by those who support settlements – communities often labeled “settlements,” like Hebron, have had Jewish inhabitants for at least four thousand years; settlements can’t be the source of violence because attacks on Jews began in the 1920s and 1930s and coordinated terrorism began in the 1950s, both of which predate the Israeli settlement policy of the 1970s, and so on – settlements make little sense.
 
For this reason, the Bush administration decided to deduct $289.5 million from a $3 billion loan guarantee package to Israel – calculated as the amount Israel spends on settlement activity – in order to dissuade such activity. (Which should help temper the nonsense about all-powerful Zionist lobbies in Washington). Of course, the administration is sticking to its rigorous demands on the Palestinians: first and foremost, the arrests of all terrorists and the dismantlement of their well-funded networks, followed by moves towards democratic reform and away from Arafat.
 
See a PDF version of David Makovsky's "The 5 Percent Solution," from Foreign Policy magazine.