Former Israeli Ambassador to Washington Dr. Michael Oren, who is running for Knesset on the Kulanu party ticket, feels annexing Yehuda and Shomron to Israel would have disastrous results. Dr. Oren feels Israel must concentrate on mending its relationship with its major ally, the United States.
Oren added that the recent congressional address given by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu added to the strained relations between the countries and efforts must be made to patch things up.
In an interview with Reuters, Oren said Israel needed to restore bipartisan Congressional support in the face of Democrats’ anger over Netanyahu’s acceptance of the Republican invitation to address Congress.
Oren feels one of the methods that would accomplish this is to announce construction throughout Yehuda and Shomron would be limited to settlement blocs, large areas which Israel plans to keep under her sovereignty in a future peace agreement with the PA (Palestinian Authority). He warns that annexing Yehuda and Shomron would result in Israel’s “instant isolation” in the international community.
The former ambassador stated Israel must continue efforts towards implementing the so-called two-state solution, namely the establishment of the State of Palestine inside Eretz Yisrael.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
I agree that it is ” wild” to annex yehuda and shomron. But there should be a distinction between settlement areas ( however that shall be defined) and security areas ( not necessarily settlement areas) which Israel must also control to protect the country.
Yes ANNEXING would be incredibly disastrous. That would mean every Arab would be an Israeli citizen with voting power. It would dramatically shift the amount of Arabs in Knesset
“ANNEXING would be incredibly disastrous.”
But it is the only way to satisfy the messianic Greater Israel folks.