The West Bank territories Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) has pledged to annex are among those the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (right) pledged never to give up.
Excerpt
Annexation can be seen as a step towards ending the deadlock between the parties. It should be the pressure to place on Palestinian leaders to acknowledge that they will not defeat Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish People. It will show the Palestinians that rejectionism has consequences and force them to give up longstanding violent aims.
Most of all, it will fulfill the vision of Israeli leaders — from the left, right, and center, such as Rabin, Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon — who understood implicitly that Israel will always retain the settlements and the Jordan Valley. It is time to take them off the table.
Gregg Roman is director of the Middle East Forum. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
