Summary
Israeli historian who introduced the concept of Shrinking the conflict in 2018, as a solution for reducing the growing rift between the so-called Israeli Left and the Israeli Right over what to do with the military occupation, in Walid Habbas’s account (Shrinking the Conflict: Debunking Israel’s New Strategy, lines 141, 169).
Details
- His formulation, as Habbas quotes it: management of “the conflict below the threshold of war, while improving the fabric of life for the Palestinian population” (line 165).
- His eight recommendations are enumerated in the brief only in part: the first four, meant to increase a sense of freedom — Palestinian-only roads connecting the cantons in Areas A and B, transferring parts of Area C to Area A, Palestinian access to Israeli airports, and supporting Palestinian recognition as a state without recognizing its borders — and the fifth, increasing the number of Palestinian workers in the Israeli labor market with a cap of 400,000 (lines 173, 189).
- He supports gradually devoting additional lands in Area C for Palestinian-Israeli economic cooperation, including foreign investment and industrial parks that would remain under Israeli control, and the creation of “safe” logistic routes (the Door-to-Door policy) (lines 147-149, 181).
- On statehood without borders, Habbas says an important component of Goodman’s original proposal in Hebrew was omitted from the English translation: without recognizing Palestinian borders, Israeli occupation forces’ incursions into the West Bank will continue to not be considered violations of sovereign territory (line 173).
- As Habbas presents Goodman’s own argument, “shrinking the conflict” does not necessitate a formal agreement, the withdrawal of Israeli settlers or settlements from the West Bank, or the division of Jerusalem (line 205).
Related pages
Shrinking the Conflict: Debunking Israel’s New Strategy, Shrinking the conflict, Economic peace, Initiative for Shrinking the Conflict