Dr. Mordechai Kedar
Dr. Mordechai KedarYoni Kempinski

In an exclusive Arutz Sheva interview, Middle East expert Dr. Mordechai Kedar, of Bar-Ilan University’s BESA Center (Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies), dismissed calls for the establishment of a Palestinian Authority state in Judea and Samaria, saying that the number of Israelis who still believe in the "Two-State Solution" can "fit in two telephone booths". 

"And two years from now they will fit into a half of a telephone booth," he added dryly.

When asked why, Dr. Kedar responded that "Gaza changed everything."

"We gave land, they fired rockets into Israel," he explained, in reference to the 2005 "Disengagement Plan", in which Gaza's 21 Jewish communities were expelled, along with 4 in northern Samaria (Shomron). Far from achieving security for Israel's southern population centers, the pullout resulted in an increase in deadly rocket attacks against neighboring Israeli towns and villages, and required the IDF to mount two separate counterterrorism operations, in 2009 and 2012.

When asked of the probability of Palestinian terrorists firing Katyusha rockets into Tel Aviv from Judea and Samaria in the event of an Israeli withdrawal from there, Dr. Kedar chuckled and pointed out that "The Gaza terrorists need Katyushas with 40km range because they're further from populated targets. With the West Bank [Judea and Samaria], they would only need masses with a range of 12km to strike densely-populated Israeli areas."

Dr. Kedar is regularly interviewed by Arabic media, and became an internet sensation for his viral Al Jazeera interview (video below), where he stated that Jerusalem "has been our city for 3,000 years already and forever it shall be so." 

He went on to elaborate to the Arab channel that "We were here when your forefathers were drinking wine, burying their daughters alive, and worshipping idols." 

Dr. Kedar is in Lecturing in America on his "Palestinian Emirates plan", which envisages the Palestinian Arabs retaining autonomy over their cities, but stops short of offering a state - which Kedar sees as not viable given the local Arab population's competing tribal factions - or any further territorial concessions by Israel. 

This solution is approximately the status quo, but Kedar says that far from being a problem, the status quo is really the best solution for the Arabs as well as the Israelis. 

Kedar's solution critically protects local Arabs from being terrorized by Hamas or other extremist groups, and from turning Judea and Samaria into a new Iranian/Al Qaeda terror state.

Dr. Kedar will be speaking at a luncheon for the Endowment for Middle East Truth, at their Washington office, on Thursday, November 21, 2013, to a maximum capacity crowd. 

Dr Kedar's famous Al Jazeera interview:

Those interested in hearing Dr. Kedar can contact [email protected] for more information.

Those interested in hearing Dr. Kedar can contact [email protected] for more information.