Gadi Eizenkot
Gadi EizenkotFlash 90

Former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, in an interview with Ben Caspit in the Maariv newspaper, presented his diplomatic vision, which includes "separation" from the Palestinians and the establishment of autonomy for them in Judea and Samaria.

Eizenkot spoke about the problem of governance in Judea and Samaria and said that "the issue of enforcement in Area C, which should have been sharp and clear, was dissolved. There is no question about that. Evyatar? This is an incident that does not happen and should not happen. Every brigade commander is instructed to evacuate every fresh invasion, that's his job."

The former Chief of Staff argued that there are three geographical areas where Israeli can be flexible for the Palestinians: "The first is Gaza, from where we left. The continuation of the process to reach a settlement with them has been stuck for more than a decade because of the bodies of two fighters and two other civilians. That makes no sense."

"The second area is from Shavei Shomron to the Afula area. There are about 160 Jewish families left there following [former Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon's decision not to evacuate Mevo Dotan and Hermesh. It is about a third of Judea and Samaria where autonomy can be established with territorial continuity," he added.

"The third place is the Jordan Valley. From a civilian, not a security standpoint. And here the question arises, what do we want to be here in the future. Do we want an ‘omelet’, where everyone is mixed in with everyone? When you ask the Israeli public, 65% support separation from the Palestinians. When you define it as two states, that drops down to 40-something percent. My conclusion is that until there is a solution, separation is a security need. And the question that needs to be asked is which country we want to see in the end."

Settlement is a value, Eizenkot said, provided it takes place within the framework of government policy. "That is why Evyatar, a place that does not promote our security interest, should have gone down immediately. There is a violation of the law here that the IDF was supposed to enforce and in the meantime it has become a political and international issue. The illegal outposts must be evacuated."

Eizenkot said he also believes that Homesh should be evacuated. "The political reality freezes the ability to do what is right for national security. It’s no wonder that governance is collapsing and you are not able to evacuate Palestinians from Area C or at least evacuate illegal outposts today, it is no wonder that they are trying to re-establish Homesh. Tell me, since when has there been a yeshiva there? After all, a law [dealing with this] was passed."