With the collapse of the U.S.-brokered peace negotiations, the\u00a0Palestinian leadership has embarked on a plan of unilateral\u00a0action to gain recognition of a Palestinian state and to isolate\u00a0Israel internationally. Couple those developments with the Fatah movement\u2019s unity pact with the\u00a0terrorist group Hamas, and Israel is facing a complex reality. Without peace talks, what options does Israel have? Will Israel\u00a0be forced to take its own unilateral steps?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf [an] agreement is unachievable, then moving independently to shape the borders of Israel is the better course,\u201d suggested Amos Yadlin, a retired Israeli air force general and former head of the Israel Defence Forces Military Intelligence Directorate. \u201cWhile it is not the [ideal] alternative, it is better than the status quo or a bad agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yadlin, who now serves as director of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), is among a growing number of respected Israeli leaders putting forth proposals for unilateral steps. In a proposal posted earlier this month on the INSS website, Yadlin argued that Israel has more than the two options usually discussed: a peace agreement and the status quo. According to Yadlin, Israel\u2019s four strategic options are a peace agreement along the parameters established by former U.S. president Bill Clinton at Camp David in 2000, an \u201cunacceptable\u201d peace agreement on Palestinian terms, a status quo in which the Palestinians dictate their own terms or a status quo in which Israel dictates its own terms.<\/p>\n
Yadlin argued that while the Clinton parameters \u2013 which include the Palestinians agreeing to end the conflict and give up both the \u201cright of return\u201d of Palestinian refugees and dividing Jerusalem \u2013 are Israel\u2019s \u201cbest option,\u201d it is \u201chighly unlikely\u201d that such an agreement will ever be realized. Instead, Yadlin believes that Israel should promote an \u201cIsraeli option\u201d that preserves Israel\u2019s objectives to remain a \u201cJewish, democratic, secure and just state.\u201d He said this would allow Israel to \u201cindependently shape its own borders,\u201d with a strategy towards \u201cadvancing a two-state solution.\u201d<\/p>\n