Former Shin Bet chief pushes for a two-state solution without negotiations

Peace between Israelis and Palestinians depends on coordinated unilateral actions, not negotiations, former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon explained during a panel discussion at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars on Thursday. Ayalon, who also served as a member of Knesset for the Labor Party, said that "the idea of negotiations does not exist anymore."

Ayalon presented his own plan for a two-state solution, authored by Blue White Future, a non-partisan political movement he founded. The plan, based on the Clinton Parameters, first calls for Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians based on the 1967 lines and a territorial swap, should the Palestinians decide to come to the table. Second, it insists on the security fence as a provisional line and states that annexing the eastern side of the fence is not in Israel’s interest. Third, the plan calls for the Knesset to pass a law enabling those settlers living on the eastern side of the fence to return to the western side, should they wish to do so. Fourth, it states that the Knesset should create a strategic plan to bring back all 100,00 settlers so as not to repeat the mistakes of the Gaza Strip pullout. Fifth, it demands that the Israeli Defense Forces remain on the eastern side of the fence to prevent any security risks. Finally, the plan requires that the Knesset pass a law that any agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians be put to a national referendum.

Robert Malley, who served as special assistant to President Clinton on Arab-Israeli Affairs, agreed that the concept of unilateralism is profound, compared to prospects for future negotiations, particularly the plan of the Quartet:

"I can’t remember the last conversation I’ve had with a an official member from the Quartet … who genuinely believed what they were mouthing everyday…. They don’t believe it and the argument that they give for maintaining the fiction is that if you discard the fiction then you’re going to leave people in a state of hopelessness and create a vacuum that bad things will fill."

Wilson Center fellow and Foreign Policy columnist Aaron David Miller, who moderated the panel, cautiously praised the plan:

"What Ami is offering is logical, it’s credible. I like it because it’s unanchored and unmoored to an American role in this negotiation right now or for the foreseeable future, and I also like it because it’s self-directed…. Whether it will work or not is another matter."

Ayalon, meanwhile, is also putting his faith in the Israeli government:

" We understand for the time … he cannot blame his coalition today. His coalition…. I know that in this Kensset and in this coalition, this program, this paradigm, is acceptable."

Netanyahu may have just assembled a coalition of 94 out of 120 Knesset members, a considerable mandate, but there’s no guarantee that the coalition will stay intact. If history has anything to say about Israeli unity governments, nothing is ever for certain.