Weekly Commentary: And what if Abbas returns the keys?

Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 3 November 2011

Palestinian officials are now threatening that if the Palestinians don’t get
what they want that Mahmoud Abbas will close down the PA and hand the keys
back to Israel.

It would be best for Israel to be prepared so that such a scenario could be
an opportunity rather than a punishment for the Jewish State.

Israel’s goal in the event of such a move should be to prevent the
development of a crises that is exploited by the Palestinians to introduce
foreign actors into the mix.

To achieve this, Israel would have to maintain a semblance of normality.

First and foremost this would require being able to ignore the ex-officials
of the PA while avoiding a humanitarian crisis.

Israel must be in a position to shift from interfacing with Palestinian
officials at a national level to a regional and municipal level.

We have experience in this already.

Even in the worst of times in Jerusalem-Ramallah relations, Israelis and
Palestinians cooperated on a municipal level to restore or maintain vital
services.

One of the biggest tests Israel would face would be maintaining the flow of
goods and people between the West Bank and the outside world.

Israeli planners should set as a goal to actually speed up the movement of
cargo to and from the West Bank. It would also make sense to prepare
administrative provisions to avoid the situation that equipment contributed
from overseas for Palestinian humanitarian projects gets stuck in Israeli
ports because of disputes over the payment of various duties and taxes to
Israel.

Israel should also be prepared to efficiently substitute Israeli travel
documents for the ones issued by the then defunct PA so that international
movement is not impeded.

Then, of course, is the thorny issue of the Palestinian security forces.

While Israel wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with Palestinian cops
associated directly with a specific municipality or regional groupings of
municipalities, the American trained and armed Palestinian troops who answer
to the Palestinian federal authorities could present a serious challenge if
it is not possible to shift their allegiance to municipalities or regions.

It would not be easy.

But with proper planning and unity Israel can insure that the dissolution of
the PA becomes an opportunity rather than punishment.

And the more prepared Israel is for this challenge, the more likely that the
Palestinians will opt to drop the idea.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il