The Future of Hebron

Confidential Instructions for Israeli Military Officer

You were born in Israel just after independence in 1948, and you grew up in Tel Aviv, where your father was a policeman. You have served in the Israeli army since 1967, when you helped defeat the Arab armies in the Six Day War. At that time, you were very proud of the Israeli military and the Jewish people for gaining control of the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula. You never thought that the entire "occupied" territory should become part of Israel. On the other hand, until the Arab countries recognized Israel's right to exist, Israel needed to control a large part of it as a buffer to protect the main areas of Israel against Arab invasion.

For the last ten years, you have been in charge of the Israeli military forces in the West Bank. Today, you think that maintaining military control of the West Bank is not helping to keep Israel safe. It has made the majority of Palestinians living in the West Bank support the Intifada (the Palestinian revolt against Israeli rule that started in 1987). It has also made many commanders and soldiers in the Israeli army very unhappy. They would like the army to defend the country's borders against the Arab armies, instead of firing tear gas at rioting mobs in the territories.

Since 1993, when the Israeli government agreed to give the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza more rights of self-government, and the PLO agreed to stop attacks against Israelis, you have seen how difficult it is for both sides to live up to the agreement they made. Many Israelis still want the state of Israel to control the territories permanently, to provide protection against Arab invasions and to provide land for Jewish immigrants to settle. Even people like you, who see that Israel can no longer maintain control of these areas without risking a great increase in terrorism and unrest, still do not trust the Palestinian leaders or the Palestinian people.

It is equally difficult for the Palestinians to live up to the 1993 agreement. In the agreement, the leaders of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (which now controls the Palestinian Authority, the new Palestinian government in the territories) made a commitment to stop violent attacks against Israelis. Yet many Palestinians--especially young men without jobs, who are deeply angry at the Israelis for depriving them of the opportunity for a normal life--still hope to destroy Israel and create a Palestinian state. The Palestinian Authority has made some effort to control these people and their terrorist organizations, especially the extremist organization Hamas. You are not sure how hard the Palestinian Authority has really tried, and in any case it hasn't been able to stop terrorism.

As a military commander, your first responsibility is to protect the lives and property of Israeli citizens against attack. You do not have much confidence that the Palestinian Authority wants to stop terrorist attacks, or that it could stop the attacks even if it really tried. Since you don't have much confidence in the Palestinian Authority, you have not wanted to give up the Israeli army’s power to pursue and arrest Palestinians living in the West Bank cities that are now supposed to be under Palestinian control.

Of all the areas under your command, you are most concerned about the city of Hebron. You understand how dangerous the situation in Hebron really is. You see the Israeli settlers walking the streets carrying their machine guns. You have seen young Palestinians blow themselves up in the middle of crowds of Israelis. Neither the Israeli government nor the Palestinian Authority seems to be able to control these extremists.

Now you have been asked to help the Israeli government negotiate a long-term agreement with the Palestinian Authority on the future of Hebron. You have been asked to participate because of your position and experience as commander of Israeli forces in the West Bank, and because the Palestinian Authority sees you as one of the most fair and reasonable Israeli military commanders.

You know that the group of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will be trying to reach an agreement on three issues:

You have thought hard about each of these issues. You want to maintain the safety of Israelis living in Hebron and prevent Palestinian terrorists from using Hebron as a base for attacks against Israel. To achieve these goals, you want to maintain Israeli military control in the center of the city (the H2 area) for at least five more years. You want the Israeli military to keep the right to pursue Palestinian terrorists inside Palestinian-controlled areas. You also want to disarm both the Israeli settlers and the Hamas extremists, so that neither group can do much harm. Finally, you are willing to give the Palestinian police control of border checkpoints, as long as the police will let the Israeli army pursue Palestinian terrorists.

Following is a more detailed discussion of your goals and needs on each of the three issues.

Right now the Israeli army controls an area called "H2" in the center of the city, around the core area where the settlements and the holy places are located. This H2 area covers about one-sixth of the city's total area. You are willing to give up control over the parts of H2 that are far from the Israeli settlement area.

You strongly prefer to give the Palestinians control over most of the H2 area, with the exception of the streets where the settlers' homes and the holy places are located, and the hills around the settlements. This would leave about one-third of the H2 area under Israeli control. You are willing to give up control over the other parts of H2 because they are Palestinian neighborhoods. Patrolling them does not add much to the safety of the Israeli settlers, but it does increase the risk of attacks against Israeli soldiers by Palestinians who are angry that they are still living under Israeli military control.

You do not think that the Palestinians are ready to police the core area of H2 where the Israeli settlers live. There is too much tension between Palestinians and Israelis in the city. If the Palestinian police got control now, they might not protect the settlers against attacks by Palestinian terrorists or angry mobs. Also, the settlers are absolutely opposed to living under Palestinian government, because they do not trust the Palestinians and believe that Israel has a right to control all of Hebron.

On the other hand, your government has already agreed to move the Israeli army out of other parts of the West Bank. As the years pass, it will be more and more difficult to keep Israeli soldiers in Hebron. Because you do not believe that Israel has a God-given right to control Hebron, you want to find a way to give the Palestinians control of the whole city without endangering the Israeli settlers.

You want to propose that the Palestinians take over the H2 area in stages over the next several years. First the Palestinian police could participate in joint patrols of the H2 area with the Israeli army. Then, the Palestinian police could take responsibility for the areas of H2 that are Palestinian neighborhoods. Finally, after 5 years or more, the Israelis could turn over the core area of H2, where the Israeli settlers live, to the Palestinians. The Palestinians must also meet several conditions before they gain full control of the core area where the settlers live:

If these conditions are met, you would be willing to transfer control of all areas of Hebron to the Palestinian Authority after 5 years or more. You think that the Israelis should keep control of the H2 area until the Palestinians meet these conditions.

Right now, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for arresting and prosecuting suspected Palestinian terrorists. The Israeli army has the right to pursue suspected Palestinian terrorists into the Palestinian-controlled H1 area of Hebron if the suspected terrorists are trying to escape from the Israeli-controlled H2 area. You know that the Palestinian Authority wants to limit the right of the Israeli army to pursue suspected terrorists into the H1 area. The Palestinian police in Hebron have not been cooperating fully with the Israeli military--they have been withholding information and they have been slow to arrest suspected terrorists.

You want to keep the Israeli army's right to pursue suspected terrorists into Palestinian territory. This right of "hot pursuit" will actually become more important if most of the H2 area of Hebron is handed over to the Palestinians and you only control the small area where the settlers live. It will become harder and harder for you to catch terrorists as the area under your control gets smaller. Palestinian attackers will be able to escape to Palestinian territory within a few minutes. The army must be able to pursue them wherever they go.

You are willing to pursue suspected terrorists jointly with the Palestinian police. In other words, the Israeli army forces would be required to have a Palestinian police escort when they pursued terrorists into Palestinian areas. The Israeli military would have to work with the Palestinian police to set up roadblocks, search houses and cars, and stop people for questioning. You do not really want to agree to joint pursuit, because you fear that the Palestinian police will slow down the Israeli army. If the Palestinians insist on joint pursuit. you want it to be clear that the Israeli army will notify the Palestinians when it is crossing into the H1 area in hot pursuit, but the army will not wait for the Palestinian police if the police are not ready.

You cannot agree to let the Palestinian police pursue suspected Israeli terrorists into the H2 area. You doubt that the Palestinian police could search the Israeli settlement area without serious violence. The settlers would attack them. You think it is better not to promise the Palestinians any right of hot pursuit, because you could not keep this promise even if you wanted to.

You strongly prefer to get a commitment from Hamas to stop its terrorist activities. If Hamas can be convinced to stop terrorist acts, the Israeli military and the Palestinian police will have a much better chance of keeping the peace. You know that Hamas leaders want the Israelis to leave Hebron. You hope that the compromise plan you have offered (turning over control of the Israeli H2 area to the Palestinian Authority in stages over the next 5 years) will convince Hamas that it does not need to use violence to achieve its goals.

If Hamas is not willing to negotiate in good faith, you are willing to have the Palestinian Authority arrest the Hamas leaders. Finally, if Hamas is not willing to negotiate and the Palestinian Authority is not willing to arrest Hamas leaders, at a minimum you will accept the Israeli army to increase its efforts to arrest, prosecute and imprison the Hamas leaders.

As for disarming the settlers, you want the settlers to give up their weapons, if Hamas also agrees to stop terrorist acts. The settlers' guns are provoking the Palestinians more than they are protecting the settlers. You know that the settlers do not trust the Israeli army, much less the Palestinian police, to protect them. On the other hand, you feel strongly that if you can convince both the settlers and Hamas to give up their weapons, there is a much greater chance that they can live together in peace.

If Hamas will not give up terrorism, you would like the settlers to agree to give their guns to the Israeli military in the H2 area for safekeeping. The settlers would only be allowed to take their guns out of these buildings if there was a serious riot and the Israeli military was not able to protect them. Finally, if the settlers are not willing to deposit their guns with the army, you can require them to give their guns to an Israeli military escort when they are traveling in Palestinian neighborhoods.

You do not mind if the Palestinians gain control over the border checkpoints at the edge of Hebron. You know that control over the borders between Hebron and other areas of the West Bank does not really affect security. Anyone who is really determined to duck the checkpoints and plant a bomb can do it now, even though the Israelis are still controlling the checkpoints.

Although you do not feel that Palestinian control of the checkpoints will threaten Israeli security, you know that the Palestinians want to control the checkpoints to symbolize their right of self-government. Therefore, you can offer control of the checkpoints to the Palestinians in exchange for their agreement on other points that are more important to you. Maybe you can get the Palestinians to

let the Israeli army maintain its right of hot pursuit in exchange for giving up control of the border checkpoints.

Summary of your goals and your proposals

1. Control of Hebron

Proposal

2. Security