Response to article "Netanyahu Chooses Warehousing" by Jeff Halper

The following are comments made by me in response to an article entitled "Netanyahu Chooses Warehousing" by Jeff Halper in the 25 May 2009 posting of MRzine.


The nations of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon need to coordinate with the Palestinians and create a unified "Water Compact" for the entire region. The need for Israel to be involved in these discussions would bring the current government to the bargaining table much faster than any other method used in the past.
Israel needs not to solve any Palestinian question, nor indeed perhaps any Iran question, as much as it needs to solve it's long term water needs.
A "water compact" involving the flows of the Litani, Jordan and Yarmouk River basins and the use of the water table under the West Bank put under control of any "warehoused" Palestinians is really Israel's worst nightmare. Not to be invited to be a part of "that" process is the greatest lever the entire region has against any sort of settlement.
Finally, I for one, do believe the solution resides in a "two state" solution, but just not any where near the geographic form being considered to date. That form just does not provide for a viable Palestinian state for all the millions on the ground and still displaced. Palestinians will never need sovereignty over Nablus as bad as they really need sovereignty over perhaps Eilat and either Beersheba and/or Ashkelon. If 400,000 Israelis need to move for peace, perhaps everyone should consider another group of 400,000. And as to the West Bank, the "right of return" becomes the "right not to leave".