Weekly Commentary: Mr. Netanyahu - Please Don't Screw Up On The Deliverables
Dr. Aaron Lerner 21 September 2023

Kan, the Israeli public broadcaster, reports that Israeli and Saudi teams
are already meeting.

One thing they are no doubt discussing are the Israeli "deliverables" for
the Palestinians.

There's a lot of people around with one simple answer: for Area C: a Jewish
building freeze along with a moratorium on any Israeli action against
illegal Palestinian construction.

So it comes down to whether or not Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has
invested the time and effort to come up with a portfolio of deliverables
which don't undermine our interests.

Here's a few of my ideas:

#1. Ben Gurion Airport as the air gateway for all residents of Judea and
Samaria not identified specifically for special restrictions by the Israeli
security authorities. We are already doing this for those bearing US
passports.

#2. Adjustment of the delineation of Areas A, B and C without changing their
respective overall sizes so that some of the Palestinian communities which
have spilled over into Area C are part of Area A or B.

#3. Cooperation in launching industrial zones in Areas A & B with expedited
freight movement between these zones and both Israel and our ports.

#4. Expedited implementation of Plan 633-0523670 approved on 18 January 2021
for a rail connecting Erez Crossing adjacent to the Gaza Strip to Ashdod
Port thus slashing the cost and time for moving freight (including 20 and 40
foot containers) between the Gaza Strip and Ashdod Port.

To be clear: if it ends up that our deliverables are building freezes
and/or allowing the injection of a large American trained and armed
Palestinian force into our bedroom (of course with "iron clad guarantees"
that everything will be ok) then we will know that Mr. Netanyahu and his
team screwed up.

Because, regardless of the spinning, the truth is that the Saudis can live
with deliverables which improve Palestinians lives that don't screw Israel.
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