educated elite in prison.T hat w as official U S policy, under an administration that w as
supposed to be anti-Israel. (It w as never accurately reported here. I
w rote about it at the time.) T he U S w as finally able to achieve these
goals after the Gulf W ar, w hen the rest of the w orld backed off.
Large sections of the West Bank and Gaza are still occupied by the
Israeli army.
T he Oslo II Interim Agreement of September 1995 left Israel in
control of about 70% of the West Bank, and in effective control of
about another 26%. It put the urban centers of Palestinian tow ns in
the hands of the Palestinian Authority, w hich is subordinate to
Israel. (It’s as if the New York police didn’t have to patrol the w orst
slums—the local authorities did that for them—w hile the people in
pow er took everything they w anted.)
I think Israel has w ay too much territory for its ow n potential
needs or interests, and thus w ill probably be w illing to relinquish
some. If Israel is smart, it w ill w ork tow ards something like the
Allon plan of 1968, w hich gave it control of the resources, w ater
and usable territory (about 40% of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip
and other areas), w hile relinquishing responsibility for the
population.
Since then, the Gaza Strip has been more of a burden than
something you’d w ant to hang onto. I think Israel w ill keep the so-
called Gush Katif, dow n in the south; along w ith other parts they
control, that probably amounts to 30% of all Gaza. (T his is all for a
couple of thousand Jew ish settlers w ho use most of the resources,
particularly w ater.) Israel w ill probably build strings of tourist
hotels and keep up agricultural exports.
T hey’d be out of their minds to w ant to control Gaza City. T hey’d
much rather leave it to the Palestinian Authority, along w ith the
other urban centers and maybe 100 or so dots scattered around the
W est Bank and Gaza, w ith impassable roads connecting them.
T here’s a big superhighw ay system, but that’s for the use of
Israeli settlers and visitors. You can travel through the West Bank
on these superhighw ays and barely know that Palestinians exist; you
might see a remote village somew here and maybe somebody selling
something on the roadside.