Beilin calls US to support Israeli-Palestinian Confederation

Israel’s former Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin said yesterday that he is currently developing the idea of a confederation between the Palestinians and the State of Israel.

Beilin’s remarks came during a seminar organised by the Wilson Research Centre in Washington DC, and moderated by the Vice President for New Initiatives and Distinguished Scholar at the Middle East Programme Aaron Miller who served as US peace negotiator during former US President Bill Clinton’s rule.

Beilin said: “I am currently examining the idea of a confederation between the Palestinians and Israel, in fact this is not a new idea, and I am trying to develop the Confederacy idea because in fact that is the only practical solution.”

“I am reviewing the idea because a federal entity does not lead to a two-state solution but leaves every party in an awkward chronic inertia towards peace,” he added.

Beilin said that Israel has not adopted a two-state solution in pursuit of peace, but in order to achieve subjective reasons including a Jewish and democratic state at the same time, noting “his idea is based on two independent states with independent membership in the United Nations and independent diplomacy, but they share many common issues such as borders, water, the environment, mobility, roads and others.”

“This situation allows settlers in the West Bank to stay there without losing their nationality.”

“The biggest nightmare for every Israeli prime minister in the event of a two-state solution is what we will do with hundreds of thousands of settlers who are in the West Bank. But in the case of a Confederation,” Beilin explained, “we offer generous compensation to settlers and encourage them to leave their settlements, and if they refuse we tell them, well stay there with the consent and arrangement of the Palestinians.”

Beilin said that a Confederation “allows real security cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel and not a security cooperation which imposes on the Palestinian state to host the Israeli security forces.”

Remarking on the upcoming Israeli elections, Beilin said: “There’s no need for early elections; Netanyahu decided that there is a need for early elections as part of his political manoeuvre,” however the architect of the Oslo peace accords said the “elections scheduled for 17 March will be important for Israeli Arabs, where there will be a joint Arab list which includes communists and other powers”.