Ariel Center for Policy Research (ACPR)

 

ACPR Research – Summary

 

 

Corridors/Safe Passage Routes:
Past, Present and Future Outlook

Territorial Corridors between Gaza, Judea and Samaria

Arnon Soffer

Policy Paper No. 76,
In the book
Israel and a Palestinian State: Zero Sum Game?, 2001

Israel's geopolitical circumstances require that in any future agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, several corridors connecting the Arab territories be created, and also several corridors connecting the Jewish territories.

If the best possible final agreement from the Palestinian viewpoint is concluded, two long and complex corridors will be required between the Gaza Strip and Hebron and from Gaza to the Ramallah area.

At the other end of the range of possibilities is an arrangement that on one hand will meet the maximal expectations of Israel, and on the other will not annex the areas populated by Arabs. In such an arrangement the number of corridors will be more than ten in addition to the many access roads to isolated settlements (both Jewish and Palestinian) which will be necessary.

International experience in Danzig, Berlin and Bolivia has been very problematic. The situation of Israel and the Palestinians is yet more difficult because in none of the international cases mentioned were there such wide social, religious and economic gaps, and deep hostility between the parties, nor the presence of such dense and complex settlements along the corridors, as there are here (without even mentioning the corridors in Hebron and Jerusalem).

The corridor formula is one that promises endless conflicts – quite apart from the other obstacles dogging the Israel-Arab conflict.

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