Strategic Assessment

The escalation of violence in the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel has made unilateral disengagement increasingly appealing to many Israelis, even if support for the idea diminishes when concrete implications on the territorial concessions involved are spelled out. There are also psychological factors that help promote the idea. Israelis feel “fed up” with the Palestinians: they want nothing from them, nor any contact with them. Consequently, there is strong appeal to a proposal that requires nothing of the Palestinian side. A more thorough examination of the advantages and disadvantages of unilateral disengagement versus a limited agreement based on the same territorial contours, however, reveals that there are strong, inherent advantages to a partial agreement. Therefore, the reluctance to engage in new attempts to reach an agreement with the Palestinians must be overcome, notwithstanding any fundamental doubt as to the feasibility of reaching such an agreement.