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| == Diplomatic efforts == | == Diplomatic efforts == | ||
| From February to September 1968, Eshkol held secret talks with Palestinian leaders in the Occupied Territories without result.<ref name=Pedatzur/> Parallel to the talks, secret conversations with Jordan started in London in May 1968, ending in November that year. Although the |
From February to September 1968, Eshkol held secret talks with Palestinian leaders in the Occupied Territories without result.<ref name=Pedatzur/> Parallel to the talks, secret conversations with Jordan started in London in May 1968, ending in November that year. Although the Allon Plan was never officially endorsed by the successive Israeli Cabinets,<ref name=Knesset/><ref name=ProCon/><ref name=Pedatzur/> the peace plan Israel offered to King Hussein in September 1968 was based on it.<ref name=FRUS_summary/><ref name=FRUS_353/> The conditions included demilitarization of the West Bank, deployment of Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley, and Israeli annexation of a 10 to 15 kilometers-wide strip of land along the Jordan River (the border with Jordan), most of the Judean desert along the Dead Sea, and East Jerusalem.<ref name=ProCon/><ref name=Pedatzur/> The arrangements were to be valid for generations to come. Hussein, however, rejected the plan. He stuck to ], including the statement that territories cannot be acquired by force.<ref name=Pedatzur/> While Israel would remain military control over all of the West Bank and annex about one-third of the territory, Jordan would get political control over the remaining two-thirds. Eventually King Hussein broke off the talks.<ref name=FRUS_summary>, par. ''The Search for Other Peace Prospects''. Accessed May 2014</ref><ref name=FRUS_353>, par. 3.C and note 5 to par. 3.E; FRUS 1964–1968 Volume XX, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1967–68. Accessed May 2014</ref> Israel wanted to keep Gaza, but did not rule out discussions on its future. The return of East Jerusalem was not open for discussion.<ref name=FRUS_373>, par. 7-8; FRUS 1964–1968 Volume XX, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1967–68. Accessed May 2014</ref> | ||
| == See also == | == See also == | ||
Revision as of 15:43, 20 May 2014
The Allon Plan (Template:Lang-he) was a plan to partition the West Bank between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, create a Druze state in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and return most of the Sinai Peninsula to Arab control. The plan was drafted by Israeli Minister Yigal Allon shortly after the Six-Day War in June 1967.
The broad aim of the plan was to annex most of the Jordan Valley from the river to the eastern slopes of the West Bank hill ridge, East Jerusalem, and the Etzion bloc, to Israel. At the same time, the heavily populated areas of the West Bank hill country, together with a corridor that included Jericho, would be offered to Jordan. The Jordanian King Hussein rejected the plan.
Allon died in 1980, and the following year the Israeli government passed the Golan Heights Law, effectively annexing most of the governorate.
The plan had many similarities with the Elon Peace Plan ("the Jordan option").
The plan
The Allon Plan was based on the doctrine that Israeli sovereignty over a large part of the Israeli-occupied territories was necessary for Israel's defense. On the other hand, Allon wanted to return populated territories, as well as most of the Sinai Peninsula, to Arab control, in order to progress towards a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The plan was designed to include as few Arabs as possible in the areas claimed for Israel. Israeli leaders ruled out the possibility of incorporating the West Bank Palestinian population into a greater Israel because it would have dramatically changed the states Jewish demographic orientation.
Yigal Allon presented the plan when he served as Minister of Immigrant Absorption and Vice Prime Minister under Labor Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. According to the Allon Plan, Israel would annex most of the Jordan Valley, from the river to the eastern slopes of the West Bank hill ridge, East Jerusalem, and the Etzion bloc. At the same time, the heavily populated areas of the West Bank hill country, together with a corridor that included Jericho, would be offered to Jordan.
The plan also included the creation of a Druze state in Syria's Quneitra Governorate, including the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Jordanian versus Palestinian option
After the Six-Day War, Israeli leaders considered two possibilities to end the occupation: either the "Jordanian option", holding the transfer of control for most of the territory of the West Bank to the Jordanian monarch, or alternatively the "Palestinian option", under which the Palestinians would get autonomy or an independent state.
The majority of the Government, including Yigal Allon, favored the Palestinian option. In June 1967, according to Haaretz' Reuven Pedatzur, Allon warned against the Jordanian option and declared that "The last thing we must do is to return one inch of the West Bank ". He claimed that the only logical solution that could be an answer to Israel's security needs in the eastern sector was the establishment of a Palestinian state. He said, "I am taking the maximum possibility. Not a canton, not an autonomous region, but an independent Arab state agreed on between us and them in an enclave surrounded by Israeli territory - independent even in its foreign policy." In July 1967, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol stated that there was no choice in order to ensure Israel's security needs but to continue to control the entire area as far as the Jordan River, militarily. But in order to avoid turning Israel into a bi-national state, the Arab citizens of the West Bank should be granted a special status. A quasi-independent autonomous region was the first option.
Presentation of the plan
On 27 July 1967, Allon presented the first version of his plan based on the Palestinian option, which included Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank. The autonomous region consisted of two large enclaves, separated by the Greater Jerusalem area, from Israel in the west to the Jordan Valley in the east. A vast majority of the ministers rejected the plan when it was brought before the plenary session of the government on 30 July.
At the beginning of 1968, Allon abandoned the Palestinian option and instead adopted the Jordanian option. He adapted the Allon Plan by adding a corridor between the West Bank and Jordan through the Jericho area, proposing that the Jordan Valley remain in Israeli hands along with Gush Etzion, part of the Hebron foothills and East Jerusalem. All the remainder would be handed over to King Hussein. Most of the members of the Government then backed the Allon Plan as the basis of the policy.
Diplomatic efforts
From February to September 1968, Eshkol held secret talks with Palestinian leaders in the Occupied Territories without result. Parallel to the talks, secret conversations with Jordan started in London in May 1968, ending in November that year. Although the Allon Plan was never officially endorsed by the successive Israeli Cabinets, the peace plan Israel offered to King Hussein in September 1968 was based on it. The conditions included demilitarization of the West Bank, deployment of Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley, and Israeli annexation of a 10 to 15 kilometers-wide strip of land along the Jordan River (the border with Jordan), most of the Judean desert along the Dead Sea, and East Jerusalem. The arrangements were to be valid for generations to come. Hussein, however, rejected the plan. He stuck to UN Resolution 242, including the statement that territories cannot be acquired by force. While Israel would remain military control over all of the West Bank and annex about one-third of the territory, Jordan would get political control over the remaining two-thirds. Eventually King Hussein broke off the talks. Israel wanted to keep Gaza, but did not rule out discussions on its future. The return of East Jerusalem was not open for discussion.
See also
References
- ^ Yigal Allon (Peikowitz) (1918 – 1980). Knesset website. Accessed May 2014
- ^ What was the 1967 Allon Plan. ProCon. Accessed May 2014
- Ian S. Lustick, For the land and the Lord: Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, chapter 3, par. Early Activities of Gush Emunim. 1988, the Council on Foreign Relations
- Akiva Eldar, A matter of a few dozen meters. Haaretz, 1 June 2008
- ^ Reuven Pedatzur, The 'Jordanian option,' the plan that refuses to die. Haaretz, 25 July 2007
- ^ Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XX, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1967–68, par. The Search for Other Peace Prospects. Accessed May 2014
- ^ 353. Telegram From the Embassy in Jordan to the Department of State, par. 3.C and note 5 to par. 3.E; FRUS 1964–1968 Volume XX, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1967–68. Accessed May 2014
- 373. Telegram From the Embassy in Jordan to the Department of State, par. 7-8; FRUS 1964–1968 Volume XX, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1967–68. Accessed May 2014
Further reading
- Bregman, Ahron (2002). Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947. London: Routledge.