The Unusual Wish List of a Jewish Leader in the West Bank
Unlike some other ultra-nationalists, Beni Katzover thinks Arabs shouldn’t be forced out of the West Bank, and should have self-governing autonomy.
Beni Katzover has an unusual view about Jews living in Judea and Samaria, which is what a lot of Israelis call the West Bank.
He wants that to be thought of as unremarkable, like Jews living in West Jerusalem—as barely worthy of notice.
In fact, he says, West Jerusalem wasn’t the predominantly Jewish area it is now until after Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.
And he says he thinks that the future can have Arabs living in Judea and Samaria.
While some ultra-nationalists would like to see them gone, Katzover thinks they can have self-governing status, much like they have now under the Palestinian Authority.
However, he doesn’t want a separate Palestinian state. And he’s worked his whole life to get enough Jews to move there to make that separate state less and less likely.
What happens in the West Bank matters. Palestinians and their international supporters tend to call “the occupied West Bank,” while Israelis refer to it as “the disputed West Bank.”
On Sept. 18, the United Nations General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution demanding Israel leave all lands the U.N. thinks are Palestinian—primarily the West Bank—within 12 months.
