Lieberman Plan
Encyclopedia
The Lieberman Plan, also known in Israel
as the "Populated-Area Exchange Plan", was proposed in May 2004 by Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the Israeli political party Yisrael Beiteinu. The plan suggests an exchange of populated territories - territories populated by both Arabs and Jews
- between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Lieberman maintains that everywhere in the world where there are two peoples with two religions a conflict exists and notes that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
, the situation is worse as there is not only a religious conflict but also a nationalistic one. Therefore, the proposition is based on 'reduction of conflict' and maintains that the two peoples could live together but it would make no sense to live one inside the other. On top of this, Lieberman maintains that it makes no sense to create a Palestinian state that has no Jewish people while Israel is turned into a dual-population state with more than 20% of minorities.
In general, Arab Israelis are opposed to the plan and many believe it is racist. The Israeli left opposes the plan. Legal experts have cast doubt on the legality of such a move under Israeli and international law
.
s in the West Bank
which are situated in major settlement blocs close to the border, and withdraw from the remaining few deep inside the Palestinian territories. At the same time, it would transfer Arab-Israeli areas to the Palestinian state. While there are three major Arab regions in Israel, all contiguous with the West Bank (southern and central Galilee
, the central region known as "the Triangle
", and the Bedouin
region in the northern part of the Negev
desert), the Lieberman Plan only advocates ceding the Triangle. All Arab residents of the Triangle would lose their Israeli citizenship. The Druze
community, who's leaders are mainly pro-Israel, would remain part of Israel. All remaining citizens, whether Jews or Arabs would have to pledge an oath of allegiance to the state in order to keep their Israeli citizenship.
The plan would reduce both the Arab population of Israel and the Jewish population of the West Bank, creating more ethnically homogeneous states without anyone moving. Various estimates as to the number of Arab-Israeli’s affected by the plan vary from a high of 90% of current Arab Israelis in Lieberman’s own estimate to as little as 11.8% of Arab citizens being affected (2.3% of Israel’s population overall) according to a study by the Floersheimer Institute for Policy Studies.
, since the plan does not call for any forcible removal of anyone from their home. The plan, instead, simply redraws the border between Palestinian and Israeli communities to make them more homogeneous (i.e., nearby Arab communities are redrawn to be included in the Palestinian Territory, while nearby Jewish territories are redrawn to be included in Israel).
In an open Q&A with Haaretz
, Lieberman noted that it is of great importance to have a partner in the Arab side and stated that he communicated his plan to the Palestinians and the Arab states prior to making it public in Israel. Lieberman stated his belief that the Arab world understands that his plan would be in the benefit of the region and cited that there were no denunciations from either the Palestinians or the Arab world to this plan.
in the "Triangle" and head of Abnaa el-Balad
, was interviewed in the Arab-language weekly Kul Al-Arab
. Aghbariya said he is "prepared to give up the National Insurance allowance and Israeli democracy to be united with the land and people of Palestine." However this view is not shared by most residents of Um Al-Fahm.
In a survey from July 2000 conducted by Kul Al-Arab among 1,000 residents of Um Al-Fahm, 83% of respondents opposed the idea of transferring their city to Palestinian jurisdiction, while 11% supported the proposal and 6% did not express their position.
54% said that they were opposed because they wanted to continue living under a democratic regime and enjoying a good standard of living. This included 18% who said that they were satisfied with their present situation, and that they were born in Israel and that they were not interested in moving to any other state, 14% who said that they were not prepared to make sacrifices for the creation of a Palestinian state, and 11% who gave no reason.
northern branch, Sheikh Kamel Khatib, said of the Lieberman plan that the only acceptable population exchange for him would be for the Russian-born Lieberman to: "return to his country while refugees in Syria and Lebanon return to their homeland."
The Plan conforms with generalized support both inside and outside of Israel for a two-state solution
. Supporters within Israel seek a state that is both democratic and Jewish, the Lieberman Plan would achieve this goal. For those that believe that the ideal solution to the Israel-Arab conflict would be greater separation between Jews and Arabs, this plan would certainly achieve such a goal. The Plan also minimizes the population of the minority in each state, which can be viewed (in the case of either minority) as “untrustworthy, unwanted, destabilizing, disruptive or simply different”. Demographically the plan creates two States which are more ethnically homogeneous, and likely would achieve the political goals of both the Palestinian and Israeli leadership. In sum, according to Waters: “It is entirely plausible that the Plan could contribute to peace, if peace could be achieved through a greater separation of Jews and Palestinians. That is, after all, the assumption underlying all two-state solutions.”
However, most assumptions about feasibility, including Waters', assume that the Plan would result from a multi-lateral agreement. At the present, there does not seem to be support for it from a willing Palestinian partner, thus decreasing the likelihood that it would be successful in achieving peace.
- as if Israel was seceding from its present borders to smaller borders where the Jews have a larger majority.
and Israeli law
. The Israeli precedent was exemplified in 1979 when Israel agreed to transfer the Sinai Desert in exchange for peace with Egypt
. The issue that arises with this plan is the transfer of populated territories and the revocation of citizenship for those in the transferred areas. Even this, in principle, seems to be legal under international law.
Timothy Waters writes that the Plan, contrary to many arguments, is not an example of ethnic cleansing
nor apartheid since it doesn't move any Arab from their land. He writes that states have the right to transfer (or withdraw from) territory, even against the wishes of the population, so long as other rights of the Arab population are not violated. He writes that Israel has the right (under international law
) to revoke the citizenship of its Arab population, so long as the Arabs are not left stateless, because it is redrawing its borders. The Lieberman Plan doesn't advocates the affected Arab Israelis to become citizens of Palestine, not stateless, and hence doesn't violate 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness
. Waters also argues that while a state cannot strip an entire ethnic group of their citizenship, it may practice some forms of ethnic discrimination "because ethnicity plays an accepted role in constructing citizenship". He points to the expulsion of black Senegalese from Mauritania, the stripping of northern Muslims of their citizenship by Ivory Coast and the denationalization of Germans from Czechoslovakia
(whose legality, he says, was later upheld in courts). Waters also argues that while the transfer of Israeli Arabs to a Palestinian state would harm their interests (e.g. reduction in standard of life) it doesn't violate any of their human rights.
While there are international precedents for the idea of populated land exchange, and international law seems to be favorable, there is no such precedent under Israeli law. Scholars tend to agree that the plan is, at best, questionable under Israeli law. Currently, there is no Israeli law which would deal with this issue. In order for it to be implemented, the Knesset would have to enact legislation, and the High Court of Justice would rule on its legality. It is unlikely that either International or Israeli law would allow revocation of citizenship without a bilateral agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
or Gaza
if a Palestinian state is created there.
Several Israeli left-wing commentators have argued against the plan as well. Jewish critics sympathetic to the idea of exchanging populated territories have argued that it would be preferable to do this as part of a comprehensive peace agreement. They point out that while Arabs under the plan would still be allowed to retain Israeli citizenship if they take an oath of allegiance, no reciprocal possibility exists.
Akiva Eldar
of Haaretz has said that the plan undermines the moral high ground of Israel. Ha'aretz has argued that the plan "is nothing but polite packaging that does not succeed in concealing its real aspiration: delegitimizing all the Arab citizens of Israel."
Daniel Gordis
wrote that the plan would send a message to the remaining Arab citizens that Israel doesn't really want them, and could permanently damage Jewish-Arab relations in Israel.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
as the "Populated-Area Exchange Plan", was proposed in May 2004 by Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the Israeli political party Yisrael Beiteinu. The plan suggests an exchange of populated territories - territories populated by both Arabs and Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
- between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Lieberman maintains that everywhere in the world where there are two peoples with two religions a conflict exists and notes that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
, the situation is worse as there is not only a religious conflict but also a nationalistic one. Therefore, the proposition is based on 'reduction of conflict' and maintains that the two peoples could live together but it would make no sense to live one inside the other. On top of this, Lieberman maintains that it makes no sense to create a Palestinian state that has no Jewish people while Israel is turned into a dual-population state with more than 20% of minorities.
In general, Arab Israelis are opposed to the plan and many believe it is racist. The Israeli left opposes the plan. Legal experts have cast doubt on the legality of such a move under Israeli and international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
.
The plan
The Lieberman Plan suggests a territorial exchange whereby Israel would annex almost all Israeli settlementIsraeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
s in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
which are situated in major settlement blocs close to the border, and withdraw from the remaining few deep inside the Palestinian territories. At the same time, it would transfer Arab-Israeli areas to the Palestinian state. While there are three major Arab regions in Israel, all contiguous with the West Bank (southern and central Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
, the central region known as "the Triangle
Triangle (Israel)
The Triangle , formerly referred to as the Little Triangle, is a concentration of Israeli Arab towns and villages adjacent to the Green Line, located in the eastern Sharon plain among the Samarian foothills; this area is located within the easternmost boundaries of both the Center District and...
", and the Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
region in the northern part of the Negev
Negev
The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...
desert), the Lieberman Plan only advocates ceding the Triangle. All Arab residents of the Triangle would lose their Israeli citizenship. The Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
community, who's leaders are mainly pro-Israel, would remain part of Israel. All remaining citizens, whether Jews or Arabs would have to pledge an oath of allegiance to the state in order to keep their Israeli citizenship.
The plan would reduce both the Arab population of Israel and the Jewish population of the West Bank, creating more ethnically homogeneous states without anyone moving. Various estimates as to the number of Arab-Israeli’s affected by the plan vary from a high of 90% of current Arab Israelis in Lieberman’s own estimate to as little as 11.8% of Arab citizens being affected (2.3% of Israel’s population overall) according to a study by the Floersheimer Institute for Policy Studies.
Lieberman's argument for the plan
Lieberman's main argument for the plan is that it is not (as he claims) a population transferPopulation transfer
Population transfer is the movement of a large group of people from one region to another by state policy or international authority, most frequently on the basis of ethnicity or religion...
, since the plan does not call for any forcible removal of anyone from their home. The plan, instead, simply redraws the border between Palestinian and Israeli communities to make them more homogeneous (i.e., nearby Arab communities are redrawn to be included in the Palestinian Territory, while nearby Jewish territories are redrawn to be included in Israel).
In an open Q&A with Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
, Lieberman noted that it is of great importance to have a partner in the Arab side and stated that he communicated his plan to the Palestinians and the Arab states prior to making it public in Israel. Lieberman stated his belief that the Arab world understands that his plan would be in the benefit of the region and cited that there were no denunciations from either the Palestinians or the Arab world to this plan.
Poll of Um Al-Fahm Residents
In July 2000, Raja Aghbariya, a resident of Umm Al-FahmUmm al-Fahm
Umm al-Fahm is a city in the Haifa District of Israel with a population of 43,300, nearly all of whom are Arab citizens of Israel. The city is situated on the Umm al-Fahm mountain ridge, the highest point of which is Mt. Iskander , overlooking Wadi Ara...
in the "Triangle" and head of Abnaa el-Balad
Abnaa el-Balad
Abnaa el-Balad is a secular movement made up of Palestinians, most of whom are Arab citizens of Israel. The stated goals of the movement are: the return of all Palestinian refugees, an end to Israeli's occupation of territories and the establishment of a democratic, secular Palestinian state.While...
, was interviewed in the Arab-language weekly Kul Al-Arab
Kul al-Arab
Kul al-Arab is an Israeli Arabic-language weekly newspaper, founded in 1987. Based in Nazareth, the paper is Israel's most influential and widely-read Arabic-language periodical. It is also distributed in the West Bank. Kul al-Arab has 70 employees and a circulation of 38,000...
. Aghbariya said he is "prepared to give up the National Insurance allowance and Israeli democracy to be united with the land and people of Palestine." However this view is not shared by most residents of Um Al-Fahm.
In a survey from July 2000 conducted by Kul Al-Arab among 1,000 residents of Um Al-Fahm, 83% of respondents opposed the idea of transferring their city to Palestinian jurisdiction, while 11% supported the proposal and 6% did not express their position.
54% said that they were opposed because they wanted to continue living under a democratic regime and enjoying a good standard of living. This included 18% who said that they were satisfied with their present situation, and that they were born in Israel and that they were not interested in moving to any other state, 14% who said that they were not prepared to make sacrifices for the creation of a Palestinian state, and 11% who gave no reason.
Views of the Islamic Movement
The deputy leader of the Islamic MovementsIslamic Movement in Israel
The Islamic Movement in Israel is a movement that aims to advocate Islam among Israeli Arabs. It operates on three levels: religious , social and anti-Zionist...
northern branch, Sheikh Kamel Khatib, said of the Lieberman plan that the only acceptable population exchange for him would be for the Russian-born Lieberman to: "return to his country while refugees in Syria and Lebanon return to their homeland."
Feasibility
According to Waters, "objections about feasibility ... are really not based on a belief that transfer is impossible, but a conviction that it is undesirable."The Plan conforms with generalized support both inside and outside of Israel for a two-state solution
Two-state solution
The two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the consensus solution that is currently under discussion by the key parties to the conflict, most recently at the Annapolis Conference in November 2007...
. Supporters within Israel seek a state that is both democratic and Jewish, the Lieberman Plan would achieve this goal. For those that believe that the ideal solution to the Israel-Arab conflict would be greater separation between Jews and Arabs, this plan would certainly achieve such a goal. The Plan also minimizes the population of the minority in each state, which can be viewed (in the case of either minority) as “untrustworthy, unwanted, destabilizing, disruptive or simply different”. Demographically the plan creates two States which are more ethnically homogeneous, and likely would achieve the political goals of both the Palestinian and Israeli leadership. In sum, according to Waters: “It is entirely plausible that the Plan could contribute to peace, if peace could be achieved through a greater separation of Jews and Palestinians. That is, after all, the assumption underlying all two-state solutions.”
However, most assumptions about feasibility, including Waters', assume that the Plan would result from a multi-lateral agreement. At the present, there does not seem to be support for it from a willing Palestinian partner, thus decreasing the likelihood that it would be successful in achieving peace.
Legality
Several issues of legality arise under the Lieberman Plan: the transfer of territory, revoking the citizenship of a people (i.e the Arabs) - either through transfer of territory or a loyalty oath, and the gaining of new territory (settlement blocs in the West Bank). Timothy Waters writes that the plan can be creatively imagined as a secessionSecession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
- as if Israel was seceding from its present borders to smaller borders where the Jews have a larger majority.
Transfer of territory
Generally speaking, land transfer, as opposed to population transfer, is legal under both InternationalInternational law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
and Israeli law
Israeli law
Israeli law is a mixed legal system reflecting the diverse history of the territory of the State of Israel throughout the last hundred years , as well as the legal systems of its major religious communities...
. The Israeli precedent was exemplified in 1979 when Israel agreed to transfer the Sinai Desert in exchange for peace with Egypt
Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty
The 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. on the 26th of March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords, which were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and were witnessed by United States President Jimmy Carter.The peace...
. The issue that arises with this plan is the transfer of populated territories and the revocation of citizenship for those in the transferred areas. Even this, in principle, seems to be legal under international law.
Revocation of citizenship through transfer of territory
A number of legal experts questioned by the Jerusalem Post in 2006 argued that stripping Israeli Arabs of citizenship as part of a population and territorial swap with the Palestinian Authority would "run counter to Israeli and international law". They stated that Israel could decide that the "Triangle", which is populated mostly by Israeli Arabs, is no longer part of Israel but that she could not revoke the citizenship of the people living there. However, others questioned in the same report, including parliamentary and constitutional law teacher, Suzie Navot, argued that the legality of the plan was unclear, and would likely need a ruling from the High Court of Justice to determine its legality. Yisrael Beiteinus legal adviser Yoav Many believes the plan is legal and "would be accepted not just in Israel but also within the international community."Timothy Waters writes that the Plan, contrary to many arguments, is not an example of ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
nor apartheid since it doesn't move any Arab from their land. He writes that states have the right to transfer (or withdraw from) territory, even against the wishes of the population, so long as other rights of the Arab population are not violated. He writes that Israel has the right (under international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
) to revoke the citizenship of its Arab population, so long as the Arabs are not left stateless, because it is redrawing its borders. The Lieberman Plan doesn't advocates the affected Arab Israelis to become citizens of Palestine, not stateless, and hence doesn't violate 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness
1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness
The Convention was originally intended as a Protocol to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, while the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons was adopted to cover stateless persons who are not refugees and therefore not within the scope of the Convention Relating...
. Waters also argues that while a state cannot strip an entire ethnic group of their citizenship, it may practice some forms of ethnic discrimination "because ethnicity plays an accepted role in constructing citizenship". He points to the expulsion of black Senegalese from Mauritania, the stripping of northern Muslims of their citizenship by Ivory Coast and the denationalization of Germans from Czechoslovakia
Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia
The expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia after World War II was part of a series of evacuations and expulsions of Germans from Central and Eastern Europe during and after World War II....
(whose legality, he says, was later upheld in courts). Waters also argues that while the transfer of Israeli Arabs to a Palestinian state would harm their interests (e.g. reduction in standard of life) it doesn't violate any of their human rights.
While there are international precedents for the idea of populated land exchange, and international law seems to be favorable, there is no such precedent under Israeli law. Scholars tend to agree that the plan is, at best, questionable under Israeli law. Currently, there is no Israeli law which would deal with this issue. In order for it to be implemented, the Knesset would have to enact legislation, and the High Court of Justice would rule on its legality. It is unlikely that either International or Israeli law would allow revocation of citizenship without a bilateral agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
Revocation of citizenship through a citizenship oath
Individuals who would prefer to remain in Israel instead of becoming citizens of a Palestinian state would be able to move to Israel. All citizens of Israel would be required to swear a loyalty oath to retain citizenship. Those who refuse could remain in Israel as permanent residents. The loyalty oath would apply to all citizens regardless of ethnicity. According to Timothy Waters “the loyalty oath almost certainly violates international law.” The rationale behind this is that international law sees citizenship as an automatic right. Furthermore, those who refused to take the oath would be stateless, unlike those transferred under the population exchange part of the plan.Annexation of West Bank settlements
Timothy Waters writes that while Israel does have the right to unilaterally withdraw its borders from Arab territory, it cannot unilaterally take territory in the West Bank (in particular the Israeli settlements there). While it would be legitimate for a sovereign Palestine to transfer territory to Israeli control, Palestine would be under no obligation to do so. Waters bases this on the argument that the West Bank and East Jerusalem constitute occupied territory.Moral Arguments against the Plan
Most criticisms of the plan focus on the undesirability of separation as opposed to its infeasibility. Arab citizens of Israel have criticized the plan for being racist and are, in general, opposed to it. While the plan would not require them to leave their homes, Arabs in Israel argue that they are native to the region and insist that as Israeli citizens, they deserve equal rights within the state, and should not be singled out by ethnic or religious background. Various polls show that Arabs in Israel in general do not wish to move to the West BankWest Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
or Gaza
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
if a Palestinian state is created there.
Several Israeli left-wing commentators have argued against the plan as well. Jewish critics sympathetic to the idea of exchanging populated territories have argued that it would be preferable to do this as part of a comprehensive peace agreement. They point out that while Arabs under the plan would still be allowed to retain Israeli citizenship if they take an oath of allegiance, no reciprocal possibility exists.
Akiva Eldar
Akiva Eldar
Akiva Eldar is an Israeli journalist and author, currently a chief political columnist and editorial writer for the liberal Israeli national daily Ha'aretz. His columns also appear regularly in the Ha'aretz-International Herald Tribune edition, as well as in the Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun...
of Haaretz has said that the plan undermines the moral high ground of Israel. Ha'aretz has argued that the plan "is nothing but polite packaging that does not succeed in concealing its real aspiration: delegitimizing all the Arab citizens of Israel."
Daniel Gordis
Daniel Gordis
Daniel Gordis is President of the Shalem Foundation and Senior Vice President and Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center in Israel. Gordis was the founding dean of the Ziegler Rabbinical School, the first rabbinical college on the West Coast of the United States.-Biography:Daniel Gordis was born on...
wrote that the plan would send a message to the remaining Arab citizens that Israel doesn't really want them, and could permanently damage Jewish-Arab relations in Israel.