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Dr. Aaron Lerner is co-founder of , Independent Media Review and Analysis, an Israel-based news organization which provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events relating to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
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By Dr. Aaron Lerner
April 28, 2006
Before the retreat from the Gaza Strip Ehud Olmert was proudly clueless as to who or what would fill the void.
But today, in the aftermath of the rise of Hamas to power, the simplistic "RFTH" (run for the hills) approach is wearing thin.
In fact, some of the people in Prime Minister Olmert's party think that the new withdrawal plan from most of the West Bank would actually leave the IDF in place and only bulldoze the Jewish communities on the wrong side of the separation fence.
Some now are suggesting that the void created by an Israeli retreat be filled by Jordan.
After all, what could be easier for Israel to do than to dump the problem of the security control of the West Bank on "moderate" Jordan?
But is it really such a simple and robust solution?
Bringing Jordan back into the West Bank means having a sovereign entity stretching from the border of Iraq to the backyard of Kfar Sava.
And given the virtual impossibility to predict the future viability and/or orientation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, putting the West Bank under Jordanian sovereignty ultimately means that Allah-knows-what-regime would have the sovereign right to move divisions of tanks, position heavy artillery pieces, mobile anti-aircraft equipment etc. within earshot of my home in Raanana and all of this without Israel being able to do much more than go on alert.
As options go, the "Jordan option" isn't much different from "surrender and appeasement."
RFTH just means setting the stage for further retreats and a debilitating ongoing war of attrition.
The "Jordan option" - if Jordan agreed - would mean a temporary respite with a very real chance of ultimately facing an even more dangerous situation.
If it were only so simple.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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