"permanent" borders. But, of course, the "separation fence" will be the final border.
The terror will not stop completely, but the Palestinian enclaves will be at our mercy and we shall be able to cut each of them off at any time, prevent movement from one to another and make life in them intolerable. It will not be worthwhile for them to conduct violent acts.
Officially, the Palestinians will have free access to the border crossings to Egypt and Jordan, but in practice we shall maintain an effective military presence, enabling us to stop movement there at any time.
At first the world will scream, but faced with a fait accompli they will quieten down. Even if Bush remains in the White House, he will be paralyzed until after the elections at the end of 2004. If a Democrat is elected president, he will need some months to settle down. By then everything will be finished, and we shall be able to generously agree to some minor adjustments.
This is the Plan. Can it be realized?
It is quite possible that Sharon will convince Israeli public opinion. The great majority of the public is united around two points: (a) the longing for peace and security, and (b) the distrust of Arabs and the unwillingness to deal with them. (Some weeks ago, a satirical supplement published a slogan: "YES to peace, NO to Palestinians.")
Sharon's plan promises both. It promises peace and security, and it is entirely "unilateral." No negotiations with Palestinians are required; it does not depend on the will of the Arabs, who can be ignored entirely.
In this respect, Sharon's plan has a great advantage over the Geneva Initiative (Accord), which is entirely based on the assumption that "there is a partner" and that we must negotiate with the Palestinians and make peace with them. Long years of brainwashing, led by Ehud Barak and most of the other leaders of the "Zionist left," have convinced the Israeli public that there is no partner, that the Arabs are cheating, that Arafat has broken every single agreement he has signed, and so on. The Sharon plan conforms to all these myths, while the Geneva Initiative clashes with them.
But beneath the road to the implementation of the Sharon Plan there lie two big landmines: the settlers and the Palestinians.
The inhabitants of the settlements that are supposed to be "relocated" include some of the most extreme elements of the settlement movement. There is no chance that these will go away peacefully. They will have to be removed by force.
That will require a huge military effort. While many moderate settlers will remove themselves voluntarily if given fat compensation,