The realignment plan ( he, תוכנית ההתכנסות) (originally dubbed the convergence plan) was a plan by
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
to unilaterally disengage from 90% of the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
and annex the rest, incorporating most
Israeli settlements into Israel. The plan was formulated and introduced to the Israeli public by then acting
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
,
Ehud Olmert in a number of media interviews during the election campaign for the 17th
Knesset
The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...
in March 2006.
[''Convergence Plan'']
Reut Institute, 5 December 2006 The Convergence Plan was originally scheduled to be implemented within 18 months from early May 2006, but in November 2007, Olmert said that he hoped to implement it within three to four years.
[
]
Outlines of the plan
The outlines of the plan comprised:[
* Assuring a Jewish majority in the ]Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The ...
under Israeli control
* A permanent border along the West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier, comprising the West Bank Wall and the West Bank fence, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. It is a contentious element of the Israeli–Palestinian ...
* Territorial contiguity for a possible Palestinian state
* Permanent Israeli sovereignty or control over the three large and expanded settlement blocs, including the E1 area near Jerusalem.
* Definitive Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem
* Israeli control over the border zone at the Jordan River
According to the plan, Israeli settlements in 90% of the West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
would be evacuated and dismantled. The area of evacuation would largely correspond to the area east of the route of the West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier, comprising the West Bank Wall and the West Bank fence, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. It is a contentious element of the Israeli–Palestinian ...
that was begun under Olmert's predecessor, Ariel Sharon, or a similar route with national consent and international legitimization.
The large Israeli settlement blocs near the Green Line would be annexed to Israel, and the approximately 40,000 residents of the evacuated settlements would be resettled there. During the campaign for the March 2006 election, Sharon was still officially prime minister, but unable to carry out his duties, to communicate or to run in the election due to the major stroke that he suffered on 4 January 2006. Olmert, who became acting prime minister and Kadima
Kadima ( he, קדימה, lit=''Forward'') was a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely following the implementation of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement pl ...
party leader after Sharon's stroke, stated that in pursuing a realignment of settlements, he was operating in Sharon's spirit, and that if Sharon had been able to continue carrying out his duties, he would have acted in a similar way.
Suspension of the plan
After the 2006 Lebanon War, Olmert announced to his cabinet that the plan to dismantle some Jewish settlements in the West Bank and unilaterally redraw Israel's borders would not be implemented for the time being. The plan was not revived prior to Olmert's departure from office on 31 March 2009 and the subsequent Likud
Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sha ...
-led coalition governments have not pursued similar policies. Olmert's successors Tzipi Livni
Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni ( he, ציפי (ציפורה) מלכה לבני, ; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli politician, diplomat, and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former for ...
and Shaul Mofaz
Shaul Mofaz ( he, שאול מופז; 4 November 1948) is a retired Israeli military officer and politician. He joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1966 and served in the Paratroopers Brigade. He fought in the Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, 1982 Le ...
are also opposed to the proposals.
2007 revised plan
In July 2007, then Israeli deputy prime minister Haim Ramon
Haim Ramon ( he, חיים רמון, born 10 April 1950) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1983 and 2009, and as both Vice Prime Minister and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office with responsibility for st ...
proposed a smaller-scale realignment plan, in which Israel would disengage from 70% of the West Bank, and evacuate settlements in the area of withdrawal, mainly isolated communities.
English renaming
Although the Hebrew name of the plan did not change, the English name rapidly changed from "convergence" to "consolidation" and finally to "realignment", according to the ''Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
''. and the "language maven" William Safire
William Lewis Safire (; Safir; December 17, 1929 – September 27, 2009Safire, William (1986). ''Take My Word for It: More on Language.'' Times Books. . p. 185.) was an American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He w ...
.
New Historian Ilan Pappé
Ilan Pappé ( he, אילן פפה, ; born 1954) is an expatriate Israeli historian and socialist activist. He is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, direc ...
noted that "hitkansut" (the Hebrew word used for the plan) most aptly translates as "ingathering". Pappé said that the plan was designed to address the "demographic threat The concept of demographic threat (or demographic bomb) is a term used in political conversation or demography to refer to population increases from within a minority ethnic or religious group in a given country that is perceived as threatening to t ...
" posed by Palestinian population growth to the maintenance of a "Jewish state", by leaving several populous Palestinian areas outside direct Israeli control.
Opinions
In two polls of Israeli opinion on the plan conducted on behalf of the Yisrael Beiteinu
Yisrael Beiteinu ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵל בֵּיתֵנוּ, russian: Наш Дом Израиль, lit. ''Israel Our Home'') is a secularist, nationalist right-wing political party in Israel. The party's base was originally secular Russia ...
political party, some 70% of respondents said that they were opposed to the plan. The polls also revealed that some 65-70% of those who backed Israel's disengagement from Gaza in 2005 opposed the plan.
The European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
opposed the plan, stating that it would not recognize any unilateral border changes that were not agreed upon in negotiations, although the EU External Relations Commissioner said that it was a "courageous idea". Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas opposed the plan, and called on all Arab states to oppose it, stating that "we are working to get Olmert's plan off the table". Jordanian king Abdullah II
Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein ( ar, عبدالله الثاني بن الحسين , translit=ʿAbd Allāh aṯ-ṯānī ibn al-Ḥusayn; born 30 January 1962) is King of Jordan, having ascended the throne on 7 February 1999. He is a member of t ...
and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in ...
released a joint statement expressing opposition to "unilateral Israeli steps" and that "every step should be carried out through direct negotiations with the Palestinian side and in accordance with the Road Map
A road map, route map, or street map is a map that primarily displays roads and transport links rather than natural geographical information. It is a type of navigational map that commonly includes political boundaries and labels, making it a ...
, which leads to a sustainable Palestinian state alongside Israel", following a meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm El Sheikh ( ar, شرم الشيخ, ), commonly abbreviated to Sharm, is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. Its population is approximately 53,670 ...
.
See also
*Israeli disengagement from Gaza
The Israeli disengagement from Gaza ( he, תוכנית ההתנתקות, ') was the unilateral dismantling in 2005 of the 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of Israeli settlers and army from inside the Gaza Strip.
T ...
* Annapolis Conference
* Palestinian Prisoners' Document The Prisoners' Document, officially the National Conciliation Document was written in May 2006 by Palestinian prisoners, who were being held in an Israeli jail. The five prisoners who took part in writing the Document were respectively affiliated w ...
* Homesh First
Homesh First is a grassroots organization attempting to rebuild and resettle the Jewish community and Israeli settlement of Homesh in Samaria.
* Yossi Dagan
Yossi Dagan ( he, יוסי דגן) is an Israeli activist and politician who has been the head of the Shomron Regional Council since August 2015.
Dagan grew up in the Israeli towns of Bnei Brak and Pardes Katz. When he was in the tenth grade, ...
References
{{reflist
External links
''Map of the Convergence Plan, April 2006''
IMEU/Stop the Wall
Israeli–Palestinian peace process
Politics of Israel