Separating from the neighborhoods of east Jerusalem? Absolutely.

The question is how. At the end of the day, the State of Israel must separate itself from most, not all, of the Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem.

The ongoing violence shows this is necessary. The reality of the city demonstrates this is necessary. There is no reason for Shuafat refugee camp or its 35,000 inhabitants to be part of Israel’s capital. There is no longterm logic in Arab a-Sawahra or Umm Lissun being part of the Jerusalem Municipality. I wrote this in my diplomatic plan already in July 2015, long before the terrorist attacks began. The Labor Party’s diplomatic-security plan of February 2016 says the same thing on that issue. However, the path one takes is sometimes as important as the destination.

We must remind ourselves of this truism especially when leaders rush to act, repeat past mistakes and endanger us all. We should not duplicate the mistakes of the unilateral disengagement from Gaza. The IDF’s withdrawal left a vacuum over which Hamas assumed control. The Likud government of Ariel Sharon chose to implement this step without a Palestinian counterpart. It did so even though a Palestinian party which could demonstrate such an achievement to its public would likely have grown considerably stronger in Palestinian public opinion, and could probably have become a potential Israeli partner and perhaps would have even cooperated with Israel on steps that would address Israeli needs.

Read the full article at the Jerusalem Post.