Citizens Proposal for a Border between Israel and Palestine
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  • About
  • General Issues
    • Access
    • Culture and Identity
    • Land Transfer
    • Right of Return
    • Gaza
    • Security
    • Jerusalem
    • Other Areas of Joint Administration
    • Jewish Settlers: Those Who Return and Those Who Remain within Palestine
    • Arab Communities within Israel
    • Legal Protections, Human Rights and the International Community
  • Maps
    • Overview Map
    • Northern West Bank
    • North Jerusalem
    • Jerusalem -- Eastern Areas of Focus
    • Ma’ale Adumim, E-1 and Access
    • South Jerusalem
    • Southern West Bank
    • Gaza and its Future Development
    • Conclusion
  • Position Statements
    • 2011 >
      • Har Homa C
      • Giv’at Hamatos
      • The Question of Recognizing Israel as a Jewish State
      • Let Us Prepare for Two States
      • Can Palestinians Recognize Israel’s “Jewish Character”?
      • Next Steps: Negotiating an Initial Border
      • Etzion Bloc Expansion: Israeli Overreaching
      • Israel’s Tussle with Europe
    • 2012 >
      • Time to Negotiate the Northern and Southern Sectors of the Israeli-West Bank Border
      • President Peres and Dr. Ashrawi: Thank You for Staying on Track
      • Playing the Victim Card Will Not Bring Peace
      • Negotiations By the Parties
      • The World Should Help the Palestinian Hunger Striker
      • ...and only afterwards move to discuss the topic of Jerusalem
      • A Question of Accountability
      • Israel Twisting in the Wind
      • Netanyahu: Too Big for His Britches
      • Netanyahu's "Israeli Comfort"
      • How Shaul Mofaz Can Jump-Start the Peace Process
      • Netanyahu on the Brink
      • Time for Taking Stock
      • Israel in Wonderland
      • Whatever Happened to the Quartet?
      • The Palestinians Want to Negotiate
      • A Time for Hope and a Call for Restraint
      • Israel Can Win in Gaza, But Not Now
      • Congratulations to the New State of Palestine!
      • Security and Borders: Both Required for Peace
    • 2013 >
      • It Is Up to Israel to Restart Peace Negotiations
      • Israel and Palestine: Changing the Terms of Agreement
      • The Knesset Bill to Increase the Number of Women that Elect the Chief Rabbis Is Important for Jewish Women
      • Proposal on Governance of the Holy Basin
      • Time for Netanyahu to Reach Across the Aisle
      • Tzipi Livni's Challenge
      • Women Should Be Free to Pray at the Wailing Wall
      • Proposed Highway through the Jordan Valley Will Backfire on Israel
    • 2014 >
      • Secretary Kerry, Please Beware of Israel’s Stalling Tactics
      • A Proposal on the Issue of Palestinian Recognition of Israel as a Jewish State
      • Proposed “Jewish State” Law a Threat to Israel’s Democracy
      • Journaling: Hope and Despair - Seven Weeks In
      • Netanyahu's War
    • 2015 >
      • We Should Applaud Herzog and Livni for Reclaiming Zionism
      • The Next Israeli Government
      • West Bank Citizenry and Receipt of Individuals of Palestinian Origin
      • What Next for Israel?
      • Palestinian statehood
      • Mischief in the Trade Legislation would Hinder Progress
      • What Next for America?
      • Could American Firms Choose to Gradually Disinvest from Israel?
      • Boycotting Israel is not anti-Semitism
    • 2016 >
      • Isaac Herzog's Diplomatic Initiative: Can This Detour Be Reframed Into a Road to Two States?
      • The Choice of Friedman as Envoy to Israel Is a Challenge to the Soul of American Judaism
      • America’s Abstention at the UN: Well Played!
      • Lapid: A New Leader for Israel?
    • 2017 >
      • Outcomes of SC Resolution 2334
      • Release the Tapes of the Noni Affair
      • Yair Lapid: A Strong Leader for a Secure Israel
      • Bill to Annex E-1: A Knife in the Heart of the Two-State Solution
      • Thus Endeth the Jewish State
      • CP Suspending Operation
    • 2019 >
      • Return to Two States
      • ​Benny Gantz Can Do Better than Pander to the Settlers
      • The Joint List Should Join the Government
    • 2020 >
      • Israel's Moment of Opportunity
      • Trump’s Unfair Middle East Plan Leaves Nothing to Negotiate
  • Resources
  • About the Authors

North Jerusalem

Giv’at Ze’ev to Beit Hanina

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The Citizens Proposal puts a particular focus on the Israeli communities in the Giv’on Bloc because uniquely as settlements they are situated between Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ramallah, but they are sufficiently far enough from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to be considered contiguous to Ramallah. The Giv’on Bloc and the separation barriers erected around it divide Palestinian communities southwest of Ramallah and obstruct the development of a central city, Ramallah. With most of this area apportioned to Palestine and the removal of separation barriers, there will be improved community interaction, and people will get on with daily living. However, without assurances of access to Israel, we cannot see that peace can be substantial. To relocate 30,000 people is hardly reasonable. Our borders seek to be reasonable and fair.

The Citizens Proposal asks that Palestine and Israel negotiate the terms of a 99-year lease for Giv’at Ze’ev, Mahane Giv’on and Har Shmu’el, including road access along Rte 436 (Sderot Golda Meir), after which time these settlements will be absorbed into Palestine. As a concession, Israel will abandon Giv’on HaHadasha, because the new settlement is not well thought out and impinges on the houses in Bayt Ijza. It is hoped that this sort of agreement—a concession in return for leases of a fixed term, might be a precedent for discussing other settlements, each in a unique way, and thus provide a future for the Jews in those settlements.

The settlements of Agan HaAyalot and Beit Horon (which do not currently front on Rte 436) might ask as well for negotiated leases of shorter time periods in return for concessions to Palestine, whereby they might continue to have a temporary settlement presence even while they begin relocation.

We propose that Nebi Shmu’el (Nabi Samuil) become an international religious site, managed by either party according to the outcome of negotiations. Bayt Iksa is included within Israel, with road access to Jerusalem via Rte 436.

Rte 436 north of the Shmu’el Junction and Rte 404 from Beit Hanina (west) would become Palestinian roads to serve the needs of the growing Ramallah metropolitan area. (NOTE: With the inauguration of the Benzion Netanyahu Interchange linking Rte 20 with Rte 404, the proposed border was adjusted on May 12, 2013 to keep that interchange within Israel. To compensate, the line north of Rte 20 was moved slightly east giving Palestine additional territory up to the western edge of Shikunei Nuseiba; this is in keeping with the Citizens Proposal's aim of limiting the adjustments  from the Green Line to 1.9 percent.)

The western end of this segment of border meets the armistice line north of Mevaseret Zion. The route of proposed border will allow the high speed train between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem currently under construction to run entirely within the territory of Israel.

On its eastern side, the proposed northern border of Jerusalem extends no further north than the northern limits of Beit Hanina, just south of the al-Ram Refugee Camp. The areas north of this line that are currently part of the Jerusalem municipality are allocated to Palestine: the Jerusalem Airport, the ‘Atarot Industrial Zone and the Palestinian village of Kafr ‘Aqab. In our view, these areas properly belong to the municipality of Ramallah. 

Beit Hanina (the area shaded green) could optionally go to Palestine. If so, then Rte 20 and the interchange with Rte 404 would become a Palestinian route connecting Beit Hanina with Ramallah. The border with Israel would then run along the southern edge of the green area and then turn north following Rte 60 but just to the west of it, keeping Rte 60 an Israeli road for access to Pisgat Ze'ev and Neve Ya'akov. Perhaps the residents of Beit Hanina could be offered a referendum on their future status. 

_Beit Hanina (detail)

_We drew the proposed border to minimize disruption to neighborhoods north and north-west of Beit Hanina.
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_Beit Hanina to Shuafat

_We call the feature on the northeast corner above Pisgat Ze’ev and east of Neve Ya’akov “God’s Thumb”; it signifies what we believe is the divine inspiration behind this proposed border. It expresses poignantly God’s attitude: He is fed up with the lack of peace among His children, as any parent would be. God wants action; therefore, He inspired a “line of demarcation” as a reference point for humanity on earth and in heaven, a starting point as they lobby for their Israeli or Palestinian interests. The Citizens Proposal retains this feature of the line of demarcation—God’s signature, so to speak—as an endorsement of this border and efforts to make it a reality. It is envisioned that the unoccupied area within the Thumb can become a peace park in the future.

From the Thumb to Shuafat, the proposed border follows the separation wall except in the Anata forest, where it apportions half of this parkland to the Palestinians of Anata.
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Shuafat Refugee Camp (detail)

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_The entrance to the Shuafat Refugee Camp marks the eastern end of the North Jerusalem section of the proposed border. South of this point begins the East Jerusalem section (turquoise).

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