Peretz's disengagement

Last week, a few days after being elected as leader of the Labor Party, MK Amir Peretz - along with MKs Yuli Tamir and Ilana Cohen - submitted to the Knesset a new bill for the "voluntary evacuation of the residents of Judea and Samaria [the northern West Bank]." According to the bill, if at least 60 percent of the residents of a community located in the West Bank express their agreement to be evacuated, the government will evacuate that community within no more than six months from the time the residents make their request. According to another clause, the community will be subject to the compensation agreements as defined in the law governing the implementation of the disengagement from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank.

The initiators of this legislation say that the disengagement plan constituted a tangible example of the state's ability to produce a suitable system of compensation for residents evacuated from their homes. The bill, they say, will make possible the creation of an appropriate and reasonable framework for a graduated evacuation over time, without compelling residents to move to temporary housing and while saving a considerable amount of resources.

Meanwhile, a survey by the Bayit Echad ("One Home") movement released Saturday shows that some 25 percent of West Bank settlers are prepared to receive compensation and to leave the settlements in which they are living immediately. The movement, headed by MKs Avshalom Vilan from Meretz-Yahad and Colette Avital from Labor, is presenting an initiative for the unilateral evacuation of settlers on an individual basis. The bill that these two MKs will present to the Knesset this week is meant to assist settlers who were enticed to establish their homes in the occupied territories, by providing alternative housing within the Green Line.

Peretz's legislation says that incentives for the continued voluntary evacuation of Israeli citizens located in the West Bank will help leverage the successful implementation of the disengagement plan for the purposes of the continued push forward toward final-status agreements. Peretz and his colleagues see the law as a "tailwind" for additional evacuation processes, apparently even in settlements whose residents will refuse to agree to be evacuated. They say the bill will help "remove obstacles liable to stand in the way of future final-status agreements."

As the bill indicates, Peretz's decision to adopt Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement concept and apply it to the West Bank is not an alternative to negotiations on the final-status arrangement, but a step that accompanies a more ambitious and comprehensive political initiative. Despite the criticism his friends have heaped on him, Peretz did not retract his declaration of loyalty to the Oslo Accords. It appears, therefore, that it has been determined that if the election results allow it, he will aspire to make every effort to resolve the conflict via dialogue. Nonetheless, his hasty decision to adopt a bill based on a unilateral process is a hint that the Labor candidate for prime minister is not deterred from unilateral processes - practical processes likely to help advance the region toward a comprehensive settlement in the future.

The bill will probably not be ready for consideration during the current Knesset term. This ensures that in the next Knesset, the Labor Party - whether it is in the government or in the opposition - will support every initiative to take Israel out of additional West Bank territories, with Palestinian partners to a comprehensive peace agreement, but even without them.