The discord over Israeli sovereignty – which is currently delaying the establishment of an emergency government – isn't just a landmine on the path to unity. This disagreement is also a one-time relatively convenient opportunity that history has given Blue and White and its leader Benny Gantz: To finally advance internal Jewish consensus and broad national accord over the future of Judea and Samaria – harsh divisions that have clouded our lives here for 50 years in terms.
If they could only internalize this, it would be their finest hour. The deal of the century, which allows for the annexation of 30% of Judea and Samaria and the application of Israeli law in the communities there, is not just a plan from the "hard-line right" school of thought.
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For years, the camp Gantz now leads has talked about the need for "separation." The deal of the century addresses this separation, even if imperfectly. For the longest time, Gantz's camp has been riddled with anxiety over the "demographic demon" and fear about the "Jewish majority." The deal of the century also addresses the demographic demon and the Jewish majority and leaves the vast majority of Palestinians outside the borders of the State of Israel.
For the longest time, people and bodies affiliated with Gantz's camp have tried in vain to convince settlers to "uproot back" inside the Green Line. In recent years, most of them have realized that uprooting people again is a very poor option. The annexation of Judea and Samaria resolves this issue for them. Best of all – to the chagrin of many Israelis – this deal ultimately envisions a Palestinian state as a solution to the conflict, making this vision a cornerstone of the Gantz camp's policies after all.
Gantz certainly hasn't forgotten that the enterprise of settling the Jordan Valley is the fruit of the Labor party's policies – which Levi Eshkol and Yigal Alon also supported in Gush Katif in Gaza and Alon in Kiryat Arba as well; which Yitzhak Rabin and Yisrael Galili championed in greater Jerusalem and Gush Katif.
Shimon Peres planted a tree in Ofra in the Judean Hills and approved its creation, and Motta Gur supported many of the communities across Judea and Samaria. All of them were leaders of the Labor, back when the party was centrist rather than leftist. Blue and White and Gantz can adhere to the legacy of Meretz and Labor circa 2020, but they can also choose a different path and return to their true centrist roots and understand the magnitude of the hour and the historic opportunity for consensus between the Israeli government and American administration.
Such an act will also mute, to a large extent, the discord that has hung like an anvil around the neck of Israeli society since 1967: The discord over "the territories." The moment the status of the Jewish settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria is finalized through internal and international agreement (the US is the deciding factor in this regard) Israel can free itself to deeper introspection. Then Israel can finally turn its attention to matters of welfare, society and other schisms that divide Israeli society.
