The Judea and Samaria mountains are the "Golan Heights" of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Ben Gurion International Airport, and the major highways crisscrossing central Israel – all critical civilian and security infrastructures.
The eastern ridge is an effective barrier against tanks but the western ridge harbors the potential for Palestinian terrorism that could make the coastal plain a much more painful version of the Gaza-vicinity area.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Controlling the Judea and Samaria mountains – not a Palestinian state – is an essential condition in a Middle Eastern reality rife with 1,400 years of violence, terrorism, the absence of democracy, and inter-Arab animosity.
This reality mandates that a security frontier must be able to overcome countless unexpected scenarios, and rather than rely on brittle peace agreements it must be able to withstand a breach of these peace treaties. For example, should Jordan fall prey to the chaos that has been ravaging Libya, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, Israeli control over Judea and Samaria will prove all that more essential.
A defensible border must discourage aggression and grant Israel the necessary time during a surprise attack, to mobilize its reserve force within 48 hours. Hence the difference between Sinai, which borders the Negev desert and gives the IDF 50 hours to mobilize troops, and Judea and Samaria, which border Jerusalem and the coastal plain and affords the military only 10 hours.
Israel is devoid of geographical depth, so the topographic advantage of the Judea and Samaria mountains increases. Moreover, unlike a technological advantage that may be transient, the topographical advantage is eternal. The greater the enemy's technological ability becomes, the greater the importance of controlling the physical area from which we can prevent terrorism and invasion.
Controlling the Judea and Samaria mountains enhances Israel's ability to generate deterrence as well as its national security. A Palestinian state in the West Bank will transform Israel from a producer of national security to its consumer, and from a strategic asset for the United States to a burden on it.
It will also strip Israel of its formidable image and render it vulnerable to the Palestinian terrorism that will not hesitate to targets Jerusalem and the coastal plain.
