Remember about a year ago, a group of right wing activists responded to the Annapolis Conference by declaring they would secede from Israel and form their own state in the West Bank?
At the time, everybody laughed it off calling it another ridiculous idea by a bunch of crazy settlers who have no connection to the people of Israel.
Now the people of the Western Negev communities have come up with a similar plan. They are calling their protest the "Western Negev State". They are refusing to pay taxes to Israel, will issue their own ID cards, publishing its own newspaper, and stage rallies and protests across Israel to generate support for their cause. They are not really seceding from Israel, but protesting policy. They say that Israel has instigated this by disengaging from them with its inability to make decisions.
This is not the first time this stunt has been tried. At one time (either 80's or when the negotiations with the PLO first broke) a group formed a new country called Yehuda.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they approach the PA? Wouldn't they be interested in former Israelis that want to break away and pay taxes elsewhere? And it is in what will become a Palestinian state. Might as well make the change in a positive mode.
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