Several years ago, during my service in the Israel Defense Forces, I was asked to accompany the US Marine Corps’ chief armor officer during his visit to Israel.
We met near the city of Sderot and drove up to an observation point on a small hill located between the southern edge of Sderot and the northern border of the Gaza Strip – barely one kilometer from the first line of houses in the city.
As we stood on the hill, I explained and demonstrated to the curious general the security complexity the IDF faces in protecting Sderot, given its extreme proximity to the Gaza border.
Defending Sderot is 'simply impossible'
A look of stunned disbelief spread across his face. He held the map he had brought with him, examining it while repeatedly glancing back at the narrow strip of land stretched out before us. For several minutes, he tried to match the reality unfolding in front of his eyes with the map in his hands. Finally, he turned to me and said:
“I prepared extensively for this visit. I read countless materials, listened to briefings, and heard expert explanations – but until I stood on this hill, I did not understand the impossible complexity required of the IDF to defend Sderot. It’s simply impossible.”
This week, the United Nations approved the Trump proposal to establish an international force in the Gaza Strip, including a “pathway to a Palestinian state.”
This move – met so far with near-total silence from Israel’s political leadership – places on the table, once again, the same old, seemingly considerate idea: A Palestinian state shaped like a carton of milk; thin, weak, and hollow; a consolation prize for the Arabs after their defeat in the Israel-Hamas War.
Once again, as in the past, the Americans return to the very point of failure, trying to redraw and impose unrealistic solutions on a map while refusing to climb the hill and look at the terrain.
Israel’s security reality cannot be simplified into lines on paper. Terrorism does not disappear by replacing one terrorist organization with another, even if the latter is dressed in sheep’s clothing.
For years, the Palestinian Authority, presented in the West as a “partner,” has pursued the same strategic goal as Hamas, only through methods more palatable to Western ears and, to a troubling degree, still to parts of Israeli society: education steeped in hatred, salaries for terrorists, and the cultivation of a consciousness that perpetuates and intensifies the conflict.
Yet, even before climbing the hill and looking through the security lens, we must remember that the debate over Judea and Samaria is not about geography, topography, or demography.
It is, first and foremost, a debate about identity. Judea and Samaria are not a region on a map of Israel; they are part of the Israeli body, embedded in the very core and beating heart of the Jewish people since its inception.
A Palestinian state is not a territorial compromise; it is a concession of roots, of story, of national identity, and ultimately of our claim to every other part of our land.
Even those who attempt to separate identity from security cannot escape the conclusion that any Palestinian state will rapidly become a platform for Hamas’s takeover.
This is not a theoretical concern – it is the reality we witnessed in Gaza, the very reality that brought about the greatest national disaster Israel has faced since its establishment.
Any sovereign Palestinian framework, however weak, will provide terrorist organizations with exactly what they seek: borders, freedom of movement, minimal governing infrastructure, and the ability to infiltrate, prepare, train, and ultimately attempt again what they have always aimed for – destruction.
Amid all this stands the United States.
The relationship between Israel and the US is deep, stable, and vital. But true friendship is not built solely on shared interests; it also requires each side to protect its own essential interests.
In the diplomatic tension between Givat Kobi and Capitol Hill, the responsibility of Israel’s leaders, especially after October 7, 2023, is not to offer symbolic gestures of “interim solutions” to the Arabs, but to ensure enduring security for the Jewish people.
The writer, an IDF lieutenant colonel (res.), is CEO of Israel’s Defense and Security Forum.