Photo: Flickr / jstreetdotorg

The Times of Israel reports from a session at yesterday’s Presidential Conference:

“If we’re going to give peace a chance, if we’re going to move on peace, we need not just a political process, we need to change the dynamic. What is currently required is more than mere confidence-building measures,” he said. “We need to change the dynamic in a way where we restore belief.”

The first step Jerusalem should take to demonstrate it is serious about a Palestinian state in the West Bank is to publicly announce that the government will provide financial compensation to settlers who are prepared to leave their current homes and to move to Israel proper. “That would send a very clear signal to the Palestinians,” Ross said. Israel should furthermore start building “significant” housing units for Israelis willing to leave the West Bank – “whether in the Galilee or the Negev” — he said. Settlers removed from the Gaza Strip in 2005 were not properly absorbed inside the Green Line and Israel should avoid repeating that mistake, he suggested.

The biggest contributor to the settlement enterprise, financially speaking, is the government of Israel. Subsidy after subsidy is offered to Israelis to move there. Instead the government take Ross’s advice and subsidise people to move out of them. No brainer.