In peace negotiations with the Ammonite king, Jephthah categorically rejects the “land for peace” peace formula. He explains to his negotiating partner why this concept makes no sense and gets to the point: No one would voluntarily give up their inheritance, not even the Ammonites.
Peace with the Arab nations?
When Israel and Egypt made peace over 40 years ago, this peace agreement was a purely technical modus vivendi. Israel did not come to the negotiating table empty-handed. It ceded the Sinai Peninsula to the Egyptians in exchange for peace. Israel also gave up land in the Jordan Valley and the Arava Desert for the sake of peace with Jordan. Without this concession, the agreement with the kingdom would not have been reached.
However, the territorial compromises in the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, which Israel entered into as part of the Oslo Accords, represent a fiasco. It can hardly be said that the world convinced Israel of an expected advantage in the deal. Rather, Israel was pressured. “Land for peace” was the...
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