Palestinians told an undercover Israeli journalist that they prefer life under Israeli sovereignty to life under the corrupt Palestinian Authority, as Israel debates whether to extend Israeli law to a significant portion of Judea and Samaria.
The Palestinians were interviewed last week on hidden camera by Israeli Channel 13’s Arab Affairs correspondent Zvi Yechezkeli.
Yechezkeli spoke to Palestinians living in “Area C,” the portion of Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”) currently under full Israeli control. Over 100,000 Palestinians living there could become Israeli citizens under the sovereignty plan now being considered by both the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump.
Trump’s Middle East peace plan, unveiled earlier this year, would allow Israel to extend sovereignty to 30% of Area C, which includes all of the Israeli communities of Judea and Samaria, plus the strategically important Jordan River Valley.
The Palestinians could establish a demilitarized state on the remaining land of the West Bank, with a capital east of Jerusalem, and $50 billion in foreign aid — provided that they recognize Israel and stop inciting and supporting terror.
Yechezkeli ventured into Area C to learn firsthand what Palestinians believed “in their gut” about the possibility of living under full Israeli sovereignty, where they would likely receive Israeli citizenship and “blue” Israeli identification cards.
The Palestinians he interviewed expressed a strong preference for Israeli annexation, saying that they wanted to earn a living in Israel and praising Israeli society for “law and order” — in contrast to life under Palestinians Authority rule.
Some Palestinians were prepared to speak on a normal video, not a hidden camera. They said that they did not resent Israelis — only their government — and simply wanted to work.
A number of them were reportedly arrested by the Palestinian Authority for speaking to Yechezkeli, and daring to criticize the Palestinian government.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, is available for pre-order. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.