The most pressing measure is to make it clear to the Palestinians – and to their supporters – that if it is independence they demand, then independent they will have to be.

Thus, Israel must convey unequivocally that it will cease, forthwith, to provide every service and all merchandise that it provides them today. In other words, no water, electricity, fuel, postal services, communications, port facilities, tax collection or remittances will be supplied by Israel.

This will vividly expose the futility of the Palestinians’ endeavor for statehood, which almost two decades after the Oslo accords and massive investment has not produced anything but an untenable, divided entity crippled by corruption and cronyism, with a dysfunctional polity, an illegitimate president, an unelected prime minister, and a feeble economy that, with its minuscule private sector and bloated public one, is unsustainable without the largesse of its alleged “oppressor.”

Humanitarian response to ‘humanitarian crisis’

There is little doubt that such a unilateral initiative by Israel would inflict considerable hardship on large sectors of the Palestinian population – engendering inevitable accusations that it is precipitating a “humanitarian crisis.”

To counter these charges Israel must provide a “humanitarian response” and offer individual nonbelligerent Palestinian breadwinners generous relocation grants to help them build a better life for themselves and their families elsewhere, free of the incompetence and corruption of the cruel cliques that have led them astray for decades.