Realignment plan
The realignment plan (Hebrew: תוכנית ההתכנסות) (originally dubbed the "convergence plan") was formulated and introduced to the Israeli public by former prime minister Ehud Olmert, in a number of media interviews during the election campaign for the 17th Knesset in early 2006. Olmert stated that if he was elected prime minister, within four years he would remove Israeli settlements from most of the West Bank and consolidate them into large groups of settlements near the Green Line. The area of removal would correspond to the area east of the route of the West Bank barrier that was begun under his predecessor, Ariel Sharon, or a similar route with national consent and international legitimization.
During the campaign for the March 2006 election, Sharon was still officially prime minister, but unable to carry out his duties, to communicate or to run in the election due to the major stroke that he suffered on January 4, 2006. Olmert, who became acting prime minister and Kadima party leader after Sharon's stroke, stated that in pursuing a realignment of settlements, he was operating in Sharon's spirit, and that if Sharon had been able to continue carrying out his duties, he would have acted in a similar way.
Although the Hebrew name of the plan did not change, the English name rapidly changed from "convergence" to "consolidation" and finally to "realignment", according to the Washington Times[1] and the "language maven" William Safire.[2]
New Historian Ilan Pappe has noted that "hitkansut", (the Hebrew word used for the plan), most aptly translates as "ingathering". Pappe submits that the plan is designed to address the "demographic threat" posed by Palestinian population growth to the maintenance of a "Jewish state", by leaving several populous Palestinian areas outside direct Israeli control.[3]
After the Israel Lebanon conflict of 2006, Olmert announced to his cabinet that the plan to dismantle some Jewish settlements in the West Bank and unilaterally redraw the Israel's borders would not be implemented for the time being.[4] The plan was not revived prior to Olmert's departure from office on March 31, 2009 and there has been no indication that the new Likud-led coalition government intends to pursue a similar policy.
