July 26, 1967
Yigal Allon, a politician and retired Israel Defense Forces general, presents what comes to be known as the Allon Plan, a strategic proposal for Israel’s retention of the Jordan Valley in the West Bank. It serves multiple purposes. Primarily, it includes a series of Jewish settlements and military installations in the Jordan Valley as buffers against an Arab attack from the east.
The other components of the plan:
- Basic peace with the Arab states and the Palestinians is possible and essential. Neither a lack of an agreement nor continued hostilities are beneficial to either side.
- The geo-strategic integrity of the Land of Israel will be preserved and will allow the marking of borders that will ensure Israel’s security and prevent wars.
- A Jewish demographic majority will be maintained, enabling Israel to exist as a democratic Jewish state, based on Zionist principles.
- The Palestinian people will be given the opportunity to realize an independent national life without threatening the security of the State of Israel. The Palestinian nation will be able to establish political relations with Jordan and with the State of Israel.
Allon was born in 1918 in Kfar Tabor. He served in the Haganah, then commanded the Palmach from 1945 to 1948. First elected to the Knesset in 1954, he remains a member until his death in 1980. During his political career, he serves as minister of labor, immigrant absorption, culture and foreign affairs, as deputy prime minister, and, for three weeks in 1969, as interim prime minister.
The Israeli government never officially endorses the Allon Plan, but its ideas are presented to King Hussein of Jordan in 1968 as part of a secret offer for stabilizing Israel’s relationship with its eastern neighbor. Hussein rejects the concepts because they infringe on Jordan’s sovereign right over the West Bank. In contrast, the Allon Plan’s point of view comes to be embraced by most Israelis: For security considerations alone, they believe, Israel must retain portions of the West Bank and keep control of the strategic Jordan River Valley.
