scootie

Me either, that is not the point. “in this ‘thought experiment’, I’m just trying to ‘skip ahead’ to a time of negotiations and posit what a fair final settlement plan would look like” True, the western territory that currently connects Jerusalem to greater Israel is crossed by Palestinian bands in the plan, but this concession is what allows the contiguity of both states. From a practical standpoint secure bridges or tunnels could be built to short circuit these distances. I believe the security of Jerusalem is currently concerned with asymmetrical attacks and its defenses against this are constant, vigilant and already in the City. It would never be indefensible. The threat of a larger attack on Israel now is not so much on land as it was in 1948 or during the other major armed conflicts; it is now from places like Iran and [formerly] Iraq with missile attacks. Another ‘benefit' to the interlocking spirals is that crude missile attacks [or heaven forbid, nuke] on either of the bands could very easily overshoot or undershoot and hit the next ‘friendly’ band; a potential deterrent for an attacker who actually cares for one of the sides. Land swaps would somewhat balance this. Like the Palestinian band over the western territory that currently connects Jerusalem to greater Israel They do not make sense for a 2 state solution.

I agree with much of what you propose....I think it should play out like this: http://westbankspiralplan.blogspot.com/