Doc's Talk: The Israeli Initiative

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

The Israeli Initiative

Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com

Frontpape Interview's guest today is MK Binyamin Elon, the Chairman of the Ichud Leumi-Mafdal (National Union-NRP) and the Chairman of the Moledet Party in Israel. He has served twice as Israel's Minister of Tourism. He currently serves as Chairman of the Knesset Science and Technology Committee, Chairman of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, and is a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
FP: Binyamin Elon, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Elon: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to discuss the conceptual change I am trying to make regarding the Israeli-Arab conflict.

FP: And thank you for coming to discuss it with us.

You have a plan for peace in the Middle East: The Israeli Initiative. The new cinematic trailer serving as a tool for marketing the plan, The Last Fanatic, has become one of the most popular video clips on YouTube since its release. Before we get into a discussion on the initiative itself, tell us a bit about The Last Fanatic.

Elon: Yes. Creativity is an essential part of the Israeli Initiative. Those who have already been exposed to its content – and the number of subscribers to our newsletter has already crossed the 10,000 mark – know that it is possible to think outside the box about the conflict in the Middle East, not via the worn-out and failed formulas of 'Two states for two people'. We are proud that our creativity is also being revealed in the Initiative's advertising methods.

The Last Fanatic – a video clip resembling a Hollywood cinematic trailer to a film which does not exist - was distributed on the Internet by the Initiative in order to direct people to our website and to establish the understanding that there is another alternative: that the Palestinians do not need to choose the way of terror, and that the rise of Fundamentalist Islam is not a decree which is impossible to contend with.

The Last Fanatic depicts a would-be suicide bomber who unexpectedly calls off his attack plans – which leads the viewer to question what led him and his supporters to deviate from their path. The video clip, which ends with the words 'Coming soon to the Middle East' has garnered tens of thousands of hits, both on the Israeli Initiative website and on YouTube.

Within the first five days of the video clip's posting on YouTube, it reached seventh place within YouTube's weekly ratings and was viewed by more than 12,000 people within this period. This is especially impressive because it was achieved during a particularly crowded week in terms of the American electoral system.

The Last Fanatic has received extensive media coverage, among others by Israeli Channel 2 News, SKY News, The International Herald Tribune, The Jerusalem Post and on the Metacafe website.

Up to now, more than 50,000 people have already viewed The Last Fanatic on YouTube.

FP: So tell us about The Israeli Intiative.

Elon: Since the establishment of the State of Israel, we have longed for peace with our Arab neighbors. We dream of a time when we will be able to devote our efforts and resources not to war and survival but to growth and prosperity for the benefit of all residents of the region.

The Oslo dream has become a nightmare. Despite our strong desire for peace and in spite of repeated attempts to find solutions, many of which have included painful concessions on our part, the Israeli-Arab conflict continues and exacts a high price from us. The actions of Israeli governments to establish a Palestinian State in the spirit of the Oslo Agreement have not brought about peace but rather a whirlpool of blood: Hamas controls Gaza; Kassam rockets are fired at the residents of Sderot; Hezbollah has missiles trained on Haifa, and only the persistent activities of the IDF are preventing terrorist attacks originating in Judea and Samaria. Neither have the Palestinians reaped any benefits from the Oslo Agreement. Poverty and suffering and a regime that employs terrorism against its own citizens are the net results of the Oslo approach.

We were not mistaken in striving for peace, but only in the way we set out to achieve it. We must re-examine all the assumptions that guided us, understand where we were mistaken, and move forward in the right direction.

The Israeli initiative is the product of in-depth assessments that address all the players in the region: Palestinians, Americans, the international community and first and foremost, Israelis and Arabs. The Israeli Initiative is the first initiative that takes into consideration the new global and regional reality -- the rise in power of Iran, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas.

FP: Expand for us about the Israeli Initiative itself.

Elon: The Israeli Initiative is based on the belief that conditions can become much better here, that a new Israel can emerge. We believe that a new language can be created between us and our Arab neighbors, a language based on preservation of what is important to us, while at the same time respecting their needs and rights.

We must abandon the old fixed ideas: No to a "Palestinian State," no to "territories in return for peace," no to "the strengthening" of Abu Mazen and/or the Palestinian Authority. The time has come for the State of Israel to present its own diplomatic initiative based on the integration of its interests and those of its neighbors—an initiative that realistically leads to peace and prosperity for the entire region.

The Israeli Initiative proposes a viable alternative to the Oslo/Camp David/Annapolis accords. The Initiative consists of three main principles: Rehabilitation of the refugees and dismantling of the camps, strategic cooperation with Jordan and Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. Under these principles, UNRWA will be dismantled and Israel, the US, and the international community will recognize Jordan as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians, and Jordan will again grant citizenship status to the residents of Judea and Samaria.

FP: Ok, let's get a bit specific. How would rehabilitation of the refugees and dismantling of the camps work exactly?

Elon: To begin with, Israel, the US and the international community will create a multi-year program to ensure the rehabilitation of the Palestinian refugees, while absorbing them as citizens in various countries. As part of the rehabilitation process, UNRWA, an organization which for tens of years has only perpetuated the status of the refugees, will be dismantled, as will the refugee camps. All residents of the refugee camps will be offered a permanent place of residence outside of Israel, with full citizenship rights and a generous rehabilitation grant.

Independent surveys carried out among the Palestinians clearly indicate that Palestinians are becoming increasingly convinced that living under Palestinian Authority control will not solve their problems. There are growing signs that the Palestinian population would be open to a true humanitarian solution that would enable them to rebuild their lives in other countries. For instance, a survey carried out by An-Najah University in Nablus in 2007 showed that 31.7% of Palestinians are considering rebuilding their lives in another country, while a survey carried out in 2004 by Ma'agar Mochot - a leading Israeli polling agency - in cooperation with The Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, showed that 50% of Palestinian society did not rule out moving to another country providing that they had the means and the ability to relocate.

FP: Just a second, the residents of the refugee camps will be offered a permanent place of residence outside of Israel. But in what countries? Where will the Palestinians go exactly?

Elon: According to the Israeli Initiative, the residents of the refugee camps will be absorbed in other countries, preferably the surrounding Arab countries. The Arab countries will be encouraged by the international community to absorb and offer the Palestinian refugees full citizenship, and will also help fund the rehabilitation grants that will be given to the refugees, in order for them to move to other countries not as poor refugees, but as people with considerable means, say $100,000 per family. These funds will give a well-needed boost to the economy of the absorbing Arab countries in the region, and will supply these countries with international backing.

FP: What will be involved in terms of strategic cooperation with Jordan and Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria?

Elon: Israel, the US and the international community will invest in the long-term development of Jordan in order to restore and strengthen its economy. Israel and Jordan, together with Egypt, Turkey and the US, will create a strategic organization to halt the Islamic axis based in Teheran and to promote overall peace between Israel and Arab countries.

In coordination with Jordan, Israel will extend its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. Arab residents of these areas will become citizens of Jordan (Palestine). Their status, their relationship to the two countries, and the nature of the administration in the populated areas will be formulated and set forth in an agreement between the governments of Israel and Jordan.

Israeli control of Judea and Samaria is necessary to ensure stability in the region. The IDF presence in Judea and Samaria is what has succeeded in almost completely eliminating suicide bombs within recent years and prevent it from being turned into "Hamasland". This was not done, and cannot be done, by Abu Mazen's weak forces.

FP: So Jordan will become the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians and the international community will recognize it as such? Please explain.

Elon: Israel, the US and the international community will recognize the Kingdom of Jordan as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians, and once again, Jordan will grant citizenship to the residents of Judea and Samaria. The Palestinian Authority will no longer be recognized as a representative body within Judea, Samaria and Gaza and all the weapons will be collected from armed organizations.

The Arab population that will continue to reside inside the new borders of the State of Israel will enjoy full human rights awarded by the State of Israel, but they will possess Jordanian-Palestinian citizenship, and their political rights will be realized in Amman. The Arab settlements will have limited autonomy with day-to-day administrating being under Israel's authority in a form which will be determined between Israel and Jordan.

FP: How realistic is this plan of yours? How can it succeed in a sea of so much anti-Semitism? We know that many Arabs and Palestinians are not interested in a Palestinian homeland; they are interested in destroying the Jewish homeland. Are you optimistic in this context?

Elon: I am optimistic that this is realistic for several reasons. First of all, previous initiatives have failed as they have not taken into consideration the refugees' plight, which is something that cannot be ignored. The Israeli Initiative does not ignore this and therefore is a much more realistic and viable plan. Our plan enables the refugees to make a new beginning in a new country, not as poor refugees, but as people of means, which makes their absorption in other countries both more likely and appealing to the host countries.

I am also optimistic that this is viable because the international community is starting to recognize that the refugee problem must be solved in order to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that rather than helping to solve the problem, UNRWA is actually helping to perpetuate it and maintain the status of the refugees.

A senior American analyst, Dr. Daniel Pipes, who specializes in the Middle East, published the following on the connection between the USA and UNRWA, a month prior to the renewal of UNRWA's mandate in 2003.

"The time has come to help those generations of non-refugees (that is to say the offspring of Palestinian refugees), to save them from the refugee status and to make them citizens, to help them gain the skills to build a better future.The best possible thing for them is to close UNRWA and transfer the responsibility to UNHCR so that they can handle the real refugees that are left."

Politicians in America are also beginning to be aware that UNRWA must be dismantled in order to solve the refugee problem. Last year, a group of senators began working towards halting the American funding of UNRWA, and I am currently in touch with a group of leaders in Congress and Senate that intend on promoting legislation that will divert American funds that were given to UNWRA to programs that will truly help the refugees move out of their refugee status.

FP: What are your policy suggestions for American and Israeli leaderships in the short-term future in terms of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Elon: My policy suggestions for the American and Israeli leaderships in the short-term future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that rather than signing yet another agreement which at best maintains the current status quo and at worst, leads to the outbreak of another Intifada, they should consider altering their perspective and contemplate the idea that perhaps it is worth exploring the issues that the Israeli Initiative suggests, particularly resolving the plight of the refugees, as none of the previous accords, which have all failed, have considered the possibility of dismantling UNRWA and granting funds to the refugees in order to begin a new life outside of the refugee camps.

FP: Binyamin Elon, thank you for joining Frontpage Interview.

Elon: Thank you again for giving me this opportunity.
Jamie Glazov is Frontpage Magazine's managing editor. He holds a Ph.D. in History with a specialty in U.S. and Canadian foreign policy. He edited and wrote the introduction to David Horowitz’s Left Illusions. He is also the co-editor (with David Horowitz) of The Hate America Left and the author of Canadian Policy Toward Khrushchev’s Soviet Union (McGill-Queens University Press, 2002) and 15 Tips on How to be a Good Leftist. To see his previous symposiums, interviews and articles Click Here. Email him at jglazov@rogers.com

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk