Conference on Israel’s Security Needs

I attended this conference today and heard some great speeches and met a lot of people I know in the advocacy business. The speakers were so adament that we demand defensible borders, an undivided Jerusalem and total control of the airspace, that it sounded like government policy.Negotiations will end in September.

Israel’s Critical Security Needs for a Viable Peace

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
JCPA.org
02 June ’10

In light of a widening range of threats to Israel’s security, for the first time a group of senior Israeli generals has come together to outline the basic principles of a defense policy – rooted in a consensus spanning past and present Israeli governments – which is focused on Israel maintaining defensible borders.

The crisis over the Hamas flotilla to Gaza illustrates how some of Israel’s critical alliances in the Middle East are changing, especially its relationship with Turkey, and the importance of designing a defense policy that takes into account the uncertainties that Israel faces with many of its neighbors.

Recent events only underscore that it is critical for Israel to preserve the principle of defending itself by itself.