Labour official backs Elon Plan

‘Israel Initiative’ a Realistic Peace Plan, Says Labor Official

by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) A Labor Party official is championing a plan proposed by National Union Knesset Member Benny Elon that would prevent Judea and Samaria from deteriorating into the type of terrorist base that Gaza has become.

Eli Sadan, the head of the Labor party’s religious and traditional Jewish sector, handed out letters promoting Elon’s plan during a Labor central committee diplomatic forum on Sunday.

The Elon plan, known as the “Israel Initiative” was offered as an alternative to the Road Map, Olso and Arab League “peace” plans.

Under the proposal, Jordanian citizenship would be granted to Palestinian Authority Arabs who would remain in their villages in Judea and Samaria. Jewish Israeli citizens would also remain in their communities in the area, which would be under Israeli sovereignty. The so-called PA Arab “refugee camps” would be dismantled as well. Israel and Jordan would work together to administer local affairs.

Elon says he has also received support from ministers and Knesset Members in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s own Kadima party, as well as from the Gil (Pensioners) Party. Likud party chairman and Knesset Opposition Leader Binyamin Netanyahu also expressed his support for the initiative, as have several members of the U.S. Congress.

Not everyone in the Labor party supports the plan, Sadan emphasizes. “Labor has Peace Now people [as well]. But there are also realistic hawks in the party who think we need to safeguard the state. Israel has to find a solution and I think that the Jordanian option makes the most sense.”

The incessant rocket attacks from Gaza on the western Negev have underscored the need for security, he added, saying, “We need to put on the brakes, and that’s what I intend to tell [Labor party chairman and Defense Minister Ehud] Barak.”