T. Belman. In addition to the misconceptions about the API listed here, there are more. If you read it very carefully, Israel must do a number of things including agreeing to a 100% withdrawal, before the Arabs will consider normalizing. Secondly, according to a subsequent clarification that they issued, they rejected any solution that involves “resettling of the Palestinians outside of their homes.” meaning in Israel.
In a new campaign, around 170 former high-ranking Israeli security officials are calling on Israelis to vote in the upcoming Knesset elections for parties that would commit to adopting the Arab Peace Initiative. I have great respect for these ex-officials, who dedicated large parts of their lives to defending Israel’s security, but history has shown that having such a background is not a guarantee of political wisdom. The security establishment has failed the country many times, particularly regarding our understanding of our enemies and our adherence to false concepts.
Belief in the flawed intelligence concept that Egypt and Syria would not attack Israel before certain conditions materialized led to the failure that was the 1973 Yom Kippur War. And in the early 1990s, then-Military Intelligence chief Uri Sagi espoused a new concept that peace with Syria could be achieved by giving back the Golan Heights. Many security and political officials adopted this concept. Just think about if, God forbid, Israel had gone through with that. We would today have the Islamic State group controlling the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Therefore, with all due respect to former security officials, their words must be apprised critically. We must ask questions before buying anything they are trying to sell.
Regarding the Arab Peace Initiative, the new concept of the aforementioned 170 ex-security officials is a disastrous one. The Arab Peace Initiative demands an Israeli withdrawal to the June 4, 1967 lines in all sectors, entailing a pullout from all of the Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria and east Jerusalem. Anyone can understand the implications of such a withdrawal — the Tel Aviv area would come under fire from Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria while northern Israel would be well within Islamic State’s range.
Those who believe the Arab Peace Initiative speaks of two states for two peoples are wrong. It talks about a Palestinian state free of Jews, but will the state next to it be a Jewish one? Not at all, because the initiative demands the right of return, which would lead to Israel being flooded by millions of Palestinians.
Israeli supporters of the initiative point to the fact that it says the solution to the Palestinian refugee issue must be “agreed upon,” but they ignore the rest of the sentence, which says that the solution must be in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution No. 194. This is the resolution that established the basis for the demand for the right of return. So any “agreed upon” solution based on it would be about the nature and pace of implementing the right of return, and not about whether there should be a right of return at all.
What makes the initiative enticing to some is what it seemingly promises — regional peace. But in reality, the Arab nations acting as a bloc precludes of any flexibility by an Arab partner in bilateral negotiations. The initiative is simply a dictate based on a united position of Arab countries, from which there can be no deviation.
The Arab Peace Initiative was first proposed in 2002 and readopted in 2007. Since then, the Middle East has undergone many changes, including the spread of general instability, the collapse of nations, the disintegration of artificial borders and the rise of global jihad. Does one need a security background to understand the irrationality of taking an existential gamble at this time on this dangerous initiative?
I would like to see the names of these loony toons published. Not many boast like them of their past failures in judgement exhorting all to repeat their mistake.
Any fool who beleives that giving the pals a state and YS will lead to peace is a delusional fool, and I include the idiotic Israeli leaders and security officials mentioned here who led Israel into the mess it is in today due to that precise approach which those dunces advocated. All i can say is DUH????? They should be too embarrassed to open their fool mouths after leading Israel like the pied piper into certain death. Retire those idiots to a lunatic asylum.
Why?
The stupidity of Israeli security officials is legion: none of them foresaw Egypt and Syria attack Israel in 1973, none of them foresaw the overthrow of the Shah in Iran, none of them foresaw the coming of the first Intifada or the second one, none of them foresaw the rebuilding of Hezbollah after the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and not surprisingly, none of them foresaw the Palestinian Arab extremism that led to the collapse of the peace talks in 2014. And none of them foresaw the rise of Islamic State in 2014. Yet we are expected to believe that they foresee the Arabs making peace with Israel if Israel agrees to commit national suicide beforehand. With failures stemming from a track record like that, why would any one take their political advice about what Israel should do vis a vis its neighbors seriously?