ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS A SYMPOSIUM
ISRAEL ANDTHE PALESTINIANS A SYMPOSIUM 1. Should Israel enter into talks with the PLO? 2. Is a Palestinian state necessary or desirable for peace? If so, where and how might it be established? If...
...Is this last, worst case any worse than what we can now foresee happening if the present policy continues...
...Not with such stakes...
...Because: holding the West Bank/Gaza and insisting that no Palestinian state can emerge there is the one policy that means permanent war...
...Any reliance on guarantees would amount to naivete or sheer stupidity on our part, even if the U.S...
...Israel would participate in supervising the demilitarization...
...It is also essential to stress that we do not wish to rule over another nation...
...Within the framework of these peace agreements, the remainder of the Sinai and Golan territories would be returned to Egypt and Syria, with agreements to continue the demilitarization arrangements in the areas adjacent to Israel's borders...
...These are the facts...
...The pressure of an early deadline has somewhat limited the number of respondents, and while the participants are not quite so diverse a group as the invitees, we believe that the critical views on these questions are well represented in this forum...
...A Commonwealth (as in Puerto Rico) appears best suited now...
...As expected, there is less agreement on the issue of a Palestinian state...
...While many Palestinians see the PLO as their legitimate representative body, others (many of them living in Jordan proper) are suspicious of the PLO...
...It should have been handed to the parties involved in the conflict...
...This should particularly include the younger Palestinian leadership now in Jordan...
...b) Maintenance of temporary Israeli military installations at several strategic points on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip...
...2) The solution of the Palestinian problem or the "return of their legitimate rights...
...This does not, however, preclude the possibility that within the framework of an overall settlement, the future of the West Bank and Gaza will express the national self-determination of the Palestinians — again, provided they accept the legitimacy of Israel: this should, however, preferably be done in conjunction with Jordan, as the territory of the East Bank is part of the historical Land of Israel/Palestine, and also because the majority of the East Bank population is Palestinian...
...It is this paragraph that brings out the whole intellectual scandal of the PLO, sometimes conveniently overlooked by people in the West who would naturally have some sympathy for the Palestinians as a group struggling for national liberation...
...In view of the fact that America uses her decisive power as though the imaginary Middle East were real, one might have to ask entirely different questions...
...There are 20 bulldogs and a big bear just waiting in the shade for that moment of weakness and sympathy, when we swallow that bait...
...If the Arabs are ready for peace, it becomes a major strategic policy...
...Resolution...
...The demilitarization limitations would continue in effect in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the right of Israel to consider any infraction of this demilitarization as a causus belli would be recognized...
...Such a step, too, would pass the burden of proof to the Arabs or Palestinians...
...The PLO becomes marginal...
...To me, it seems that Kissinger, having made his confrontation in the fateful days of October 1973 and afterward with Israel, rather than with the Arabs, has made possible an era in which the Jewish people is in jeopardy, while the West continues its decline...
...Palestine may have begun as southern Syria decades ago, but the fact is that the Palestinians have long since developed a national consciousness, a common memory, a sense of shared identity and tragedy...
...support, can encourage a change...
...Indeed, during the civil war in Jordan in September, 1970, the majority of the Palestinians sided with King Hussein and against the Palestinian organizations...
...And last but not least, simultaneous Israeli negotiations with the PLO and Hussein might bring about a reconciliation between the two which could facilitate the creation of a federation of the West Bank with Jordan within the framework of the "Jordanian solution...
...and (b) the right of self-determination of the Jewish people in the State of Israel...
...Arie Eliav is an independent Member of the Knesset, and a former member of the Labor Party...
...Readiness to offer concessions, withdrawal, recognition of the Palestinians, etc., in my opinion is either a tactical step or a strategic position, depending on Arab reaction...
...Any political agreement regarding the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would be subject to partial or temporary limitations stemming from the essential security needs of Israel and from the existing state of belligerency between Israel and the Arab states...
...Guarantees...
...This can be done without risking her own security...
...If we are to survive, we have to close our minds to the tremendous brainwashing wave which is threatening to dull our senses and drown our logic...
...It is evident to everybody that the present situation must not continue for any length of time...
...One cannot be sanguine at all that the Palestinians are ready to make such a change in their national doctrines...
...We have tried to keep our own views out of this project as much as possible, but they are, of course, suggested by the questions themselves, and Prof...
...2. A Palestinian state west of the Jordan in which Palestinians can exercise their right to self-determination is probably a necessary but certainly not a sufficient requirement for a workable Middle East peace...
...These territories are being administered by a military government as a guarantee for the security of the State of Israel and the well-being of its citizens, and not as part of a policy of expansion and dominance...
...Because politics is about power, not truth, one must not mistake analytical findings for policy proposals...
...The PLO officially recognizes these borders as the boundaries of historic Palestine...
...Last, there are so many links existing between the West Bank and Jordan (two-thirds of the population of Jordan is Palestinian) that a division between the two parts would create unnecessary strains...
...We will give back the West Bank and Gaza Strip only for full peace...
...Who could guarantee our security, once we would become as undefendable as Czechoslovakia in 1939, after its 1938 surrender to "world opinion" and allies, and the grant of self-determination to its three million Sudeten minority...
...The Israeli government must put them to the test...
...2) Israel is ready to negotiate political agreements regarding the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with any factor, Palestinian or Jordanian, which represents the inhabitants of those areas and which recognizes (a) Israel's right to exist as a sovereign state, according to UN Resolution 242...
...we would spend in full mobilization, awaiting the blow wherever the Arabs would pick, since they could threaten all our centers simultaneously from the same bases...
...There are Palestinians on the West Bank, in Gaza, outside, and high in the PLO, who have concluded that a West Bank/Gaza state with compensation for the 1948 refugees is the best feasible settlement of their grievances...
...Palestinians are not today (whoever they may have been 50 years ago) simply southern Syrians — or "Palestinian-Jordanians...
...On the other path, America puts on the pressure but Israel refuses to cave in...
...If forewarned, we might manage a Masada...
...And above all, an Israeli peace initiative is important to prove to the Israeli public, and particularly the youth, that great efforts were made to reach a settlement with the Arabs by suggesting far-reaching concessions and taking great risks...
...But "No" comes just as easily when one's conception of the Middle East is unhappily real...
...stringent limits on arms in Palestine...
...They want Jaffa, and Haifa, and pre-1967 Israel...
...Recently, in a reply to a reporter's question, Israeli Defense Minister Shimon Peres indicated that the occupying Israeli authorities would not prevent PLO-backed candidates from running: "We cannot prevent any candidate from participating in the elections as long as he abides by the election rules...
...What with the continued existence of extremist movements and terrorism, and with the basic tenets of the Palestinian Charter — even angels couldn't resist the temptation to remilitarize and attack, and the only angel the Arabs might appeal to in this situation is the angel of Death...
...c) Border alterations beneficial to Israel, to deepen the security belt around Israel (e.g., in the area of Kalkiliya and Tul-Karem, and of Latrun and Judea...
...His stock is high in the Arab world, his relations with Syria the best in years, and he is unlikely to jettison all this for the return of selected pieces of the populated area of the West Bank...
...As for the desirability or necessity of a West Bank state, while such a state certainly entails risks, I do not think a peace settlement can be achieved without it...
...Palestinians control the major part of economic activities and almost the entire educational system of Jordan...
...From its explosion the Palestinian state itself would suffer more than anybody else...
...Gil Carl AlRoy first went to the Middle East 30 years ago...
...He invites the UN Security Council (not the General Assembly) to send observers...
...From the Israeli standpoint, the best solution to the Palestinian question would be an agreement with King Hussein concerning the West Bank and the Gaza Strip...
...his country is prospering with money being poured into it by the oil states which he would lose if he challenged the Rabat decision...
...2. Yes, a Palestinian state is vitally necessary for peace...
...If they fail to respond to a reasonable proposal, then they will have lost the chance: if the Israeli government fails to make the offer, it will add to the missed opportunities which have littered the past eight years...
...So long as the legitimate existence of Israel is not clearly and unequivocally accepted by the Arabs, and especially the Palestinians, any overall plan for peace in the Middle East will be built on sand...
...It is not up to us, once our security demands are met, and we have withdrawn from the West Bank, to determine the nature of the regime in it — Jordanian or Palestinian or a mix of the two...
...That feeling, which had been in eclipse through the past 19 centuries of our collective history, reached its modern zenith in the heady, and euphoric days of 1967...
...using the Jordan River as a unifying symbol...
...Once Israel recognized the Palestinians as central to a settlement and entertained the possibility of a Palestinian state, I believe the question of whom to deal with would become clearer...
...Remember all past agreements with Israel before the Six Day War (when Jordan ruled over the West Bank without a universal plea for Palestinian self-determination...
...Washington Post, January 2, 1976) Israel's current position is that it cannot recognize the PLO as an acceptable negotiator for the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute as long as the PLO's Palestinian National Covenant stands...
...3. Unlike many fellow academics, both in Israel and abroad, I do not envisage any magic formula for the resolution of the conflict, precisely because it is not a conflict about boundaries or territories, or even the fate of the Palestinians, but because it is a conflict about the legitimacy of Israel's existence...
...Moreover, a Jordanian solution for the Palestinian problem is highly unlikely...
...And many of them identify at least partly with Jordan as well...
...Should there be a Palestinian state...
...As a matter of fact, it exists...
...In the future, it could perhaps evolve either towards statehood in a federal structure (Hawaii) or integration...
...Palestinians have been integrated in the political, social, and economic fabric of Jordan...
...The State of Israel has not annexed the West Bank and the Gaza Strip...
...The security assurances must be real in order to convince the Israeli public that withdrawal would not eventually be a calamitous step enticing an Arab onslaught...
...The confederation may be called the "Greater Palestine Confederation" or the "Confederation of Jordan...
...I doubt if the Arabs are ready to finalize or liquidate the conflict and achieve peace...
...Within the framework of a program for an overall settlement, the following principles are suggested...
...He was responsible for the formulation of Israel's strategic conceptions in the early 1950's...
...Now these and similar questions are discussed daily and heatedly in Israel — in cafes and living rooms, in Parliament, and of course in the daily press...
...the second is essential for assuring the long-range economic and, thus, political survival of the three partners...
...This Article states that the Jews are not a nation, but a mere religious group, have no attributes of a nation and hence have no claim for national sovereignty or national self-determination...
...To grant independence to one million Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza, you say...
...Actually, the only as-yet-unabsorbed Palestinians are the militant 150,000 in the Lebanon camps...
...Within each stage, settlement will be reached gradually: first between Israel and Egypt, then between Israel and Syria, and finally, an agreement between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians...
...Rabin's government continues to resist any forced negotiations with the PLO...
...Meir's position denying the existence of a Palestinian nation was neither based on fact nor conducive to a constructive de-escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict...
...We would be unable to mobilize in time...
...Gil Carl AIRoy_ Answers to these questions are deceptively easy...
...His comments were written before his recent appointment as" Director General of Israel's Foreign Ministry...
...they whose objective it is to destroy the existing sovereign State of Israel, a member state of the UN, together with its inhabitants and achievements...
...to answer "No," as official Israeli policy now does, is to be suicidal...
...4) Within the framework of the political agreement, and for the purpose of speeding up the normalization in the region, Israel would suggest the formation of a confederation between Israel and the political configuration to its east...
...Israel then continues to resist terrorism, etc., and moves forward with indigenous Palestinians to create a moderate Palestinian state...
...deepening isolation from all other political forces in the world and, already peeping over the horizon, isolation even from increasing parts of U.S...
...It should be emphasized that the State of Israel is not interested in the setting up of a bi-national state, with the example of Cyprus and Lebanon before our eyes...
...For Israel to acknowledge the fedayeen and set them up in the West Bank means in the Arab context only that she has been forced to surrender to the unstoppable Arab tide...
...Survey of the Conditions Required for an Agreement in the Middle East" by the Brookings Institute, which was prepared by 16 scholars and American public figures...
...Israel might take the following steps to facilitate an ongoing dialogue: (a) Conduct a national referendum on the future of the occupied territories immediately following the election in the West Bank and Gaza...
...Shulamit Aloni is a Member of the Knesset, representing the Citizen's Rights Party, which she formed in 1973...
...One possible structure of relations is that of a federation, as proposed by King Hussein in 1972...
...All our airfields would come under artillery fire in a war...
...Thus, the Palestinians' struggle could be partly regarded as an internal issue between Palestinian citizens of Jordan...
...5) Jerusalem would serve as the capital of the proposed confederation, and continue to be part of the State of Israel...
...Since the "Mideast" is populated by leftists fighting rightists in Lebanon, and moderates struggling with extremists over what to do about Israel, there is no reason not to expect that within this framework of Western political terminology we shall also see Western political experience prevail — perhaps even to the extent of bringing in a sense of pragmatism...
...Arie Eliav__ 1. Israel should declare its readiness to negotiate with any representative Palestinian body including the PLO on condition that there be mutuality and the stopping of terror...
...The French have always been (and still are) a very proud nation...
...An American citizen, he holds a Ph.D...
...These would include all the usual components: diplomatic, economic and cultural relations, open borders, freedom of navigation, etc...
...Remember Yom Kippur...
...Within our brief word limit, it was difficult for anyone to go into detail on the mechanics of a possible solution to these complex problems, We are, therefore, especially pleased that Moshe Ma'oz, Arthur Waskow and George Assousa are all fairly explicit about the steps which they feel Israel might take toward peace...
...A similar condition may come about with Washington continuing to erode Israel's position, bit by bit, until Israel awakens one day to find herself in bed with Arafat, without having had any say in the matter...
...Israel's adherence to the present borders and its refusal to withdraw is mostly motivated by security considerations, even if some Israelis dress their security concerns in nationalistic terminology...
...The resurgence of Islam (which Bernard Lewis has described in the January issue of Commentary), combined with the diplomatic and economic surrender of the West, and the Washington-managed limited military defeat for Israel in October of 1973 — all this has resulted in a return of the spirit of the great Muslim conquests of old...
...Whoever stipulates that the Palestinians have the right to self-determination should also grant them the right to tiecide whether they aim at a union with Jordan, at a confederation with that state or with Israel, or want to set up an independent state...
...At a later stage, Lebanon and other neighboring countries would also be invited to join that confederation...
...The worst thing for Israel is to try to "gain time" without doing anything...
...We did not experience a similar feeling prior to the Six Day War, and there is no reason for us to have it now, if only our government knew how to speak in a clear language...
...Winning the support of public opinion to our side is thus vital for achieving peace...
...In our case, there are already 20 Arab states, all independent and UN members...
...Most of the respondents agree that Israel should talk with the PLO, generally with the proviso that the PLO would first have to recognize Israel's legitimacy and national sovereignty...
...Israel should, to my mind, announce its readiness to withdraw according to the 242 Resolution which Israel has accepted...
...Nobody knows why, but everybody here says it makes good sense to believe it...
...of dealing with an underdog...
...In the first stage of the Egyptian-Israeli agreement, Israel would acknowledge Egyptian sovereignty over all of Sinai, and would return most of the peninsula to Egypt, along a line running from north of El-Arish to Ras-Muhammad...
...In addition to recognizing Israel's sovereignty and the right of self-determination of the Jewish people in Israel, Egypt would also commit itself to lift the economic boycott, permit the passage of cargoes destined for Israel through the Suez Canal and eliminate anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish indoctrination from the mass media, textbooks and other governmental publications in Egypt...
...By negotiating with the PLO Israel would show that it recognizes the existence of a Palestinian nation...
...Trudy Rubin_ In the face of increasing international pressure for recognition by Israel of Palestinian national rights and for return of the occupied territories, and in the wake of growing awareness of the Palestinian issue among the U.S...
...and whether or not Israel's boycott of the Security Council debate on Palestine was wise, by its absence Israel began to abdicate even that role...
...It would not win over this elite, but it would, at least, represent policy, rather than drift...
...The Arabs have understood that better than the Israelis and, therefore, have tried to adopt tactical steps which would present Israel as the intransigent party...
...But even if such an Israeli initiative does not succeed in removing the danger of war, it is needed in order to prepare for the next war from the best possible position...
...public and the Congress, Israel must develop a new approach to the Palestinian problem...
...Shlomo Avineri is Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Hebrew University...
...1) Israel announces its recognition of the right of self-determination of the Arab-Palestinian people in most of the area within the original mandatory borders of Palestine...
...demilitarized zones under bilateral/multilateral control in Sinai and Golan...
...House of Representatives Committee on International Relations, on the "Palestinian Issue," September-October, 1975) indicate that two-state confederations of Israel-Palestine or Palestine-Jordan are economically unstable and that there may be considerable merit in a three-state solution...
...It is necessary to recognize that historical facts change with the passage of time...
...1 The participants in this symposium are academicians, journalists, and politicians from both Israel and the United States...
...The Israelis already missed that opportunity in 1974...
...so as to grant national status and independence to the American Negroes...
...There is only one nation that is threatened with extermination, and that's us...
...Meanwhile, inside France itself, the Bretons, Occitans and Corsicans are now demanding self-determination, like the Scots and Welsh...
...yet it is becoming increasingly aware that the PLO will have to be part of any Palestinian representation in the foreseeable future...
...Before Yom Kippur 1973, Israelis used to be considered battlefield wizards, and any worry we might express with respect to the defense of Israel would be countered by "you know you can beat them any time...
...This was described by one member of the delegation as "realism...
...She must clearly establish herself as a party interested in peace by opening the door to Palestinian participation in the peacemaking process...
...Further, Israel's tactical position, in the bargaining process with the King, would be enhanced...
...These arrangements between Israel, Egypt, and Syria would be put into effect immediately after the bilateral agreements are signed, and would continue in effect for at least five years, on the assumption that during that period a pattern of acceptable coexistence would begin to develop in Arab-Israel relations...
...The root question is whether there really is a place in the radical shift of American policy under Kissinger for a strong and confident Jewish state...
...Yuval Ne'eman _ Self-determination for three million Sudeten was the end of Czechoslovakia...
...For now, the PLO position, expressed by the PLO Political Department Chief, Farouk Kaddoumi, in recent statements in and outside the UN Security Council, indicates no change on the "covenant" question...
...It seems to me that eventually the Palestinians will have to resign themselves to having their state within a Jordanian-Palestinian state...
...The area returned to Syria would be completely demilitarized of military forces and strategic positions, and would remain under joint Syrian-Israeli, or American-Soviet, supervision...
...These two areas should be given to Jordan, provided, on the one hand, that a peace settlement is agreed upon (which King Hussein has desired for some time), and on the other, that a large degree of political autonomy be given to the Palestinians living in these two areas...
...There can be no long-term peace without settlement of Palestinian national demands...
...permanent and deepening demoralization of Israel as expressed already in the emigration figures...
...It is for the same reasons that the Arabs declined the 1947 UN Partition Plan, because this plan was premised on the right of both communities in British Palestine to national self-determination...
...There are indications that this would spur the PLO to define its aims more clearly, to eliminate the goal of destruction of the Israeli state...
...The reason for this apparent duplicity is simple: only a fool will not recognize the existence of Israel...
...Tomorrow Prime Minister Rabin (but more likely Prime Minister Allon or Eban) makes secret contacts with the people in the PLO who have already said they want to accept a West Bank state: Sabri Jiryis, Said Hammami, etc...
...That they could have done any time between 1948 and 1967...
...Now why should we court suicide...
...It is up to the Palestinians to decide what kind of relations they will have with Jordan (which is also part of the Palestinian problem...
...First, the Israeli government must recognize that the Palestinians are at the heart of the Middle East question, not on the periphery...
...even if we managed, we would just be ready for the curtain fall...
...But without demilitarization, Israeli security might be adversely affected...
...It would elicit enmity from both its neighbors, as basically it would aspire to subvert them both...
...He makes clear that public negotiations with the PLO cannot begin until the PLO publicly eschews terrorism for the period of negotiations and acts to punish any violators, and that if the PLO does not do this Israel will negotiate with other representatives of the Palestinian people — real ones, not puppets...
...their status could be negotiated in the last stage of an overall Arab-Israeli settlement...
...In the Israeli-occupied territories there appears to be growing vocal support for the PLO, even among moderates such as former Jordanian Defense Minister Anwar Nuseibeh, now living in Jerusalem...
...All these are nice expressions and should be appreciated as such, yet they all boil down to an unreadiness to live with Israel, or are simply elegant embellishments of the old call for the destruction of Israel...
...As soon as the PLO utters some vague words of acceptance of UN resolutions — which is not improbable — Washington will rush to interpret such gobble as final "recognition" of the Jewish state, which must fully face the consequences...
...Yuval Ne'eman is Professor of Physics and a past President of Tel Aviv University...
...If they refuse to finalize the conflict in a fashion which would give Israel reasonable assurances for its security, then the offer of all these concessions is tactical, as a means to improve our political position in order to withstand future ordeals...
...In principle the inhabitants of these territories should be regarded as part of the Palestinian-Jordanian state which, if reestablished, is to comprise more than 80 percent of "historic Palestine" and contain more than 70 percent of the Palestinian nation...
...Sometimes it seems, in view of such attitudes, as if we ruled a large, "greater" Israel, though in fact we have turned into a closed and isolated ghetto in a world that cannot understand us...
...I do not see the Palestinization of Jordan in the offing...
...There would be joint Egypt-Israel, or American, supervision over the demilitarization of the area...
...in nuclear physics and is currently a senior member of the scientific" staff at the Carnegie Institution of Washington...
...Formerly on the staffs Of THE ECONOMIST and THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, she recently returned from an extended stay in the Middle East on an Alicia Patterson Foundation fellowship, where she spent much of her time interviewing Palestinians...
...And hasn't the Jewish contribution to mankind, and to its sense of justice, been worth every second of the four millennia of our existence...
...the rift among them is between those who want to let America be the undertaker and those who are too impatient and too distrustful of this particular means of disposal...
...Shlomo Avineri_ 1. Israel should not enter into talks with the PLO...
...My professional experience as a lawyer has taught me that the position of the party whose propositions and drafts serve as a basis for negotiations is always more favorable than that of the other party...
...Second, Israel must make its peace position clear, stating openly what territory it is willing to give up for a settlement, rather than insisting that all questions are negotiable even as various ministers regularly tick off the territories that will never be returned...
...He is the author of MIDDLE EAST: NATIONS, SUPERPOWERS AND WARS, and has written extensively in the fields of international relations, and strategic and arms control issues in the Middle East...
...An armored penetration such as those achieved by the Syrians on the Golan in 1973 would reach Dizengoff Circle...
...Remember Cyprus, Lebanon (where these same Palestinians are in action now, in a "friendly" sister nation...
...Now there are still, to be sure, some angry men among the fedayeen — and who would not be angry after what they have gone through...
...Look at Israel, and at the U.S...
...It would be an understatement to suggest that the Arab world is now certain that it has the rest of us by the throat...
...Israel, with U.S...
...After a few years of harsh American pressure, Israel caves in and allows a Palestinian state to emerge — but then Israel will gain few of the benefits of making the deal and the U.S...
...Jerusalem would be on the border, Tel Aviv's center at 10 miles distance from it...
...The remainder of the region, that is, areas of the Sinai bordering the Negev and the Eilat-Sharm-el-Sheikh corridor, would be leased by Egypt to Israel until the signing of a full peace agreement, and would serve as a security belt and strategic warning zone for Israel...
...These areas would be completely demilitarized and would be devoid of strategic bases...
...So long as the PLO is bound to the principle of denying the right of Jewish self-determination, there is no reason, political or moral, for the suggestion that Israel negotiate with it...
...Among American Jews, though, there has been some reluctance to engage in open debate over the wisdom of Israel's policies, perhaps because we sometimes find it difficult to distinguish between Israel's interests and the policies of a particular administration...
...Except that the Jews are the (large) majority, as long as their number is not culled to fit the Palestinian Charter by getting rid of those who have come to Israel after 1917 (I am OK, my family has been here since the 1800's...
...However, we shall retain our means of pressure, including command over its passage to the Gaza Strip...
...Israel's survival is worth the struggle anyhow, but even those who would be ready to sacrifice our existence for the world good will find in the long run that that good requires an Israel too...
...Such a program would undoubtedly be received sympathetically in the U.S...
...Our situation would have been better if an Israeli document on the conflict had been presented to the public before the publication of the Sanders Report and the...
...The other part of the struggle concerns the West Bank and the Gaza Strip...
...Thus the PLO has a vested interest in the continuation of the conflict — not in its resolution on less than their maximalist demands...
...World public opinion -is transformed into support of Israel...
...third, to negotiate with the PLO about the future of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
...However, these territories are of vital importance to the very existence of Israel as long as the Palestinians and the Arab states have not abandoned their intentions to destroy the state of Israel...
...The Arab areas would enjoy suitable representation in the municipal system of the united city...
...The editors of moment, along with many Jews in Israel and elsewhere, believe that Israel and the Jewish people must reassert themselves as an active force in history...
...If, as I have been told by many Israelis, nearly all of the occupied territories would be given back for a real peace settlement, then let that be said plainly...
...The real alternatives may not be just talking or not talking, or even which way to enhance peace with regard to the disposition of the West Bank...
...But a suicide pact with your enemy is still suicide...
...He was trained in Middle East studies at Princeton and was at its Center of International Studies before going to the City University of New York, where he now teaches...
...This area consists of about 80 percent of mandatory Palestine and today contains about 70 percent of the Arab-Palestinian people...
...There is no path without American pressure except the path of an Israeli initiative...
...c) Publicly state conditions for negotiating with the PLO, consistent with the three preconditions discussed earlier...
...I consider an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank to be a historical impossibility, not because of economical nonviability (the nonviable can be made viable by assistance), but because of geographical considerations (it is landlocked and its need for outlet through Jordan will give Jordan leverage over its destiny) and more so as a demographic imperative (its inhabitants and the Palestinians in Jordan will not agree to live in separate states...
...Thus, solutions have to be worked out...
...This peace settlement might not include all the paraphernalia of normal relations between states (such as easy crossing of borders) but would probably include from the start some components of normal peace relations as well as basic diplomatic recognition...
...Moshe Ma'oz is Academic Director of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute of the Hebrew University...
...The subject under discussion cannot, at least not in the present stage, be included among those limited subjects...
...But of course these questions are of the highest significance for an American Jewish community that has learned to participate in the life and death events which affect Israel...
...Would a demilitarization of the West Bank be credible...
...Such an initiative would express a cardinal effort on Israel's part to try and break the hostile Arab noose, and would help nurture any tendency that may exist in the Arab world, particularly in Egypt, to reduce the tensions of the Arab-Israel conflict...
...Several participants argue that a Palestinian state on the West Bank is essential for peace, but Yuval Ne'eman argues most strongly that the reverse is true, and goes into detail in explaining his opposition to a development he believes would be fatal for Israel...
...Ultimately, the present policy leads to one of two paths: in one, America rather than Israel takes the initiative...
...If the PLO were to refuse, however, it would be evident that it is they who close the door to negotiations...
...Arthur Waskow__ To answer "Yes" to these questions is to choose life...
...Economic interdependence may even be a sufficient condition for political stability...
...Yehoshafat Harkabi is Professor of International Relations at the Hebrew University...
...Third possibility: the Rabin/Allon/Eban government falls, Likkud comes to power, and carries on the present Rabin policy...
...Already in the January meeting of the Security Council, instead of pressing for the "democratic secular state," the PLO emphasized the concept of the partition resolution with its implicit acceptance of the idea of two states in the area...
...No doubt Israel will be able to take the Palestinians and possibly half the Middle East to nuclear hell as well...
...However, there is an apparent interest in reevaluating this position in light of the results of the upcoming municipal elections in the occupied territories...
...First, there are so many political frictions among the Palestinians that it is highly likely that extreme elements will try to promote irredentism against Israel and possibly Jordan, and thereby destabilize the region...
...Much depends on American Jews...
...it is enough to immerse oneself for just a little time and with a little honesty to realize how very different the real situation is...
...Moshe Ma'oz__ 1. Israel should be prepared to talk to the PLO provided the PLO recognizes the right of Israel to exist as a sovereign Jewish state, and agrees to the principle that the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip should be determined in the last stage of an overall Arab-Israeli settlement...
...3. Israel must initiate a program for an overall settlement that will force the Arab states to confront and consider it, and might even disclose their true intentions...
...The answer would be a resounding "yes" // the Middle East were the place described in The New York Times, Time, and similar places, or in Foreign Policy, or in the papers written by very bright people with degrees in political science from Harvard...
...King Hussein and Jordan have now formally abdicated their rights to the West Bank, but even if they would some day return to the scene, how could we stake our existence on what could only be a transitory and unstable situation...
...Perhaps survival cannot come within his design, but only with the overthrow of that design...
...Other components of "normalization" of relations will gradually come about, and the stages at which they will come about could even be specified in the agreement...
...This implies that Israel must facilitate direct contact between West Bank leadership and the PLO...
...Any interim "peace" we might enjoy between the Arab occupation of the West Bank and the final onslaught (shall we have two years, as after the Paris agreements...
...It is for this reason that Sadat may state, on one hand, that he recognizes Israel — and then go on to denounce Zionism (i.e., the normative set of values legitimizing Israel's existence) in most vituperative terms...
...A Palestinian West Bank state would be squeezed between Israel and Jordan...
...For some years now Israel has been reacting, rather than acting, in its diplomatic struggles with the Arabs and the rest of the world...
...The Arabs make two demands of Israel: (1) Return of the occupied territories, which is based on the 242 S.C...
...permanent dependence on the money and the whims of the U.S...
...Take a world map...
...But politics is not to be confused with the scientific method...
...At least two other conditions must be met: (a) a moderate, broadly representative leadership to include major leadership elements in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan and other Palestinian diaspora communities that are committed to Palestinian reconstruction, and to include PLO...
...If we pushed hard for this initiative, it could happen...
...Nine years later, it has dissipated considerably, and now threatens to slip away entirely...
...it would make King Hussein's position more acceptable in the Arab world should he start negotiations with Israel...
...The referendum should address (a) the question of withdrawal, (b) the future relationship of Israel to the Palestinian State, and (c) the acceptance of a regional confederation while maintaining autonomy...
...This directive implies concession on both sides of the conflict...
...What has never been expressed by any Arab leader is a statement that he recognizes or accepts the legitimate existence of Israel...
...Israel west of the Jordan cannot be redivided, and the realistic choices range from integration to a federal structure...
...Jordan enjoys at present an economic boom and its political entity is in a process of reinforcement and entrenchment, whether despite the Rabat conference or because of it...
...It would not be big enough to satisfy the ambitions of PLO leadership, which would have to compete with the local leaders...
...Trudy Rubin adds that future settlement in the territories should be outlawed...
...Second possible result: the PLO splits on the issue of how to respond, and fails to accept...
...e.g., 30 percent of the Palestinians currently live in eastern Jordan, 25 percent in the West Bank area, and 15 percent in the Gaza Strip...
...The following is an outline of the steps that can be taken toward achieving an overall settlement in two stages, with the first stage including an agreement of non-belligerency, and the second stage culminating in a full peace...
...It could lead to the emergence of leadership which was acceptable to Palestinians both inside and outside (including the PLO) with whom negotiations might be possible...
...Or perhaps all questions of this sort are irrelevant...
...Second, no independent state would be ready to demilitarize its entire territory...
...Yehoshafat Harkabi_ The present stage in the Arab-Israeli conflict is not a dispute on how to settle the conflict, but rather a competition in how to win world public opinion...
...If, instead, Israel took the initiative...
...It can take the initiative by requiring that the PLO meet preconditions consistent with responsible representation...
...So much for "Yes...
...At most, they will all get local autonomy some day, rather than separate nationhoods...
...And besides, as everyone knows, the Palestinians are the crux of the matter...
...Such a policy might have important repercussions on the West Bank as well...
...Nuseibeh remarks that the PLO should be supported because it represents the "obvious channel through which progress may be achieved...
...Further, there must be a demonstration that the PLO is representative...
...But they do not want to return to the West Bank and Gaza...
...As opposed to the Middle East known to Orientalists, this "Mideast" is a fortunate place, finally moving quickly toward justice and peace, thanks mainly to Sadat's wisdom, Faisal's moderation, and Kissinger's (and Nixon's) brilliance...
...One of Israel's most prominent interpreters of the contemporary Arab world, he has written widely on political trends among the Arabs and the Palestinians...
...At the same time it is important to remember that Palestinians living in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and in what is now Jordan, have several levels of national identifications and adherences...
...After steadfastly refusing for decades even to acknowledge Israel, much of the Arab world has suddenly made its peace with her...
...Nor did the war that followed...
...These have been fostered by the arbitrary mandate boundaries, by reaction to Zionism, by the unpleasant treatment received by Palestinians as refugees in several Arab lands, and by the political and military activities of the PLO during the last 10 years...
...a) The PLO should include broader representation by forming a consensus government-in-exile to include members of the Rejectionist front and East and West Bank Palestinian notables...
...It is true that many Palestinians resent the Jordanian regime — the Hashemite monarchy — and prefer a Palestinian republic...
...Trudy Rubin is a Fellow at the Center For International Affairs at Harvard University...
...government...
...For the Negroes and the American Indians, this would be the sole opportunity for full expression of their nationhood...
...But this is a dream that will melt as soon as they assume real responsibility in a state of their own, when realism replaces rhetoric...
...Now, more than 30 years after World War II, there are still representatives of the four powers in Berlin...
...but at the same time they regard Transjordan as part of "historic Palestine" (this is also the conception of the PLO...
...Thus, the burden of proof would shift from Israel to the Arabs...
...They say they cannot act openly while the Israeli government flatly refuses to entertain the idea of a third state or even focus on the Palestinian issue...
...Without such pressure by the Israelis, the PLO does not have to make this choice...
...Many in his royal court believe he is better off without the Palestinian problem...
...The withdrawal would be conditioned on the Arabs satisfying us that their aggressive attitudes, which caused our occupation of these territories, have lapsed, and such assurances should be embodied in concrete physical arrangements, i.e., demilitarization, joint patrolling, a system of monitoring national attitudes, etc...
...Arab antiaircraft missiles could shoot down any plane over the whole of central Israel...
...W.N...
...It is our duty to make sure that any settlement that is agreed upon should guarantee the well-being and security of Israel...
...A lawyer and a teacher, she has written widely on problems in Israeli education and on the issues of civil rights in a religious state...
...He has written several books and a variety of articles on Arab society and the conflict...
...It might also create a split in the united inter-Arab activities against Israel, and lead states like Egypt and Jordan to opt for an honorable settlement rather than an additional war which is likely to end in large-scale death and destruction for all involved...
...who talk about the dismantling of Israel...
...2. A Palestinian state is important for peace in the Middle East...
...And just imagine the prospects for terrorism in those geographic conditions...
...Is the third case any worse than the present situation...
...Because there is a broad consensus that Israel must take more forceful political and diplomatic steps, we have sought the opinions of some people whose familiarity with these problems is evident, and whose opinions we value, regarding the actions which Israel might now take...
...The Palestinian problem is the heart of the whole conflict...
...Since the Palestinians themselves are torn by these issues, it is surely not appropriate for a non-Palestinian to define their national identity or to prescribe what course of national political action they should take...
...We believe that the community would benefit both itself and Israel if it took a corre-ponding interest in the issues which affect Israel as well...
...For the 1967 war did not bring peace to the Middle East or security to a beleaguered Israel...
...Moreover, they appear to the world — notably to Western Europe and to the United States public — as evidence of Arab claims that Israel is interested mainly in territorial expansion...
...If not, what should be done with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip territories...
...The establishment of these three requirements as a precondition for direct Israeli-PLO negotiations will serve the best self-interest of both peoples, and should be a precursor to implementable Israeli-Palestinian agreements whether negotiated in Geneva or elsewhere...
...Harkabi argues that the failure to deal critically with inherent internal problems of the PLO has given the organization an aura of unity which in reality it does not have...
...He announces a 30-day moratorium on all bombing or raids into Lebanon, and says that if the PLO reciprocates by ending all terrorism he is prepared for Israel to open negotiations with them...
...What it should do is to pursue actively and simultaneously four courses of action: first, to start again earnest negotiations with King Hussein with a view to reaching a final settlement along the lines indicated here, or a first step towards such a settlement...
...Such negotiations with the PLO could be held publicly if the PLO first recognized the existence of Israel, or could be held secretly if the PLO prefers to hold to its present position...
...What if there does remain in one place an Arab minority which will enjoy a more limited degree of self-determination...
...Beginning in 1948, and intermittently thereafter, the Jewish People has experienced the particular exhilaration of a nation finally in control of its own destiny...
...The State of Israel should proclaim that it is ready to negotiate and discuss peace with every party, not excepting the PLO, on condition that the PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to a sovereign existence as the state of the Jewish people...
...The persistent opposition to the idea of the Palestinian West Bank state in all the resolutions of the PLO National Councils (from the 4th of July in 1968 to the 11th of January in 1973...
...Those of us who understood the odds would try — with little success — to explain the risks inherent in strategic-geographic vulnerability, and the price for a small nation, even if victorious...
...Once the PLO changes its position on this issue, accepts the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination and national sovereignty on the basis of mutual acceptance, then a completely new page in the history of the Middle East could be opened...
...b) The PLO should declare and enforce a moratorium on violence, with Israel making an equivalent commitment to stop retaliatory and preemptive raids...
...Until now Palestinian moderation has expressed itself only in masquerading behind tactical verbal ploys: "democratic state," "readiness to live with Jews," etc...
...My talks with Palestinians throughout the Middle East have convinced me that the PLO at this moment does speak for the majority of Palestinians, chiefly because it is the only group doing anything on their behalf, and because the Jordanians and more recently the Israelis have discouraged the development of any aenuine leadership on .the West Bank...
...Summaries are always dangerous, but we can derive some general conclusions from the responses that follow...
...In exchange for all this, Israel would recognize Syrian sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and during this first stage, would return to Syria most of the area, except for the ridge of the Heights and the Hermon, which Israel would retain as a security belt and strategic stronghold...
...If not — continued deadlock, renewed disaster...
...Abandoning the idea of destroying Israel by an all-out war does not necessarily imply readiness for coexistence...
...President Sadat of Egypt is isolated today in the Arab world precisely because he concluded a disengagement without achieving something for the Palestinians...
...Of course, this only applies where propositions are carefully worked out, where enough space is left for maneuvering, and where options that are acceptable are given...
...or to the Indians...
...The limitations are: (a) Demilitarization of forces and weaponry, except for limited police forces armed with light weapons...
...So far I have not seen signs of it...
...If Sadat intends to postpone peace to the next generation, why should not withdrawal, too, be postponed until then...
...Therefore these territories should be kept under Israeli military supervision...
...With a more forthright statement of Israeli policy towards the Palestinians, the PLO would then be forced to choose whether to follow the road of negotiations and ultimately of mutual recognition...
...it would prove that it is ready to negotiate with any Arab political factor in the Middle East...
...And the longer the occupation lasts, the greater the hostility of the occupied and the less chance of success for a settlement...
...Moreover, the PLO's prestige has been strengthened by the recent events in Lebanon...
...It is certainly a key ingredient of any long-term solution...
...such recognition does not preclude an attempt to do away with its existence...
...Fourth possibility: the PLO accepts, Palestine emerges, there is an uneasy "peace-cold war," and in 1985 Palestine starts to smuggle in Iraqi or Soviet troops or arms...
...Should we then rely on treaties, truces, ceasefires...
...This is not a mere tactical or diplomatic issue: around this denial by the Arabs of the right of the Jews to national self-determination revolves the whole Middle East conflict...
...will pick up the chips...
...It seems to me that PLO evaluation of the weakness of such a mini-state, on which they did not spare appellations of abuse, is closer to reality than the Israeli leaders' description of it as a time bomb...
...Most of the participants favor a national homeland for the Palestinians, and the Israelis in particular express the hope that this might come about in some conjunction with Jordan — although one has the impression that they really don't expect it to happen this way...
...2. As Prime Minister Rabin has stated more than once, a solution to the Palestinian problem will have to be part of any overall solution to the conflict...
...They also have a basic feeling of belonging to the "Arab nation...
...Such a state would not solve the acute problem of the Palestinians in Lebanon, or absorb them...
...It is my firm belief that if the West Bank and Gaza can ever be used as staging areas by modern Arab forces, Israel would be undefendable...
...they who are the aggressive and violent party that does not wish to reach a peace agreement...
...3) Israel would be prepared to discuss the removal of military installations on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and study anew the status of those areas in the wake of signing peace agreements with the Arab states, and after a period of normalization of at least five years between Israel and the inhabitants of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Arab states...
...Integration may be too difficult now, although it would in fact be the "non-sectarian state" dreamed up by the Palestinians themselves...
...Their adherence to the unamended National Covenant from July 1968 testifies to this, as do Farouk Kaddoumi's recent utterings...
...Shulamit Aloni_ 1. In my opinion, it is only on very infrequent occasions and on very limited subjects that statesmen should answer with a categorical "never...
...Third, Israel must reverse its settlement policy...
...These rights and this municipal representation would be granted even in the event that a confederation were not formed...
...a genuine overture to the Palestinians would put the burden on them to decide whether to respond...
...Anyhow, Israel's international stance would be improved by the readiness to offer concessions, and such a change might eventually influence the Arab position...
...There is no question that there is a Palestinian national entity...
...Most of the so-called Israeli hawks are hawks out of despair rather than hawks of avidity...
...All the wishful thinking in the world cannot change this...
...All this does not mean that Israel should not negotiate with the PLO...
...Israel responds by cutting the Gaza-West Bank road, threatening to reoccupy the whole area...
...Finally, it is only fair to note that one participant in the symposium, Gil Carl AlRoy, believes that the questions themselves are inappropriate, and betray a bias which he does not share...
...That path leads straight to the physical destruction of Israel...
...Hence a joint Jordanian-Palestinian solution appears to me to be more helpful towards the solution of the Palestinian problem than a mere West Bank state, which will still leave almost a million Palestinians on the East Bank outside its confines...
...Remember how all "Wars of Attrition" were started when convenient to the other side, disregarding any previous agreements...
...Once they did this, there would be room for a dialogue...
...Many of them served as members of the Jordanian cabinet and even as Prime Ministers...
...Thus, the demand for Palestinian self-determination should be addressed to the Arabs...
...The whole basis of the PLO's claim for sympathy and understanding rests on its claim that the Palestinians have a right to self-determination: this can be easily granted...
...Suppose that an agreement on a union with Jordan is concluded, in the wake of which a split occurs resulting in the emergence of a separate independent unit on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — is this a causus belli or not...
...b) an economic and political confederation with both Israel and Jordan...
...Congress and by world public opinion...
...The real problem for Israel is not with the PLO, but with Washington...
...This aim is rooted in a number of deeply held ideological conceptions, the primary among them expressed in Article 20 of the PLO Charter...
...remember the Paris agreements...
...While only one writer specifically mentions the renunciation of terror in this regard, this is probably a case of omitting the obvious...
...As an Israeli who does not want to deny to anyone else the right which he claims for himself (national self-determination) I cannot, conversely, accept the legitimacy of a claim for Palestinian self-determination which is premised on the negation of that right to me and another three million Jews in Israel...
...Some Arab leaders, notably Sadat, have modified their explicit position and sometimes even refer to the fact that they recognize the existence of Israel — but are not ready to grant it diplomatic recognition...
...Both conditions should be prerequisites to the formation of the State...
...Should Israel take any initiatives toward peace...
...First, there seems to be unanimous agreement that Israel must act, and that such action may help to hasten peace...
...In it, Syria would commit itself to recognize the sovereignty of Israel and the right of self-determination of its inhabitants, would agree to non-belligerency and refrain from aiding forces hostile to Israel, would lift the economic boycott and close the Arab boycott office in Damascus, and stop anti-Israel indoctrination...
...Above all, this program is needed as a cardinal and truthful effort on the part of Israel to try and break the hostile Arab noose, in order to free itself for the building of Israel's society on firm and healthy foundations...
...They simply serve to establish in the eyes of the world that Israel's interest is in peace, not in territory...
...We get the impression, however, that the fact of such a declaration might itself be as important as any of the specifics it contains...
...George E. Assousa 1. Professor Yehoshafat Harkabi of the Hebrew University, a former Israeli military intelligence director and a specialist on the Palestinians, recently criticized the Rabin government for its failure to deal with the PLO by failing to view it as the only serious representative of the Palestinian people...
...Israeli security apprehensions should be first met in a reasonable fashion...
...Once Israel returns her conquests and grants the Palestinians a modicum of satisfaction, the scene will be set for definitive peace and mutual acceptance...
...In this same stage, Egypt and Israel would sign a nonbelligerency agreement within which both sides would bind themselves to refrain from hostile actions and from aiding official and unofficial forces which threaten the other state...
...D.C., and a member of the Executive Board of Breira, A Project of Concern in Diaspora-Israel Relations...
...He has long been an outspoken dove, and his views are best represented in his recent book, LAND OF THE HART Yair Evron is co-chairman of the Strategic Studies Division of the Davis Institute of International Relations at the Hebrew University...
...Thus, the ball would be returned to the PLO and it would be up to them to provide an answer...
...The fact that there are still parties in Israel that obstinately refuse to recognize that the Palestinians exist, and that claim that the problem as such is non-existent, creates an erroneous impression and contributes to Israel's isolation...
...It is doubtful whether the Arab leaders would agree to this proposed overall settlement, but this proposal, presented publicly by Israel, would be likely to raise questions among them, and present them with alternatives to war...
...One possible result: the PLO agrees, the process begins, and after protracted negotiations a new Palestine emerges alongside Israel, the two living in peace with each other...
...Rather, they might have to do with whether America and Israel are to yield to the pressures of the PLO...
...and perhaps to allow back the other Palestinians who would want to return...
...Arthur Waskow is a Resident Fellow of The Institute for Policy Studies in Washington...
...This active diplomacy is predicated on the basic assumption that the territories conquered in 1967 would be used as bargaining cards and eventually be returned...
...Arabs are now more relaxed about Israel precisely because they see her as a terminal case...
...I have said the same for nine years, and the lack of such a declaration has already brought, and will still bring, havoc upon us...
...Still, you find autonomous minority French provinces, large and small, in Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy (Val d'Aoste) and the U.K...
...This identification, these common bonds, are apparent in talking with Palestinians all over the Arab world, as I have done...
...Day after tomorrow, Rabin/Allon/Eban takes these public acts: he announces that Israel wants a free Palestinian state on the West Bank/Gaza on the sole condition that this state accept its responsibility to live in peace with Israel and negotiate guarantees to that end...
...This is perhaps the kind of document that Israel should have published, though not without several changes, and couched in more restrained language...
...Worse, it has since become clear that the Yom Kippur War was only one of a series of events having to do with our accelerating loss of control over history...
...However, I consider that it is a grave mistake on the part of Israel to present a historical evaluation as a political demand...
...2. It is important to recognize the fact that there is a Palestinian entity, and that the Palestinians have a right to self-determination and are entitled to their sovereignty...
...Needless to add, such negotiations would also affect positively Israel's position in world public opinion...
...Both states would be much easier to define and carve up geographically than a Palestine in the Connecticut-size area between the Mediterranean and the Jordan-Dead Sea...
...A settlement cannot be concluded, perhaps not even seriously undertaken, without solving the Palestinian problem...
...Aspirations now speak of "turning Europe, Japan, the Americas into manufacturing provinces of the new Arab economic empire and the societies of these regions into subservient labor forces," according to Thomas Kiernan, whose 1975 book, The Arabs, was intended to be pro-Arab...
...They would • have to renounce their political stand and withdraw their declarations that it is their aim to destroy the State of Israel...
...George E. Assousa, a Palestinian Arab, is co-founder and president of the Foundation for Arab Israeli Reconciliation (FAIR) in Washington, DC...
...and if the Arabs reject these proposals — then we have no alternative other than to respond militarily when we are attacked...
...Israeli policies which would allow for a deal with the Palestinians would be of little help, because they would appear as hair-splitting to the American foreign policy elite, which is already bent on reducing Israel to no more than a miserable protectorate inside a surging Arab imperial domain...
...Fourth, Israel must base its policy on the existence of a Palestinian people which is entitled to a homeland...
...The objective of making Israel nonviable so that it withers away is in vogue now...
...So it might help more to declare Israel's real intent: either the return of most of the area to Jordan, or its autonomy in conjunction with Israel — and stick to it...
...which almost did not authorize the technicians in Sinai) were to undersign...
...fourth, to create with Egypt a forum within which thorough, detailed and relaxed negotiations would be conducted not about an immediate next step, but rather about the nature of the future relations between the two countries and about the whole structure of international relations in the Middle East...
...But the very document in which the PLO claims this right for the Palestinians denies the same right to the Jews...
...There are several reasons for this...
...Are not cases one and two a great deal better than where we are now and will almost certainly get...
...Several writers suggest that an Israeli peace initiative might be as modest as an announcement, or a document, making clear Israel's plans and intentions with regard to the final disposition of specific territories...
...the Syrians, who are tied to the Palestinians by history, popular sentiment, and the involvement of the latter at all levels of Syrian politics, will not abandon the Palestinians...
...b) Identify and encourage resident leadership in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to run for office, and invite exiled, Palestinian and Israeli Arabs to return and to seek political office...
...The fedayeen are already openly discussing how to use a West Bank base for the last push — and their plans are as realistic as they are ominous...
...Recent developments in the United Nations, first in the General Assembly in November, and then in the Security Council in January, have shown us in bitter detail exactly how widespread is the case against us, and how passive we have become in response to it...
...A Palestinian State could be established simultaneously with the creation of a three-state confederation to cover the old historically designated "Palestine region" which, in addition to the 2.8 million Israelis, also includes 1 million Jordanians and about 2.5 million Palestinians (approximately 84 percent of all Palestinians...
...permanent distortion of the Israeli economy and deepening depression/inflation...
...It is needed in order to strengthen American congressional support of Israel in political-diplomatic, military-security and economic channels...
...In September he resigned from a position as Senior Advisor to the Minister of Defense...
...In any case, the government of the State of Israel ought to explain the present political reality to the Israeli public, and should get down to formulating suggestions that might lead to the termination of the conflict...
...The first of these conditions is necessary for initiating a politically stable state or society...
...Research on regional economic viability carried out by FAIR's Arab-Israeli task force groups (see testimonies of J. D. Ben-Dak and G. E. Assousa before the Subcommittee on Special Investigations of the U.S...
...Beware of the superficial impressions (Berrigans, etc...
...He legalizes all nonviolent political activity in the Occupied Territories...
...He releases all Palestinian prisoners who have not been formally convicted of outright terrorism from administrative detention or exile, and sends all who have been so convicted out of the country...
...Surely there are palpable dangers in our withdrawal from the West Bank...
...3. I believe that a disclosure of Israel's intentions and plans as well as an Israeli initiative are likely to be of advantage to us...
...public opinion...
...One does not have to study and live in the area for many years as an Orientalist...
...3. As to Israel's initiatives towards resolving the conflict, Israel must be guided by a commitment to regional acceptance and integration as a contributing partner to regional peace and development...
...It is evident to everyone," adds Shulamit Aloni, "that the present situation must not continue for any length of time...
...Following the signing of the stage-one agreement between Egypt and Israel, a similar agreement (for a trial period of one year) would be signed with Syria...
...Rather than pursue an opportunity lost in 1974, the Israeli government should seek to grasp one that could be lost in 1976...
...But the issue of economic interdependence must be seen as a prior condition for such confederation...
...There are three reasons why a "Jordanian solution" is preferable to an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip...
...The PLO, as presently constituted, is aimed explicitly and unequivocally at the destruction of the State of Israel...
...The 1973 war proved that civilian settlements are no aid to defense but rather put additional burdens on the military to defend and/or evacuate them...
...The argument that the only solution possible is union with Jordan, and that no alternative exists, sounds strange...
...If we don't undertake the planning, others will instead...
...Israel should declare readiness to recognize the legitimate interests or rights of the Palestinians and negotiate with the PLO, provided the Palestinians recognize simultaneously the legitimacy of Israel...
...He has lived and worked there for lO years, about half that time in the employ of the State Department...
...Hussein is doing well after Rabat...
...Two things are essential from the Israeli security point of view: first, complete demilitarization of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — no heavy armor, artillery, surface-to-air missiles or anti-tank missiles, and, second, the presence of enough Jordanian infantry to police the area and act against extreme Palestinian organizations that might try to trigger a confrontation between Israel and Jordan...
...the 12th Council in June 1974 assumed an ambiguous position) is not accidental...
...Moreover, the Arab oil states are just starting their economic development and are already absorbing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs...
...Channel Islands...
...Its partner in the confederation would be granted worship and cultural rights in the Arab portions of Jerusalem...
...We asked them three questions: Should Israel talk with the PLO...
...Have you considered dividing up the U.S...
...In certain respects, Jordan is and certainly has been a Palestinian state, since the majority of its population is Palestinian — about 55 percent of present day Jordan and some 70 percent in pre-1967 Jordan...
...As Yair Evron puts it, "the worst thing for Israel to do is to try to 'gain time' without doing anything...
...YairEvron_ Mrs...
...Our main concern should not be the character of the sovereign organization of the Palestinians, but the attainment of the best possible guarantee for the well-being and the security of Israel...
...As a continuation of this pattern, after five years, or 10 additional years, or even after a generation (in the estimation of President Sadat of Egypt), full peace agreements would be signed between Israel and its Arab neighbors...
...Fortunately, very few people have this perspective, for the picture it produces is not, for Israel, a very happy one...
...In contrast to the suggested arrangements regarding Sinai and the Golan, a different approach and timetable are needed regarding the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — mainly because of security factors...
...The PLO cannot be a vehicle for such a solution, and it is for this reason that I have hoped, ever since 1967, that a moderate Palestinian leadership, ready to accept Israel on a basis of equality, would emerge on the West Bank, and that such leadership would be encouraged by Israel as an alternative to the extremist positions of the PLO, with which Israel can have no business...
...AlRoy is right to point that out...
...3. Do you believe that there is any initiative, with respect to a solution of the conflict, that Israel should now undertake...
...Israel should not oppose the idea of such a state but rather maintain a sympathetic indifference toward it...
...The above steps do not give away anything...
...History knows of cases of demilitarized zones and internationa> guarantees lasting over a period of 30 years...
...It is impossible for either of us to destroy the other," he said...
...3. Israel should make a general declaration of intent, that for full peace it is ready to give up the occupied territories (from the Six Day War) with some adjustments agreed upon and negotiated between the parties...
...It is time we stopped living with the illusion that it is possible to have a sovereign Jewish state while at the same time ignoring the existence of a million and a half Palestinians who are in the throes of a national revival and striving for political self-expression...
...This has not occurred, for reasons that have to do with the internal constraints of both Israeli and Arab politics...
...c) The PLO should recognize Israel's right to exist, with Israel recognizing the Palestinian right for self-determination in a state west of the Jordan, and declaring its willingness to negotiate withdrawal to June 5, 1967 borders to facilitate the formation of a Palestinian state...
...second, to negotiate with Syria about another interim agreement for the Golan Heights, and to be ready to withdraw from some settlements there...
...War threatens...
...They certainly feel Palestinian...
...But if the latter demand does not denote a euphemism for the demise of Israel, the solution of the Palestinian problem or the establishment of the Palestinian state to satisfy their self-determination should be achieved in the 1967 borders outside of Israel...
...For there is a very good chance that if the Israeli government took these steps — recognizing the centrality of the Palestine problem, stating that it would return the territories for peace, ending the policy of territorial settlement, and accepting the idea of a Palestinian state contingent on reciprocal acceptance of the Israeli state by the Palestinians — that a positive response would be forthcoming from the Palestinians...
...He makes clear Israel is ready to accept as a complete solution a West Bank/Gaza/East Jerusalem Palestinian state, with special arrangements for the Old City of Jerusalem and for open access to all parts of Jerusalem...
Vol. 1 • March 1976 • No. 8
