The government does not have a national plan and is forced to do things that are not in Israel’s interest.
Mofaz at the 10th Annual Herzliya Conference:
“The government does not have a national plan and is forced to do things that are not in Israel’s interest.”
The Middle East’s leading security & policy conference continues until Feb.3rd at the IDC Herzliya Campus
Lt. Gen. (res.) Shaul Mofaz, former Minister of Defense and Israeli Chief of Staff, opened the session entitled, ‘Prospects of Peace: The Regional Dimension’ of the Herzliya Conference by explaining that a plan for the two state solution must be implemented as soon as possible. He suggests that Israel needs to have defendable borders, such as Ma’ale Adumim and Efrat, and the Palestinian state will be 60% of the West Bank. “My plan is very basic, but it is a plan that can be implemented and implementation is key…We have a window of opportunity [while things are calm] and we must negotiate now to give hope to both sides. If we wait another year without any productive steps towards peace, Hezbollah will not allow this calmness to continue.”
Former White House advisor, Elliot Abrams, elaborated on the negotiations saying that it is not just the Palestinian support that we are dealing with, but the Arab nations as a whole. The Arab League involvement however is limited. “Almost no Arab leader has set foot into the West Bank. They know nothing about it. They think it looks like Yemen or Geneva. How can they expect to make something out of nothing?” They need to help monetarily to help the bottom up process be actualized.
Top representative from Ministry of Defense, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Gilead, agrees but insists on proceeding with caution. He remarked that security for the West Bank needs to be according to Israel’s standards otherwise they cannot give it to the Palestinians because they [Palestinians] are coping with Hamas. “As long as Hamas exists, no peace agreement can be made. Hamas needs to disappear.”
The overall feeling was that the change is imminent and in order to influence this change, negotiations must be made now. Deputy Prime Minister, Dan Meridor, specified that unlike Mofaz’s plan to create the Palestinian state and deal with the issue of refugees at a later point, Meridor explains that everything needs to be put on the table now so that something will come about. He warns against the illusion of stability saying, “We cannot promise success, but we cannot do nothing either.”
BreuerPress
