Wake up and smell the gun powder

Under no conditions should Israel talk to the PA particularly now that Hamas is the party in power. It doesn’t matter if Hamas or Fatah change their charters. It doesn’t matter if they agree to forgo violence. It doesn’t matter what else they might agree to. What matters is that they don’t want peace but victory.

While the world carries on like there is a peace process, in reality there is a war process only. To test this thesis I suggest you look for any evidence that suggests we have moved closer to peace rather then to war since the Oslo Accords were signed. Conversely compare the situation now with what existed prior to the accords.

What I see now is that the PA has always been dedicated to destroying Israel. More so now that Hamas is in power. It has been arming for war rather then disarming for peace as agreed to in Oslo and the Roadmap. This has accelerated since the Gaza disengagement and the Rafah agreement. Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade has announced that it now has a missile that can travel 16 kilometers which is enough to reach any city in Israel from the West Bank. Al Qaeda is now operating in Lebanon Sinai, Gaza and Jordan. Hamas is not only part of the Islamic Brotherhood it has a strategic relationship with Syria and Iran who are also on record as intent on destroying Israel. Iran, not only finances Hamas, but also pulls its strings. Hamas has announced if Israel attacks Iran, it will attack Israel. Rest assured that Hezbollah, with its 10,000 rockets will also join in. The dominant party in Iraq has also been on record of not recognizing Israel and they too are influenced by Iran.

Syria and Iran continue to resist American pressure and show no signs of capitulating. Similarly Hamas won’t capitulate and will not break ranks with the rejectionist forces. Soon the US will be retreating from Iraq leaving in its wake a very unstable country. Iran is soon to open an embassy in Ramallah.

Israel should recognize the peace process for what it is and get on a war footing. Its goal should not be peace but victory.

It astounds me that Labour is still taking about a negotiated withdrawal and Kadima is talking about a unilateral withdrawal. How can this possible make Israel safer? Both parties view the occupation as the problem rather then the solution.

Israel should maintain security control of the West Bank and should not allow contiguity with Gaza. The fence should be moved to encircle Area A as delineated by Oslo. This may require legislation to take the fence location out of the jurisdiction of the High Court of Israel. Then these lands should be annexed.

Such a move would result in an additional 300,000 Arabs being west of the fence. All terrorists and their families from among them should be expelled. This should be done as either a legal process or a military process. Before Arabs would be allowed to stay they would have to sign a stringent loyalty oath. Any violation of that oath in word or deed should result in expulsion. Citizenship should be made available to all newborn children. Adults should be entitled to citizenship after five to ten years providing they take educational courses and become fluent in Hebrew. Sixteen years of lies and incitement must be undone. Such requirements are in place in many countries now. The same would apply to Arabs in Jerusalem.

To my mind Israel could absorb the additional Arabs and the trade off would be an enlarged Israel to allow for further growth, defensible borders and an undivided Jerusalem. The later would be made more acceptable to the world because Israel would contain almost as many Arabs as Gaza and Area “A” combined. Certainly more then Area “A” alone. And don’t forget that Gaza was Egyptian territory until ’67..

Of course the Arabs would complain that Area "A" is a “prison“, the west would complain that it would mean the end of the two state solution and the leftists would complain that Israel is an apartheid state regardless that citizenship offered.. Pressure would then build for a bi-national state. Israel should learn how to just say “no”.

Area “A” should not become part of Israel but it should be offered autonomy which is a form of limited sovereignty.

Thus Israel would have dealt with the demographic threat, the occupation threat and the security threat. And then there is Iran.

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Area A in dark brown IMO a presence in the Jordan Valley, with a link to Jordan would be necessary.

An alternate from the Joint Chiefs of Staff

The Pentagon Plan - Joint Chiefs of Staff Map (1974)

Thoughtful military experts have for many years recognized the risks for Israel should it no longer be able to control the territories it acquired in the course of the Six-Day War in June 1967. For example, shortly after the end of that conflict, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff concluded that, "From a strictly military point of view, Israel would require the retention of some captured territory in order to provide militarily defensible borders."

The Chiefs made the following specific findings:

"The prominent high ground running north-south through the middle of West Jordan [Judea and Samaria] generally...would provide Israel with a militarily defensible border."

"The commanding territory east of the boundary of 4 June 1967 [the Golan Heights]...overlooks the Galilee area. To provide a defense in-depth, Israel would need a strip about 15 miles wide extending from the border of Lebanon to the border of Jordan."

"By occupying the Gaza Strip, Israel would trade approximately 45 miles of hostile border for eight. Configured as it [was prior to 1967], the strip serve[d] as a salient for introduction of Arab subversion and terrorism and its retention would be to Israel's military advantage."

"To defend the Jerusalem area would require that the boundary of Israel be positioned to the east of the city to provide for the organization of an adequate defensive position."

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These findings are as valid today as they were in 1967. In fact, they have been reaffirmed again and again by knowledgeable military professionals. For example, in October 1988, 100 senior U.S. generals and admirals issued a public call for Israel to "retain the Jordan River line as [her] eastern security border" noting that:

"...If Israel loses this line, it would have virtually no warning of attack, its border would be three times longer than the present one. In the midsection of the country it would be 9 to 18 miles from the Mediterranean. Virtually all the population would be subject to artillery bombardment. The plain north of Tel Aviv could be riven by an armored salient within hours. The quick mobilization of its civilian army -- Israel's main hope for survival -- would be disrupted easily, and perhaps irreversibly."

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In 1991, Lieutenant General Thomas Kelly, the highly respected chief of Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Desert Storm, said, "Israel's control over these areas is the only guarantee, however imperfect, of peace. Their loss is a prescription for war." He added that:

"The West Bank mountains, and especially their approaches, are the critical terrain. If an enemy secures those passes, Jerusalem and all of Israel become uncovered. Without the West Bank, Israel is only eight miles wide at its narrowest point. That makes it indefensible." …………………………

Importantly, the Israeli Defense Forces are under no illusion about the abiding importance of strategic analyses like that performed by the Joint Chiefs. As the IDF Chief of Staff Ehud Barak said in May 1993:

"The 1967 Joint Chiefs of Staff memorandum [is] still applicable. <’B> The Arab arms are reaching superiority over Israel with a qualitative as well as quantitative edge....If Israel has to retake the territories proposed to be given up, we cannot do it without tremendous casualties."

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