Posted on 10/27/2003 1:35:31 PM PST by anotherview
Strategic Slyness of the Geneva Accord
by Stan Goodenough
Oct 27, '03 / 1 Cheshvan 5764
So what's the big deal with the so-called Geneva Accord - the "agreement" concocted by a cabal of Israeli non-officials in cahoots with second-tier Palestinian leaders, and sprung upon the unsuspecting Jewish public just a few days ago?
Certainly it has some very dangerous, potentially disastrous elements, chief among them the offering up of Israel's holiest site in exchange for another Palestinian paper promise, this time that they will no longer insist on the "right" of their people to "return" to pre-1967 Israel and thereby flood out the Jews.
Yes, the agreement is enjoying the blessing of Shimon Peres, Oslo-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's eminence gris and the bastion of the Israeli Left. It has also been smiled upon by Yasser Arafat, the man who more than any other has devoted his life to the destruction of Israel.
And yes, it is gaining currency and support abroad, first and foremost among the anti-Semitic French, who are wasting no time in trying to launch the agreement into the arena of international diplomacy for all to back and applaud.
All these are reasons for serious concern, and provide justification for blowing every possible hole into the "Geneva" before she slides off the slipway to be floated as the peace policy of a future Israeli government. But the real threat posed by the Geneva Accord is glaring us right in the face. For this agreement is working right now, effectively, to increase support for the "Road Map" - a plan bent on creating a de facto Palestinian state within the next few months.
Reacting to the unlawfully spawned Geneva plan, many who before it was unveiled were opposed to the Road Map are now pointing out that the latter is the legitimate policy of Israel's democratically elected government. And far from being shipwrecked by unrelenting Palestinian terrorism, the Map is being maneuvered into becoming, not just a Bush administration - or Quartet-sponsored - peace plan, but the official Middle East policy of the entire United Nations, with no veto or no-vote from the United States. For as those most concerned for Israel's security and survival persuade the Sharon government to denounce and dismiss "Geneva," they are inadvertently encouraging Israel to back right into the maw of the Road Map.
On October 9, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, warned that the Arab bloc was trying to maneuver the Security Council into fully backing the Road Map.
Today, instead of Syria - the only Arab state currently seated in the Security Council - it is Russia that is preparing to bring a resolution endorsing the Road Map in the council. The US has said it will support the Russian draft, although Friday it called on Moscow to postpone presenting it to the council for another few weeks.
So, is "Geneva" helping to bring this about by accident or design?
Of the many things that can be said about chief leftist Yossi Beilin - the man who specializes in holding negotiations with Israel's blood-soaked foes behind the backs of its democratically elected governments - stupid is not one of them. In his latest trick, Beilin has erected a smokescreen behind which he is likely working frenetically to see the Road Map gasp its way back into life.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines a smokescreen as:
“1. A mass of dense artificial smoke used to conceal military areas or operations from an enemy. 2. An action or statement used to conceal actual plans or intentions.”
Watching the way things are unfolding, I'd say both definitions rather precisely describe what the Geneva Accord is all about.
[Courtesy of Jerusalem Newswire.]
Stan Goodenough
Stan Goodenough is Editor of the Jerusalem Newswire, the only independent Jerusalem-based, Gentile-operated news service providing daily coverage and commentary on events in and relating to Israel.
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