ESCALATION? Rightist IDF Ex-Generals Propose Massive Invasion Of PLO Territories

Haaretz ^ | January 31, 2002 | Amos Harel

[FresnoDA]

w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m

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Rightist ex-generals propose massive invasion of territories

A group of senior reserve officers, led by Brig. Gen. (res.) Effi Eitam (Fein) are working on a "security-political plan" that includes reoccupying the territories to destroy the Palestinian Authority and changing the political system to prevent Arabs from being elected to the Knesset.

Former reserve generals and senior defense establishment officials are taking part in the formulations of the plan. Eitam, who left the army a year ago and makes no secret of his right wing views, has been conducting intensive political activity in recent months. Beyond the plan's military recommendations are Eitam's plans to directly enter the political arena, possibly as part of a new right wing movement. The plan has already been presented to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who refrained from expressing support for it, and is due to be presented to the public in the coming weeks.

Eitam and his associates say Israel faces an "evasive threat," meaning one that is difficult to identify. That's why, they say, Israel has so much difficulty dealing with it. "If we were now facing an invasion of Syrian or Egyptian armies into the Golan Heights or the Negev, we'd all know what to do," said one of the formulators of the document. "The trouble is that Israel is now like a person for whom cancer, not a bullet, is threatening his life. Our problem is the diagnosis - and by the time we wake up, it will be too late."

Eitam added, "This is a first attempt by the right to present a political-security plan that doesn't make do only with blocking Palestinian intentions but proposes solutions to the situation."

The plan calls for a massive Israeli invasion of Palestinian cities. The former generals argue that the military incursions into cities like Jenin and Tul Karm proved in recent weeks that the IDF would have no problem taking over the cities. They propose entering the territories, "cleaning" them of terrorists and weapons, and then ruling the areas. The move would include the elimination of the Palestinian Authority. Some also call for the physical elimination of Yasser Arafat. According to the ex-generals, the strategic reality could be changed "in a week." The former generals say they have support for their plan in the top command of the IDF.

They believe Israel should unilaterally declare that no sovereignty other than Israel would ever be allowed into the area west of the Jordan River. They say such a declaration would lead to the withering of the intifada, "because the suicide bombers are not blowing themselves up out of despair, but out of hope they can drive us out of the territories. As soon as they find out that won't happen, the level of violence will also drop."

The plan also recommends taking far-reaching steps in other areas: An aggressive Israeli military approach to the nuclear threat from Iran (if the U.S. doesn't do it); encouraging democratic regimes in the area (including changing the regime in Jordan so it becomes the Palestinian state), and limiting the political power of Israeli Arabs.

The plan recommends changing the electoral system to a district system, with the districts gerrymandered to prevent significant Israeli Arab representation in the Knesset. The main criteria, they believe, is whatever strengthens Israel as a Jewish state. They say they hope to win broad support for their goals in the Israeli public, and that they believe the Americans would acquiesce to their plans. They say the circumstances may be such that the current administration in Washington would not object to these proposed Israeli steps.

_{By Amos Harel, Ha'aretz Correspondent}

[archy]

Effi Melack Yisrael!?!?

-archy-/-

[archy]

Effi Melack Yisrael!?!?

-archy-/-

[Southern Federalist]

With a few adjustments, this is just right. The core of this proposal is exactly what ought to happen:

They propose entering the territories, "cleaning" them of terrorists and weapons, and then ruling the areas. The move would include the elimination of the Palestinian Authority. Some also call for the physical elimination of Yasser Arafat. According to the ex-generals, the strategic reality could be changed "in a week."

Done efficiently, this would be minimally violent towards civilians and would indeed change the strategic reality. It would also clear the way for moderate Palestinians to emerge (mostly from Arafat's prisons) with whom real negotiation might be possible. It would be the best possible thing that could happen to the Palestinians, though it would take them a long time to realize it. It would liberate them from a murderous thugocracy that has denied them elementary civil liberties, stolen them blind, and used streams of propaganda, much of it openly anti-Semitic, to get them fixated on revenge and blood and death rather than making a better life for their children in the real world. I have two main objections:

1. I think the unilateral declaration of Israeli sovereignty over the territories would be a bad idea. It would close off options and bring Israel unnecessary problems abroad. The military destruction of the PLO and that ilk would accomplish the goal without it. Suicide bombers are made by terrorist indoctrination, they do not spring up spontaneously out of the ground.

2. I don't think that direct Israeli rule over the Palestinians in the territories would be a good idea. That might be the one thing that could extend the life of Palestinian terrorism beyond the military action proposed. I think that they need to put the idea of a Palestinian state on permanent hold, encourage the emergence of pro-democracy Palestinian leaders (there are probably still some Arafat hasn't killed) and get international help for a non-Israeli and non-US order-keeping force - Turks come to mind.

There should be no public timetable, but a slow process of moving towards free elections of Palestinian leaders and gradually more day-to-day self-governance as the Palestinians demonstrate themselves to be capable of it and recovered from terror-fever. And turn their economy loose - let raw capitalism hold sway. The Palestinians are reputedly the most capable people in the Arab world and had a pretty promising economy, for Arabs, before US and Israeli idiots took Arafat out of mothballs so his incompetent thugs could run it into the ground.

What the options are for the Palestinian future might change dramatically in twenty years of this approach. Hopefully the forces of freedom set loose by the war against terrorism will shake the surrounding Arab world loose from its stagnant bitterness. The generals are right that a more stable and democratic Jordan, which was no longer under pressure from neighboring terror states (would you like to live between Syria and Iraq?) and terrorist threats within, would change the possibilities in fundamental ways.

Moving away from proportional representation is always a good idea, since it just gives marginal idiots and creeps of all hues and types the chance to use the national legislature as a platform. Good grief, if the US had proportional representation, the Aryan Nation and the Nation of Islam would have smooth political branches with seats in Congress. Think Gerry Adams.

Promoting democracy in the region connects with Sharansky's ideas, and he's one of the most far-seeing Israeli politicians of them all. But they need to include promoting democracy and civil liberties amongst the Palestinians as well.

On the whole, though, I'd say that Israel has a pretty bright group of old right-wing generals.

[gfactor]

As soon as they find out that won't happen, the level of violence will also drop."

ya. right.

[archy]

I have no doubt there will be war in the Middle East.

It looks like Tat-aluf Eitam shares your expectation:

'Russia safer for Jews than Israel,' says Eitam

By Arieh O'Sullivan

(February 20) -- Israel is the most dangerous country in the world for Jews, and the IDF must greatly intensify its pressure on the Palestinian Authority nearly to the point of its collapse, said recently resigned Brig.-Gen. (res.) Ephraim (Fine) Eitam. --

Six weeks after slamming the door on a 30-year military career, Eitam has emerged at the head of a new organization aimed at revitalizing Zionism through Judaism.

He said that a synthesis of Jewish content and western technology had to replace the "western, liberal, secular, democratic" character of the country which has made peace the nation's supreme value.

"Am I scaring you?" Eitam asked. "There is great ignorance of Judaism in Israel today. Without Jewish content, there will be assimilation in our own country... If Israel is a pale western, liberal, secular, and democratic copy of America, then why should an American Jew identify with Israel more than with America? In order to consolidate or renew the Jewish people's commitment to this country, [Israel] must become a Jewish state," he said.

Eitam, known for his hard-line views, said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that the IDF had to take "drastic action" against PA Chairman Arafat's rule. "You have to present the PA with a choice between existing as an authority and disappearing. I think the PA has a great interest in continuing to exist," he said.

As the gruff, bearded ex-general and decorated war hero sees it, the IDF's flight from Lebanon sparked the Palestinian attempt to emulate Hizbullah's fight in the territories.

"We are seeing the results of our flight from Lebanon now [in the territories]... The state of Israel is the most dangerous place for Jews to live. Show me another place in the world where Jews are killed because they are Jews. Even Russia is safer," Eitam said.

Eitam believes that the latest round of violence with the Palestinians has not only taught Israelis that Oslo has failed, but has unified the Left and Right in across-the-board opposition to the return of Palestinian refugees.

"We want a Jewish majority in the land of Israel," Eitam said. "We won't accept someone because they are Arab," he said. "This is one of the results of this intifada. This intifada has revealed to us that Israel is starting to speak in terms of Jewish identity as a central value for its existence. "Suddenly, here the Left and Right agree that the most primitive Jew is preferable to the most educated Arab," Eitam said.

Known for his outspokenness in the ranks, Eitam doesn't shy away from sensitive topics. He supports the idea that Jordan is Palestine and said that both Jordan and Egypt must contribute land and funding to resettle the Palestinian refugees.

He said Jordan has a Palestinian majority "which is being ruled by a family [placed there by] the British Empire. I think that making Israelis and Palestinians fight for this little patch of land all our lives so that King Abdullah [II] can keep ruling Jordan does not make sense.

"I don't want to get rid of the Arabs. I want to get rid of the Arab nationalism which is demanding the land of Israel as a national homeland," Eitam said.

Eitam left the IDF last December, after it was made clear to him that he would not be promoted to the General Staff. He said he quit the army because he felt that he belonged somewhere else, where he wouldn't have to carry out orders he didn't believe in.

"I could have stayed in the army and watched the government of Israel negotiate away the Temple Mount and Jerusalem with a gang of terrorist murderers. If the leadership is weak then it doesn't matter how strong the army is. So why should I stay in the army? For my ego, for the rank?" he said.

Eitam became religious during his military career, and was one of the few generals to wear a kippa. There has been some speculation that Eitam would join the National Religious Party.

But Eitam said he felt the best path was not to step straight into politics, but to set up "Mayim," an acronym for Mahaneh Yehudi Meuhad (United Jewish Camp). He said the organization was a non-partisan organization, and a conservative, Orthodox-leaning counterbalance to Peace Now. Eitam plans to cultivate the organization as the spearhead of a political movement.

What makes this movement stand out on the already-crowded political stage?

"Israel is going through a profound leadership crisis," said Eitam, who saw himself taking up a leadership role in the future. "The future leadership of Israel needs to put the concept of a Jewish state above all others."

Eitam refused to divulge the identities of those who have already joined him, but says they come from all walks of Israeli Jewish life. In the short time since his organization was founded, he said, thousands of people have contacted it to volunteer and become involved. But, he said, his organization would not be ripe for entering politics for at least another year.

"Politics is not my goal. It is a tool," Eitam said.

[FresnoDA]

BTTT

[archy]

Done efficiently, this would be minimally violent towards civilians and would indeed change the strategic reality. It would also clear the way for moderate Palestinians to emerge (mostly from Arafat's prisons) with whom real negotiation might be possible. It would be the best possible thing that could happen to the Palestinians, though it would take them a long time to realize it. It would liberate them from a murderous thugocracy that has denied them elementary civil liberties, stolen them blind, and used streams of propaganda, much of it openly anti-Semitic, to get them fixated on revenge and blood and death rather than making a better life for their children in the real world. I have two main objections:

1. I think the unilateral declaration of Israeli sovereignty over the territories would be a bad idea. It would close off options and bring Israel unnecessary problems abroad. The military destruction of the PLO and that ilk would accomplish the goal without it. Suicide bombers are made by terrorist indoctrination, they do not spring up spontaneously out of the ground.

2. I don't think that direct Israeli rule over the Palestinians in the territories would be a good idea. That might be the one thing that could extend the life of Palestinian terrorism beyond the military action proposed. I think that they need to put the idea of a Palestinian state on permanent hold, encourage the emergence of pro-democracy Palestinian leaders (there are probably still some Arafat hasn't killed) and get international help for a non-Israeli and non-US order-keeping force - Turks come to mind.

For the immediate present, the establishment of about a 25km cordon sanitaire would do it, at least until Israel's enemies place longer ranged weapons in the hands of their PLO and Hezbolla surrogates- the *10,000 missiles* includes such shorter-range equipment as Antitank RPGs and Sagger missiles, and free-volly Katyusha 122mm rockets, certainly effective from such ideal locations as the Golan Heights, but less so across more open distances.

That would likely only serve for a few years, however, and perhaps only for a few months. But it might be better than the wholesale slaughter that will result if the Palis have to be cleared away in house-to-house actions by the Israeli military.

In any event, the idea of a buffer region is an interesting one, and perhaps those poor souls who have mistakenly crossed the US Border from the south might also be relocated there, to live peacefully under those Turkish Janissaries you propose. It could be called *New Mexico*...-no, wait: that name's already in use....

-archy-/-

[Southern Federalist]

Turkish Janissaries? Actually I don't think there are any conscripts taken from Christian families and forcibly converted to Islam in the Turkish army in the world. The Turkish army is the most aggressively anti-Islamist force in Turkish society. My thought was only that it would be good to have Muslims, but not Arabs, Muslims who would have no automatic sympathy or hostility to Palestinians, in charge of the policing. I would be perfectly happy to substitute Bangladeshis - if Pakistan gets thoroughly cleaned up, they might do.

You propose a ghetto, perhaps sarcastically; I propose denazification and democratization. I don't think that's an inhumane vision. The destruction of the Nazi regime and the Allied occupation was certainly the best thing that happened to the Germans in the twentieth century.

[Cachelot]

Your dream is really a nightmare.

Really?

The world should not rearrange itself to be as it was 2000 years ago

Why in the world not? You muslims have no problem demanding that the world rearrange itself to any point in a long and fictitious history in which the Arabs are portrayed in a falsely positive manner. So what's the problem with a point in factual time, so to speak?

[XBob]

37 - Ok, I should have read more closely. However, it is very poorly written and this para should have more emphasis and it should always be referred to as Arafat's non-nuclear 'Sampson' Option, as kinghorse and I are right about the Israeli 'Sampson Option':

"By mouthing this argument, Mubarak is propagating what diplomatic officials in Israel refer to as Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's "Samson option." The Samson option, named after the Biblical figure who brought the walls tumbling down, is the Palestinian nuclear option, without the bomb."

[FresnoDA]

Thanks XBob, I also thought it was a strange play on words by Mubarak. Suicide bombers are not a Theater Significant threat, but they are a painful nuisance. It is time for Sharon to let the IDF ROLL!!

[ZDaphne]

Thanks for the ping. Interesting and scary stuff. I remember when Colin Powell warned us of the Arab world rising up against us even before we even entered Afghanistan, and I thought he was chicken. Perhaps he was wiser than I thought.

[boltfromblue]

If Israel is a secular pseudo-state, due to the fact of its illegal bounds, plenty of room for Pakistanis there once an agreement has been settled with fair boundaries. and of course safe living in the territories when non-occupied, but Palestine. They should also be given world support to build an economy, as Jews would never support them as they are forbidden to give charity to any but their own. (They could at least refrain from taking what is not theirs, if they cannot be moved to give.) Then, no one will attack Israel if they are granted their due equal citizenship, proportional representation, equal government funding of areas that are theirs should they choose to remain in a properly defined Israel, property and financial rights, permitted Palestinian graveyards, for God's sake. Now, their representation in the Knesset is restricted. Yes, likely their numbers will increase, but less likely as much as you fear, for many would likely NOT prefer to live in Israel, once they have their own state with an economic base to support jobs. Of course you can legally restrict immigration once Israel has legal boundaries. The paranoia about them killing all Israelis likely is related to the fact that Israelis have so mistreated them, they know they deserve it and fear such retaliation. But, no doubt after 50 years of subjugation, Palestinians will be so glad to get their state, they will ignore this past and positively focus on what they can do for themselves, maybe not become materialists, but develop their own contributions to the world, perhaps out of this ugly experience they have survived. Are people happy to finally be treated fairly filled with revenge? Do the Palis who are held in bondage to only being allowed wages, not bank accounts, try to kill you? Maybe, there are a few criminals, but most are content with the mere bones thrown them, a way to earn a living. BTW, thanks for not trying to discredit me as a Muslim, therefore biased. I am watching CPAC, great, so I omitted paragraphs due to lack of concentration.

[boltfromblue]

As for posters lying about people's origins to attempt a blanket discreditation of their posts, any one knows immigrants or Palis are not as conversant with English as our speakers native to America and as familiar with our history as the other English-speaking nations are not. So why bother with this aspect of your deceitfulness. Perhaps at this point, I would like to pick an arbitrary point in time when Jews were living in Africa, because of all the Communism they have disseminated in the U.S, not to mention the Zionist usurpation of Palestine, but I would defer to the peoples presently who have ultimately gracefully blent in with the cultures to which they have been exposed.

[Cachelot]

As for posters lying about people's origins

Lol. I didn't say anything about your origin. Not in that post, at least. But I see you as probably muslim, quite possibly from Pakistan.

I would like to pick an arbitrary point in time when Jews were living in Africa, because of all the Communism they have disseminated in the U.S, not to mention the Zionist usurpation of Palestine

I'm sorry, but this paragraph seems completely whacked to me. I mean, it doesn't even make superficial sense. Perhaps some of our resident experts on muslim semantics can dissect the thing.

It rings one bell, however - some pak muslims have an SA background.

[boltfromblue]

As your intent is to goad by continuing to do what you do, it does not have any affect on me, for I am personally not insulted as I am not as you well know a Pak or Muslim, and further I would be proud to be either, if people like Mushariff could be produced there. Let these stand as tokens of your weak intellect and intents. I have more important people to communicate my firm opinions, fixed I must say be these threads, to. Actually further insights on who we are dealing with.

[Cachelot]

Let these stand as tokens of your weak intellect and intents. I have more important people to communicate my firm opinions, fixed I must say be these threads, to. Actually further insights on who we are dealing with.

And your first language was what, exactly??

[boltfromblue]

Well, I revert to a careless typing method with gloves on in the cold by my computer.

[boltfromblue]

Was it not you that said we should go back to the boundaries in place at the time Jews entered the land of Canaan? As if all the rest of the world should conform to those wishes. Well, I wish the irish were still at the foot of the Hamalayas but I would never press the point.