The Israeli Initiative: The Israeli Initiative

"The dangerous Annapolis Conference", I told PM Olmert during our meeting on Monday, "is your personal initiative and not President Bush’s. I’m presenting you The Israeli Initiative, so that we all have a ready alternative, after Annapolis will inevitably fail."

Since the establishment of the State of Israel, we have longed for peace with our Arab neighbors. We dream of a day when we can devote our efforts not to war and basic survival but rather towards the growth and prosperity of our country.

Israel has made painful concessions for security but despite our efforts, the Israeli-Arab conflict rages on. The Oslo Accords backfired. The withdrawal from Gaza strengthened our enemies and lead them to believe that terrorism works. Now the government is planning to divide Jerusalem and create a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. Our capitulations, withdrawals and disengagements have resulted in bloodshed and an emboldened enemy. Hamas controls Gaza, Kassam rockets rain down on the residents of Sderot, and Hizbullah has directed their missiles towards Haifa.

Not one of our leaders has offered a feasible plan for peace. In light of our situation, I have decided to launch a campaign to promote my proposal for a lasting peace in Israel and the Middle East. My peace plan, the Israeli Initiative, is the product of in-depth assessments that address all of the players in the region: Israelis, Arabs, Palestinians and the international community. The Israeli Initiative is the first of its kind to consider the new global and regional reality of Iran’s rise in power along with its proxies al Qaida, Hizbullah and Hamas.

The Israeli Initiative offers a moral, practical, and simple formula for the long-term solution of the Israeli-Arab conflict. The three main tenets of the Israeli Initiative are:

· A humanitarian solution to the refugee problem that will rehabilitate the Palestinian refugees.
· A regional solution that relies on strategic cooperation with Jordan.
· The extension of Israeli sovereignty throughout all of Judea and Samaria.

Through these basic principles, I believe that we will not only stabilize the situation in Israel, but we actually create a real peace partner for the future.

Rather than suggesting a political solution that only perpetuates the struggle, violence and poverty of the Palestinians, the Israeli Initiative proposes a humanitarian solution. It provides Palestinian refugees with the means to start over. It restores their dignity and offers them hope for the future.

A solution to the refugee problem must be a major component of any settlement. Israel must make every effort to finally solve the problem of the refugees of 1948, and demand the international community play an active role. UNRWA must be dismantled and a generous compensation program should be offered to all Palestinians. The process of rehabilitation and compensation will result in the gradual dismantlement of the refugee camps. 

Israel, the US, Europe and Arab oil producing countries, can directly finance a program that would provide full and generous rehabilitation for the refugees. A series of countries would welcome the Palestinians as immigrants because they would be coming with the means to making a living and the basis for a new and hopeful start. A numbers of surveys have shown that the majority of Palestinians would consider the option of moving to another country rather than living under the Palestinian Authority. This humanitarian solution can right a wrong that has been perpetuated against the Palestinian people since the creation of the “refuge problem” by the Arab world, UNRWA and the PA.

In the coming weeks I will describe the other main points of the Israeli Initiative, which include strategic cooperation with Jordan and the extension of Israeli sovereignty throughout all of Judea and Samaria. You can read the Israeli Initiative in full at: www.Israelinitiative.com