Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Whose plan?

For Yom Ha'atzmaut, Independence Day, I thought this might interest you. There have been many plans formulated to solve the Arab-Israel conflict, here are some of them:
1. The Balfour Declaration, 1917: The British Government supported the "establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine."
2. The Peel Partition Plan, 1937: The Peel Commission was sent by the British Government to investigate the problem and came up with a Partition Plan that favored the Arabs.
3. The British Government White Paper, 1939: Proposed to Partition Palestine, reducing Jewish immigration and giving the larger proportion of Palestine to the Arabs.
4. UNSCOP, 1947: The UN Special Commission on Palestine, visited the region, held hearings and came up with a Partition Plan.
5. The UN Partition Plan, 1947: The UN voted to partition Palestine based on the UNSCOP Report and recognize Israel as a Jewish State, but the Arabs rejected this Plan.
6. Palestine National Covenant, 1964: Adopted by the PLO and declares that Israel must be destroyed and all Israelis except those born before 1939 in Palestine must be expelled (or killed). This has never been officially cancelled (despite popular belief).
7. UN Resolution 242, 1967: In wake of the 1967 6-Day War, the Security Council resolution proposed the "land for peace" formula.
8. The Rogers Plan, 1969: Secty. of State Rogers proposed a plan to resolve the situation after the 1967 6-day war and the war of attrition with Egypt.
9. Camp David Accords, 1978: Pres. Carter, PM Begin and Pres.Sadat negotiated the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.
10. The Haig Plan, 1982: Secty. of State Haig proposed a plan under the authority of Pres. Reagan.
11. The Hamas Charter, 1988: Hamas is the Islamic Resistance Movement, and it's Charter calls for the replacement of Israel and the PA with an Islamic State, by any means.
12. The Oslo Peace Accords, 1993: Negotiated in secret between Israeli and PLO representatives in Oslo that led to the establishment of the Palestine Authority and return of Yasir Arafat.
13. The Camp David Summit, 2000: Negotiations at Camp David with Pres. Clinton, that Yasir Arafat left peremptorily.
14. The Taba Proposal, 2001: by PM Ehud Barak under pressure from Pres. Clinton, designed to reengage Arafat, but he rejected it.
15. The Saudi-Arab Peace Plan, 2002: Essentially the Arab position, calling for Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 lines and full right of return of refugees in exchange for Arab recognition of Israel. Endorsed at the Arab League meeting 2005
16. The Road Map, 2006: A plan presented by Pres. Bush that both Israeli PM Olmert and PA Pres. Abbas signed but was not implemented.
17. The Annapolis Agreement, 2008: An extension of the Road Map Plan by Pres. Bush, an agreement in principle, but not enforceable.
18.Your plan: add your plan here.

What is notable is that there is no Israeli-initiated plan! What does Israel want, or are we waiting for others to decide for us? Maybe the current Netanyahu Government will finally formulate an Israeli plan that establishes guidelines or red lines for Israeli interests.
Many years ago the then Head of Israeli Intelligence, Yehoshafat Harkabi, said that anybody can come up with a plan for Middle East peace. But, nothing will be achieved until there is genuine overlap between the two sides (as there was between Egypt and Israel in 1978) and then the situation can be "resolved" not "solved."
Happy Yom Ha'atzmaut!

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