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IDF Officer Tells Arab Paper Israel Preparing More Withdrawals
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Comments
1
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BobW
said:
Gallows humor: "..territory we will give and nothing more.". As long as Israel is at least a quasi sovereign nation, the Knesset remains a plenary body. After some demographic changes who knows what the anti-Jewish blocs in the Knesset will do.
This "senior officer", id est the official GOI spokesman with a denial valve, can hint that the new Arab state "will not be the new independent state the Palestinians expect.". If some degree of sovereignty is not given, will the terrorism stop? Will world public opinion support the remnants of Israel?
I'm aware that the Gaza section might remain the sovereign territory of Israel because of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty. Otherwise the new Arab state would be obliged to adopt the demilitarization clauses ref the Sinai border with Egypt and Israel - with the US Sinai Support Mission enforcing compliance. I doubt the US will remain engaged in the Sinai.
Indirectly relating to the subtitle "Oslo Maps", I've heard that Elath, with a new airport, is to become one of the US "lily pad" bases to protect the oil fields and routes a few clicks southeast.
The phrase "we will give nothing more" might make a nice sign somewhere. From our experience it must be in Arabic.
Kol tuv,
BobW
Posted by: BobW on July 11, 2005 01:01 PM
2
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goerg von mecklenburg
said:
I have it upon good authority that Israel will quit Israel. Soon there will be no more Jews in the Holy Land. At that point the Arabs will love us, and the World Council of Churches will adore us. If Israel contemplates removing itself from the land, Israel will cease to exist, thus rendering the holocaust meaningless. Peres will smile, and Sharon will stay out of jail. What a wonderfull place Israel has become.
Posted by: goerg von mecklenburg on July 13, 2005 01:35 AM
IDF Officer Tells Arab Paper Israel Preparing More Withdrawals
By Scott Shiloh (IsraelNationalNews.com- July 10, 2005)
Government ministers have been hinting for months that the withdrawal
from Gaza and northern Samaria will not be the last. Now a senior
officer says the IDF is preparing for more pullbacks.
A senior IDF officer interviewed by London Arab newspaper Al Shark al
Awsat said that Israel?s ?disengagement plan? represents the first
installment in a series of withdrawals and other one-sided measures,
culminating in a Palestinian state in 2008.
Israel is currently undertaking to expel Jews from their homes and hand over their communities in Gaza and northern Samaria to the Palestinian Authority. That withdrawal is scheduled to take place on August 17.
The officer told the paper, "The disengagement plan spells out
one-sided measures that will be completed by 2008 when the Palestinians will be responsible for managing their affairs within the borders of a territory we will give, and nothing more."
A reporter asked the officer if Israel was planning to allow the
establishment of a Palestinian state in areas designated as A or B according to the Oslo accords. The officer refused to be specific regarding further withdrawals or indicate whether they would be made within the context of the ill-fated Oslo agreements that were signed in 1993.
The Oslo Maps
(Under the original maps attached to the accords, area A refers
mainly to the Arab populated cities of Judea and Samaria where the IDF was supposed to withdraw and relinquish security control of the territory to the Palestinian Authority. Area ?B? refers to less densely populated areas made up of villages and towns where Israel relinquishes civilian authority, but retains security control. The majority of the territory was designated as area C where Israeli communities and military installations are located.
The Oslo accords provided for Israel to gradually change the status of areas B and C to A. Both prime ministers Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak added significantly to the areas designated as A and B, expanding the extent of PA territorial control in Judea and Samaria.
Despite extensive negotiations, Barak ultimately refused PA demands to relinquish control over Judea, Samaria, Gaza, parts of Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount.
Some commentators claim that the PA initiated the conflict known as the Oslo War in September 2000 when their expectations of obtaining control over these territories from the Barak government were not realized).
Not What the Arabs Expect
While not indicating how Israel planned to implement further
withdrawals from Judea and Samaria, the senior officer said the state ultimately created from the withdrawals will not be the independent state the Palestinians expect.
The officer warned that if the PA does not extend law and order to the territories evacuated by Israel in Gaza and northern Samaria, Israel will cease to coordinate further measures with the PA and take only unilateral steps and deal with its security problems as it sees fit.
The officer also sharply criticized PA chief Mahmoud Abbas for visiting Syria and meeting with the heads of various PLO terror factions there, as well as for not using his authority as the democratically elected leader of the Palestinians to take substantive measures to combat terrorism.
Abbas praised Syria's role in the Middle East on Friday. "Syria has a
significant role in both Arab and international arenas, so we realize
her stance which is supporting us and preserving the Palestinian unity to be able to reach aspirations," he said.
Syria is on the State Department's list of countries that support
terrorism and has been accused by the Bush administration of supporting Iraqi insurgents who have been fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.
Posted by Ted Belman at July 11, 2005 09:49 AM