My Proposal

The Truth and NOTHING but THE TRUTH!!

The tremendous desire for a true peace and an end to the cycle of violence between our ‎‎two peoples has led Israel to make endless concessions to the Palestinians. 

• We Israeli’s ‎‎have evacuated the Sinai and it’s settlements for Peace with Egypt. 
• We also “disengaged” ‎‎from the Gaza Strip, a step which severely traumatized parts of our people, for no ‎‎concessions in return other than that the Palestinian people acknowledge our right to ‎‎exist. 

There have been many who have tried to find a “just and lasting” peace for the Middle East but their efforts have been squashed by those predominantly on the Arab side. 

The PLO or Fatah, the group that represented the Palestinians in the negotiations, that deceitfully accepted the 1993 Oslo Peace accords. Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine openly and violently objected to the accords because their own charters abjectly refuse to recognize the mere presence of Jews let alone Israel's right to exist in "Palestine". They adhere openly to the Iranian policy of the total extermination of the State of Israel. Their ‎‎leaders make endless speeches of hatred as they urge their followers -especially their youth to seek "the path of martyrdom" as they offer substantial monetary incentive to their families in the #pay4slay scheme. In Palestinian society there is a total lack of the teaching of ‎‎tolerance and peace among their youth.‎

Here in Israel, a strong debate over the Oslo Peace accords took place along long standing viewpoints; the political parties of the "left wing" (Meretz and Labor) supported them, while the "right wing" (Likud) opposed them. 

After a very heated two-day discussion, on the 23rd of September 1993, on the government proclamation in the Knesset on the issue of the accord and the exchange of the letters, a vote of confidence was held in which 61 Knesset members voted for the decision, 50 voted against and 8 abstained. 

As to WHY we Israelis choose peace one merely needs to read the words of Yitzhak Rabin after the acceptance ceremony on the White House lawn:

"We, the soldiers who have returned from battle stained with blood, we who have seen our relatives and friends killed before our eyes, we who have attended their funerals and cannot look into the eyes of their parents, we who have come from a land where parents bury their children, we who have fought against you, the Palestinians We say to you today in a loud and clear voice: Enough of blood and tears. Enough.”

 "We will not rest until we reach a permanent agreement [with the Palestinians] that would secure a safe future for our children and that would provide us with renewed hope to live in a region where people lead a life of co-operation and not, God forbid, where blood is shed." 

I always point out how in my personal conversations with Yitzhak Rabin z"l how he hesitated in negotiating with Yasser Arafat and how he had the inkling of his deceit. Yitzhak had been unwilling to touch the hand soaked with the blood of so many innocents: "Of all hands in the world, it was not the hand that I wanted nor dreamed of touching, ...  

In the five years immediately after the Oslo Agreements. the “Palestinians” murdered a total of 279 Israeli men, women and children in 92 lethal attacks by Palestinian terrorists. 

According to the Palestinian’s their trust in the process was undermined in the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, in which at least 39 Palestinians were killed by a Baruch Goldstein; the lone Israeli gunman (who was beaten to death once he ran out of ammunition), and by the expansion of Israeli settlements (although the Oslo agreements stipulated no such ban and oddly enough the PA acknowledges that the settlements have actually provided 12,000 temporary jobs to Palestinian construction workers.) 

The Palestinians claimed support for the accord declined because of the construction of the “Apartheid Wall” which was constructed in response to the wave of Palestinian suicide attacks, and blockades -necessitated by the smuggling of weapons and ammunition, which caused a "deterioration of economic conditions".

In the aftermath of this latest round of fighting we have see the intervention of hostile Moslem – Islamic forces from Iran inside Sudan, Egypt and Gaza with Hamas. 

The “Palestinian Authority” has been regulated to those "Palestinians" living in Judea and Samaria – the “West Bank” and the extremists of the Palestinians in Gaza to Hamas.

We of the Labor Party who backed Yitzhak Rabin z’l wanted the 1993 Oslo Peace accords to succeed and work. 

Sadly his work still goes unfinished until today. For the sake of peace initiated by the late Yitzhak ‎Rabin z”l who gave his life ‎in an attempt to bring peace to the Middle East. I do not wish to go back in time to “What was” and “Why we have failed” but I wish to look forward to, “What should be done”. As our party leader and past Prime Minister Yitzhak ‎Rabin z”l  stated; “We who have fought against you, the Palestinians - we say to you today in a loud and clear voice: Enough of blood and tears. Enough. ...The time for peace has come.”

The Jewish people wherever they are aspire for peace. For over two thousand years, our ‎people ‎have known discrimination, bigotry, death and destruction with no place to run to. The ancient Jewish people gave the world a vision of eternal peace, of universal disarmament, of abolishing the teaching and the learning of war. —"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

Despite the tragedies and disappointments of the past, today we have a home but we lack a true peace. Peace is the beauty of life. It is sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family. It is the advancement of man, the victory of a just cause, the triumph of truth. Peace is all of these and more and we desire peace, peace for us and our children as well peace for our neighbors and their children. Golda Meir z”l once said;

 “I am also grateful that I live in a country whose people have learned how to go on living in a sea of hatred without hating those who want to destroy them and without abandoning their own vision of peace. To have learned this is a great art, the prescription for which is not written down anywhere. It is part of our way of life in Israel.”

I say enough! Just as the late Anwar Sadat stated;

“Let there be no more wars or bloodshed between Arabs and Israelis—let there be no more wars or bloodshed between Arabs and Israelis. Let there be no more suffering or denial of rights. Let there be no more despair or loss of faith. Let no mother lament the loss of her child. Let no young man waste his life on a conflict from which no one benefits. Let us work together until the day comes when they beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And God does call to the abode of peace.”

One must take into account the stark contrast to todays’ world wide vision of Israel and “Zionism” as a focal point of ‎and virulent anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred. For at one time in the aftermath of World War I the renewal of Jewish life in ‎‎“Eretz Yisrael” was not an ‎obstacle to the Arab world. We were not demonized as we are ‎today by the ‎‎“Falestinians” and “Human Rights Groups”. 

During the peace conference ‎following World War I, the Emir Feisal ‎exchanged letters with Justice Felix Frankfurter, ‎professing his support for Zionist aims. ‎On March 3, 1919  Feisal wrote: ‎

"We Arabs, especially the educated among us look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement."

"People less informed and less responsible than our leaders and yours, ignoring the need for co-operation of the Arabs and Zionists have been trying to exploit the local difficulties that must necessarily arise in Palestine in the early stages of our movements.

Some of them have, I am afraid, misrepresented your aims to the Arab peasantry, and our aims to the Jewish peasantry, with the result that interested parties have been able to make capital out of what they call our differences." 

My proposal for a "Just and lasting peace" for the Middle East is based on proposals put forward in a meeting from the 25th of October 1938,  between US President ‎‎Franklin D Roosevelt  and the British Ambassador to the ‎‎‎U.S.

Sir Ronald Lindsay regarding the resettlement and absorption of the stateless and homeless ‎‎Arabs of the Mandated Areas.

Lindsay wrote that the President was “impressed by the fact ‎‎‎that the Arab population had increased by 400,000 since the establishment of the ‎‎[League ‎‎Of Nations] Mandate.” ‎

US President ‎‎Franklin D Roosevelt, contemplated the creation of a program of well-digging ‎across the Jordan. ‎‎Roosevelt firmly believed that, “we ought to be able to find that money ‎for the purpose”. ‎‎FDR believed that once a large quantity of water would be made ‎available for irrigation ‎‎and the cultivable land thus created in Trans-Jordanian territory it; ‎

‎‎“should be set apart ‎for Arabs from Palestine. They should be offered land free, and ‎that ‎ought to be enough ‎to attract them; and failing the attraction, they should be ‎compelled to ‎emigrate to it. ‎Palestine could thus be relieved of 200,000 Arabs”.‎

‎FDR also added that it would:

 “be necessary to prescribe that no Arab should be ‎allowed ‎‎to immigrate into Palestine, as NO JEW was allowed into the Arab lands.” ‎‎

The Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle, later recalled that,” The President was full ‎‎‎of Palestine” and that FDR called on Ronald Lindsay to call a conference of Arab ‎‎‎princes. FDR was adamant in having them lay down,‎

‎“say ‎‎$200,000,000 buying a farm ‎for every Arab who wishes to leave Palestine, the ‎money ‎chiefly to be used in digging ‎wells, which is perfectly possible in the Hedjaz.” ‎Here, it is ‎quite clear that Roosevelt ‎intended the Arabs to pay for the transfer of ‎the Arabs of ‎Palestine.‎"

This program that I propose was used in Israel for the absorption of some 900,000 Jewish refugees of Arab Lands. 

FDR believed that once a large quantity of water would be made ‎available for irrigation ‎and the cultivable land thus created in Trans-Jordanian territory it; ‎‎“should be set apart ‎for Arabs from Palestine. They should be offered land free, and that ‎ought to be enough ‎to attract them…”

I propose that all six Arab countries that ‎‎were then represented at the UN and voted against UNR194; Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, ‎‎Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen, and were active participants to the conflict in ‎question.‎Should lead the way in resolving the issue by each absorbing the Palestinians as ‎fellow ‎citizens as stipulated in UNR194 Article 9.‎

I propose a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict/ problem based on the ‎‎Marshal Plan used in post WWII Europe and the creation of a Confederation between the ‎‎Palestinian controlled areas of the “West Bank” and Jordan as it was during the Period of ‎‎‎1948 -1967. Though painful this plan is to the Arab side it is the right and only ‎humanitarian solution ‎to end the conflict. The reactionary Arab’s constant refusal to ‎accept the State of Israel as ‎a Jewish state an entity in the Middle East is a forgone ‎conclusion and for the long ‎suffering of the Palestinian refugees there should be a ‎resolution as predetermined in ‎UNR194 Article 9 to absorb them as Israel did for the ‎Jews that were made refugees in ‎post WWII Europe and from the Arab countries of the ‎Middle East.‎

‎The plan encompasses a three step solution.‎
‎‎

‎Step One‎

Those Palestinian refugees within the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza ‎‎Strip should be offered a comprehensive resettlement and financial package in return for ‎‎a long term peace based on a total cessation of conflict and a forgoing of their “right of ‎‎return”.‎

‎Step Two‎-THE major points to be carried out

As to the Palestinians that have lived in squalid stateless refugee camps throughout the ‎‎region, in those states that have confined them there, should be allowed three choices:

• ‎‎Either to stay and be absorbed into their adoptive countries as full citizens.
• to receive plots of land, with homes in Northern Jordan
• or they should ‎‎be allowed free passage to “return” to the lands of the Palestinian Authority. 

If they do so ‎‎chose this option they should be included in the comprehensive resettlement and financial ‎‎package. ‎

• Those adoptive countries which welcome the refugees as full citizens should be enticed ‎‎to do so with incentives and financial compensation. 
• Those Arab countries that refuse ‎‎should be severe penalized and should face punitive actions. ‎

As to the Jewish residents on the West Bank, whose areas will not be swapped /exchanged in the negotiations, they should be offered the choice to become ‎‎‎“law-abiding” citizens of the Palestinian State or withdrawal. The same will be said for ‎‎Arab citizens of Israel who wish to leave Israeli territory.‎

Mutual assistance in the re-education of the population from that of war, religious ‎‎intolerance and terror must not be "just" encouraged but made part of the peace agreement. Should one of the countries in the region fail ‎‎to comply with the re-education and to co-existence in peace than that body should face ‎‎world wide condemnation, boycott and cessation of all assistance.‎

Additionally any state which threatens the existence of another state or should propose ‎‎genocide should be met with the fullest enforcement of the entire UN body under ‎‎Article 2 of the UN Charter with a total economic embargo and if ‎‎necessitated by a full scale military operation of all parties concerned for world peace.‎

Additionally a proposal should be made to the Egyptians to forgive her national debt in ‎‎return for a ceding of parts of northern Sinai to the Palestinian Authority or for the ‎‎resettlement of stateless Palestinians wishing for land to live on there.‎ (Abbas has recently rejected an Egypt offer of a 1600 square kilometer extension to Gaza to resolve once and for all the "Arab of the Mandate Areas" -"Falestinians" refugee issue but has instead resolved to keep on trying to destroy Israel.

"Falestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected an Egyptian proposal to resettle Palestinian refugees in a large tract of land in the Sinai Peninsula to be annexed to the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to a gathering of his Fatah party in Ramallah Sunday, August 31st,2014, Abbas said that an unnamed senior Egyptian official recently approached him and suggested settling Palestinians in an area 1,600 square kilometers (618 square miles) large adjacent to Gaza, reviving an idea originally part of the All-Palestine Government (Arabic: ‎حكومة عموم فلسطين‎ Hukumat 'umum Filastin) in Gaza which was established ‎by the Arab League on 22 September 1948 during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War‎. Abbas' position is clear: The "refugees" only exist in order to ultimately destroy Israel. They must remain stateless and miserable or else they are useless to him. Actually helping the "refugees" is his lowest priority; cynically using thereby them for political ends is his highest priority.)

The same could be said for the resettlement of Palestinians in the sparsely inhabited ‎‎eastern regions of Jordan. In order to make this decision feasible than those Arab ‎‎countries willing to participate should adopt Israel’s Development Town settlement plan ‎‎used in it’s resettlement of the displaced Jews in the 1950’s. This plan based on collective ‎‎farming villages inhabited by those Palestinians who have farming skills, will be given ‎‎assistance to build homes as well as basic essentials to begin their farms. ‎

Needless to say that those who accept the resettlement plan will be given title or “Tabo”- to the land and full citizenship. Those ‎‎Palestinian refugees with small business skills and occupations who wish to resettle in the ‎‎‎“Development Towns” of these areas will be given apartments and financial aid to begin ‎‎small businesses as well as long term loans. ‎

Step Three

The Dead Sea -Med Canal Project which was first proposed by William Allen in 1855 in an overview called 'The Dead Sea – A new route to India'. Allen as well as Theodor Herzl in his 1902 novel Altneuland should be a cornerstone of this vast resettlement plan.

Efforts should be undertaken to get donor nations of the peace process to fund, through the World Bank, the capital investment for the establishment of a Dead Sea -Med Canal Project. The potential benefits of this project to provide all the parties in the region with economic, political and other respects are extremely significant. Not only will it replenish and revitalize the Dead Sea it will become the "live sea", potentially with millions of visiting tourists. It will generate substantial power and usable water and promote cooperation among the parties, thereby spurring the transformation of a barren and forbidding environment into the Jordan Valley of Peaceful coexistence. 

The Dead Sea -Med Canal Project is a proposed project to dig a canal starting at the Israeli town of Ashdod from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea, to take advantage of the more than 400-metre difference in water level between the two seas. Water from the Mediterranean Sea will be led through a tunnel and to a “green” hydroelectric power project which than can produce hundreds if not thousands of megawatts of clean and renewable electric energy. The value of such electric energy will be maximized by power generation during peak demand times. The excess electric power could be sold into the existing electrical grids to pay the cost of the Project.

There is a proposal, that in the construction of the Dead Sea -Med Canal Project, that an artificial storage reservoir for the flow from the tunnel, will be stored in this reservoir to be called “Shalom (Salaam/Peace) Lake”. The area for this Lake /reservoir will be located in a natural basin on the south branch of Wadi Qumran. Utilizing soil from the tunnel boring an earthquake resistant dam can be constructed. This proposed reservoir/lake will potentially have a surface area of about 3 square kilometers and maximum depth at the dam of some 80 meters. When the water is released daily during hours of “peak demand”, the surface elevation will decline about three meters thus creating a tidal effect for the shoreline and possibly encourage normal Mediterranean marine ecology.

It is needless to say that the creation of such a beautiful marine lake merely twenty kilometers from Jerusalem, will serve as an impetuous for tourism and residential development. Surely the name, the Lake of Peace, is suitable for this setting and for the benefits it will bring the entire region.

The water brought in through the project will help to restore the Dead Sea to the desired level, and thereby reverse the erosion and subsistence that is presently destroying the area. Additionally the continued operation of the hydroelectric power plant will enable the development of additional desalination capacity to supply the water needs to help ease the chronic water shortages in the entire region.

The newly built desalination plants established by the new canal/tunnel system of the Dead Sea -Med Canal Project can provide water for potash mining operations and for aquaculture and agriculture. Desalinated water designated for irrigation of crops can be run through ponds for the production of fresh water fish and prawns. Med Sea water from the surface layer of the Dead Sea can be used for production of Sea Bass and Bream, and high value seaweed.

In addition to tall this we can use the daily tunnel flow to create a reservoir in the upper seabed formed when the Dead Sea was the same level as the Med Sea. This area is deep clay, and very suitable for a reservoir site. A desalination plant and towns for the resettlement of Palestinian refugees can be located near this lake.

Desalinated water, from a desalination plant placed on the north shore of the Dead Sea can be used for the restoration of the Jordan River and provide a source for irrigation of nearby farmlands. This would enable a huge increase in agriculture and industry in the valley, and will lead to many new needed jobs for the resettled Palestinian refugees and Jordanian citizens during construction as well as many permanent jobs, while abundantly available desalinated water will stimulate new investment in self-sustaining agriculture, fish farming, manufacturing and real estate development.

The Dead Sea ("Dead") continues to shrink at a very rapid rate. The diminishing water level has created large sink holes and disruption of underground water tables, among other problems, with a harmful effect on tourism and everyday life. With the construction of The Dead Sea -Med Canal Project, we can than replenish the Dead Sea water levels and thereby revitalize tourism and provide employment opportunities and secondary small businesses in the area. The unique Dead Sea environment, including the ability for people to float effortlessly, will be preserved in designated areas; returning the Dead to its desirable water level will reinvigorate hotels and other tourist facilities which are now far from the water’s edge.

So? When do we take the first step?