The Saudi “Peace Initiative” –
The Next Strategic Failure
Arieh Stav
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“Poor Menachem [Begin], he has his
problems... After all, I got back...the Sinai and the Alma oil fields,
and what has Menachem got? A piece of paper.”
Anwar Sadat, in an interview in
The New York Times, October 19, 1980
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So said the Egyptian ruler with blatant
sarcasm and contempt for the foolishness of “poor Menachem”. Sadat, Hitler’s
unconcealed admirer and among the most vitriolic anti-Semites in the Arab
world at the time, utilized his insightfulness to understand the Jewish
inferiority complex. He knew that it was enough to chirp the word “peace” even
in the context of a political fraud from start to finish, to cause a sense of
gratitude towards any enemy and adversary to resonate in the heart of the
“proud, cruel and generous race” (to quote the old Betar hymn). In granting
Sinai as a prize to the aggressor, to one who swore openly and declaratively
that he intends to destroy the Jewish state and to one who repeatedly
announced that the agreement with Israel is nothing more than a barefaced
deception, not only did Israel perpetrate an act unprecedented in the history
of international relations but the State of Israel, by its own action, also
undermined the moral rationale for its very existence.
The fundamental legal rule that the
principle of natural justice establishes that Ex injuria non oritur –
no benefit can be derived from an illegal act – was manifestly violated and
that has served and continues to serve as the basis for the Arab demands ever
since. It was the Madrid Agreements, which emerged from the womb of Camp
David, in which Israel first recognized a terrorist organization avowed to
destroy the Jewish state, as a legitimate party to negotiations. It was in
Madrid that the Orwellian characterization “land for peace” was adopted and
Binyamin Netanyahu was prepared to transfer the Golan Heights to Damascus.
Madrid paved the way to Oslo and from there to Washington, where, on the White
House lawn, the Prime Minister of Israel shook the blood-soaked hand of the
most prolific murderer of Jews since Hitler, and thereby granted legitimacy to
an organization of murderers, in whose initials, charter and all its symbols
there is a clear and open declaration that the one and only purpose of the
organization’s existence is to bring about Israel’s destruction. It was the
Israeli Government that brought the PLO marauders to Israel from Tunisia,
prepared training areas for it, granted it sovereignty over territories and
provided the PLO with weapons to kill its own citizens. And indeed, 1,700
Israeli citizens paid with their lives on the altar of the lethal
crossbreeding of Arab blood thirst on the one hand and the Jewish inferiority
complex on the other.
If until now the Israeli death wish
stemmed from the depths of the ancient Jewish pathology of a persecuted tribe
in the sense of “in every generation they rise up to destroy us” (from the
Hagaddah), at this point that has been joined by avarice, tragic testament
to the veracity of the anti-Semites of days past. The Prime Minister, a
general decorated with the aura of bravery, who was the symbol of the new Jew
who dealt the enemy a double dose of retribution, sought to cover the shame of
his corruption, his and his son’s. Since a donkey knows the feeding trough of
its master, the head of the mafia from Sycamore Farm knew how to cover up the
despicable acts with the help of the media and the legislative branch.
Therefore he committed an act unprecedented in the annals of this or any other
nation and perpetrated ethnic cleansing of the Jews from the Gaza Strip and
northern Samaria, an act apparently comparable to the actions of Titus in
Judea, though, in fairness to the Roman emperor it ought be said that he did
not do what he did for money and the destruction of the Temple was not carried
out against his own nation. Sharon skillfully read the political map, the
fatigue that spread among the Jewish public and especially the connection
between capital and government. The praise and glorification that he received
in the media – with the generous assistance of the Attorney General – covered
up the despicable acts perpetrated by the person on his death bed. The Gaza
Strip, now completely Judenrein, in record time became the largest
terrorist base in the world. The amounts of weaponry that Egypt openly and
overtly transfers to “its” terrorist organizations (namely, Fatah) (“weapons
smuggling” in the Israeli language of euphemisms) has increased tenfold.
Hamas, an organization of murderers underwritten by Saudi Arabia, gained
control of the government, firing of rockets at the southern cities (Sderot,
etc.) has become a daily routine and from the north, the “Sword of Damascus”
was unleashed under the transparent cover of Hizbullah and the Second Lebanon
War.
At this point, the Saudi peace initiative
moved into high gear. Among the central factors that raised the forgotten
initiative from the 1996 Arab summit in Cairo, it is possible to list several;
however there are three that are the most essential among them and together
form a comprehensive picture of strategic deterioration: A. The Israeli
capitulation to terrorist organizations in Gaza and northern Samaria; B. The
defeat in the Second Lebanon War; C. The American entanglement in Iraq and the
payment in Israeli currency.
A. Any withdrawal from territory for any
purpose other than repositioning for the purpose of launching an offensive is
a defeat. Although the flight from Gaza and northern Samaria, while bringing
destruction upon the Jewish settlement in those territories and transforming
them into terrorist bases was referred to in the Orwellian language of the
media and the political echelon as “liberation of the Palestinians from the
yoke of occupation”, Israeli Newspeak long ago engineered a system of
indoctrination whose connection to reality, if there is such a connection, is
strictly coincidental. Thus, as the Arabs accurately characterized it as they
were setting fire to the synagogues (for the first time in history since
Kristallnacht), it was a clear victory for Arab terrorism, or in its
broader context, for the Arab war against Israel. The Zionists fled, expelled
their own people and thereby carried out another stage in the well-known
“phased program”. Decisive evidence of this is the Hamas ascension to power in
Gaza, as the Israeli defeat also exposed, in the case of the Moslems, the
moral defeat in the Islamic war against Judaism and Christianity. Israel is
the forward outpost of Western civilization in the heart of the Moslem
expanse. Expulsion of the Jews from their homes and the setting of the
synagogues on fire is the same apocalyptic picture feeding Moslem hatred.
Furthermore, the Hamas rise to power is a categorical proof that Israel’s
destruction can be achieved not only through strategic deception as in the
Oslo accords, but with force, while openly calling for the final solution.
B. Israel’s defeat by Syria in the proxy
war or what is called the Second Lebanon War. The Hizbullah organization is a
branch of the Syrian Army in every sense. Its headquarters is located north of
Damascus; some of its arms arrive from Iran via Damascus and some from the
Syrian Army warehouses. All of its intelligence arrives from the general
headquarters of the Syrian army and the uninterrupted flow of weaponry,
especially rockets, from Syria to the Hizbullah units continued throughout the
duration of the fighting.
The defeat of a
modern army, armed in a strategic alignment in all of its branches: Infantry,
Navy and Air Force, against a few thousand terrorists equipped with assault
rifles is an illustration of the process of deterioration that the IDF has
undergone since the Yom Kippur War as the aptly named “People’s Army” goes
from bad to worse reaching its nadir in the last war. However even the lack of
readiness, substandard logistical alignment, low-level senior command echelon
and failed inter-branch coordination are negligible when compared to the
picture of the reserve units which on the day of reckoning are supposed to
provide cover for the standing army - minuscule relative to the enemies’
armies - and therefore constitute a decisive foundation of the IDF military
strategy. The sad truth, obvious to anyone with a head on his shoulders, that
the reserve units, totally bereft of value as a combat force, are more a
useless statistic on the document ostensibly presenting the IDF power than a
fact on the ground.
In contrast to
the self-deception of the common Israeli, who imagines that Israel is a
military power in the Middle East, the Arabs read the map accurately and
quickly reached the obvious conclusion that Israel has lost its military
deterrence capability, i.e.: A rationale for existence, and that its chances
in a conventional war are apparently non-existent.
C. The American disappointment. Going to
war in Iraq with bravado and with the support of many allies among the members
of the European community and especially the quick ground victory and the
capture of Saddam Hussein aroused great expectations. However, the
disappointment was proportionate to the expectations. The Europeans with their
innate defeatism quickly abandoned their support for Washington. The attempt
to impose order on the Iraqi chaos, and even more so to pass on the advantages
of democracy to Iraq, very quickly ran aground. The number of fatalities among
the American soldiers has passed 3,300 and President Bush and his Republican
Party, after losing the majority in Congress are facing defeat in the
presidential elections. Thus, the Americans are searching for a face-saving
exit strategy from the Iraqi imbroglio. However, the one who really
disappointed the Americans was Israel. No one wants pathetic, defeatist allies
that are unable to take care of themselves. And that was how Israel was
exposed in the eyes of the White House and even more so in the eyes of the
State Department. Although the Pentagon has been following the deterioration
of the IDF for years, the rout in Lebanon surpassed all expectations. It was a
supreme American interest that Israel strike at Syria. A: Because Damascus is
the western branch of Iran, i.e.: A central component of the Axis of Evil. The
fact that the Iranian ruler never stopped demanding to wipe Israel off the map
and is developing nuclear weapons for that purpose, was supposed to supply
Israel with an existential reason to topple the enemy to the north with
assistance from Washington. However, not only did Israel close the historic
window of opportunity, but while the fire was still burning in the houses in
Haifa which collapsed from Syrian firepower, “peace with Syria” was already
being discussed, i.e.: Expulsion of Israel from the Golan Heights and
transferring it to the worst of Israel’s enemies. B. There is consensus among
the experts in the field of development of weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq, that the weapons and the material were transferred to Syria.1
Therefore, Washington (together with Great Britain) provided Israel with all
possible support on the matter. However, by means of an exercise in
self-deception, Israel erased the connection between Hizbullah and Damascus
and did nothing in a matter that could have brought about a sea change in the
standing of the American president and his party, and to yield for Israel the
fruits of American appreciation in the form of strategic cooperation in the
face of the Islamic threat. This would have been manifest at the very least in
the removal of the “Road Map” from the political agenda. The Israeli failure
left the Americans with no alternative to buying Arab hearts with Israeli
currency. That explains Mrs. Rice’s vocal support for the Saudi plan and the
White House’s abandonment of its original cold attitude and its voicing
support for the plan at present.
The Saudi Initiative – The Document’s Main Points
The Council of the League of Arab
Nations, in the 14th session of the summit meeting, ratifies the
resolution adopted in June 1996 in the special Arab summit that took place in
Cairo, that just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East constitutes a
strategic option for the Arab countries. It should be achieved in accordance
with international law and requires an identical commitment on the part of the
Israeli Government.
This was after the statement of His Royal
Highness Prince Abdullah Bin Abd al-Aziz, the Crown Prince of the Saudi
Kingdom, in which His Royal Highness delineated his initiative, which called
for a total Israeli withdrawal from all Arab territories occupied since June
1967; for the implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338; the
resolutions adopted at the Madrid Conference in 1991; the principle of land
for peace and Israel’s agreement to the concept of an independent Palestinian
State whose capital is East Jerusalem – in exchange for the normalization of
relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel.
In accordance with the belief of the Arab
countries in the assumption that a military solution to the conflict will
neither achieve peace nor provide security for the various parties, the
Council:
-
Demands that Israel to consider its
policy and to declare that a just peace constitutes a strategic option for
it.
-
Calls upon Israel:
-
To carry out a complete withdrawal
from all territories occupied since 1967 to the June 4, 1967 borders. That
includes withdrawal from the Syrian Golan Heights and from the Lebanese
territories occupied in southern Lebanon.
-
To achieve a just solution of the
Palestinian refugee problem. This will be reached in accordance with UN
Resolution 194.
-
To agree to the establishment of a
sovereign, independent Palestinian State in Palestinian territories occupied
since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, whose capital is
East Jerusalem.
-
Accordingly, the Arab countries ratify
the following:
-
As far as the Arab countries are
concerned, this is the end of the Israeli-Arab conflict and the beginning of
a peace agreement with Israel. The countries will see to the well-being of
all of the countries in the region.
-
The Arab countries will normalize
relations with Israel in the context of a comprehensive peace.
-
The Arab countries reject any form of
Palestinian sovereignty inconsistent with the special circumstances
delineated by the host Arab countries.
-
The Arab countries call upon the
Israeli Government and all residents of Israel to accept this initiative in
order to preserve the chance to achieve peace, to put an end to the
continued bloodshed and to enable the Arab countries and Israel to live in
peace and as good neighbors and to provide future generations with security,
stability and prosperity.
-
The Arab countries invite the
international community and all countries and organizations to support this
initiative.
-
The Arab countries request that the
chairman of the summit establish a special committee, which will include
representatives of all of the interested parties as well as the
secretary-General of the Arab League, which will act to garner support for
this initiative at all levels, especially at the United Nations, the
Security Council, in the United States, Russia, the Moslem countries and the
European Union.
*
This is the text of the document. The
text of the Saudi initiative was first publicized in February 2002 in the wake
of a column by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times, in which the
journalist described the interview that he conducted a short time earlier with
the Saudi Crown Prince, Prince Abdullah. A month later, the initiative was
adopted at the Arab League summit in Beirut. After a long, stormy debate,
which more than once was on the brink of a breakdown, the initiative was
unanimously adopted by the 22 League members and became the “Arab Peace
Initiative”.
Publication of the initiative was ignored
both by the Israeli Government, which considered the initiative as nothing
more than a Saudi exercise in public relations in the wake of its decisive
role in world Islamic terrorism in general and in the terrorist act at the
Twin Towers in particular as well as by the United states and the European
Community, which were busy with the Iraq war at the time. Thus, the initiative
sunk into oblivion for a period of approximately three years and was
resurrected in 2006 and is enjoying increased acceleration this year. It is
possible to enumerate several reasons for this, first and foremost among them
the dramatic shift in Israel’s strategic condition that took place during that
period.
If the Arab initiative began with a
whimper in 2002 and, as mentioned above, did not attract any attention at the
time, now it has become the central impetus in Middle East diplomatic
activity. Thus, it is only natural that the Saudi Foreign Minister is
presenting his plan as an ultimatum accompanied by an (unveiled) threat: “If
Israel does not accept the Saudi peace initiative, it will abandon its fate to
the hands of gang and militia leaders”. The Saudi Foreign Minister concludes
and establishes: “If Israel wants peace it must accept the Saudi initiative in
its entirety, as a complete package”2
Surprisingly, it was King Abdullah of
Jordan, who in the past adamantly asserted that there is no chance to demand
from Israel resolution of the refugee problem in accordance with UN Resolution
194, who warmly joined the initiative and called upon Israel in late March
2007, during his meeting with the American Secretary of State, Condoleezza
Rice, “to respond affirmatively to the Arab peace plan”.
At this stage, the Arabs set out on a
campaign to convince all of the elements that wield clout and influence in the
Middle East. First and foremost in Washington, that is currently assessing
ways to implement the Arab initiative and how to integrate it into the “Road
Map”. The European Community greeted the Saudi discovery as a wonderful
opportunity and Javier Solana of Spain enthusiastically began recruiting
supporters for the initiative. Vladimir Putin repeatedly expressed his support
for it. However all this is only an appetizer for the main course, that is the
willingness of the victim to swallow the bait. The “peace camp” has begun
banging the drums, opinion polls indicate broad public support and the
political echelon has absorbed the message. The Foreign Minister of the Jewish
state, Mrs. Tzipi Livni, who is seeking to make her way to the Prime
Minister’s Office in the spirit of the hard and fast rule that “since Menachem
Begin, each succeeding Prime Minister in Israel has been worse than his
predecessor”, saw fit to inform Mrs. Rice of Israel’s willingness: “To offer
our hand to the peace that is being extended to us”. However it was the PM
himself, who, as is his wont, exposed the depths of the moral turpitude to
which a member of the Betar movement could descend. He said: “In a meeting
with the Saudi Foreign Minister, the prince will be surprised just how far we
are willing to go...” Several days later he added that “Israel will join the
Saudi initiative with no preconditions”.3
(Indeed, the prince will be surprised, no doubt about it, as one of the
generators of Saudi terrorism around the world, the prince serves as a
facilitator of the most evil and murderous of all the Islamic sects, Wahabism,
but even he would not sell his homeland for a pottage of lentils designed to
save him from police investigations of his shady business transactions as a
corrupt real estate merchant).
Thus, today as in the past, it is not the
substance and the essence of the matter that determines the crooked path of
the common functionary who made his way (arrogantly, as a rule) to the top of
the Israeli political pyramid, but rather the word written on ice: peace.
Endnotes
