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AMNON LORD:
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Principles and red lines

The Palestinians, led by Yasser Arafat, are waging a revolutionary war against Israel on many fronts and with various allies. The Israelis planning a propaganda "ceremony" to sign the Geneva Initiative are part of that system, even if we assume their intentions are good.

It would be presumptuous and foolish to propose any kind of "peace plan,‘ because ’peace plans" are part of the total war the Palestinians are waging against Israel.

What Israel needs is not to play peace-plan games, but conduct a serious discussion to clarify and refresh old security principles. What should matter at this stage are only principles and red lines, and if peace agreements are signed in the future that violate those principles, we will know that the agreements were not intended to serve Israel’s existential interests, but just the opposite — to harm them.

Next week Israel will mark the eighth anniversary of the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. There will be a lot of talk about Rabin’s "heritage." I prefer to recall the late Rabin’s political and security objectives, which can serve us today as a compass in the deliberate political battle fog.

On October 5, 1995, one month before his death, in his last Knesset speech when he brought the Oslo II agreement up for approval, Rabin delineated his vision as to defensible borders and the image of the future final settlement with the Palestinians.

"The borders of the State of Israel, when a final settlement is achieved, will be beyond the lines that existed before the Six Day War. We shall not return to the June 4, 1967 lines," he stated.

In this last speech, Rabin delineated his map in general strokes. His first principle was for the Jordan Valley to remain in Israeli hands: "Israel’s security border will be in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning." There is no doubt that Rabin did not mean the meager flow of the Jordan River, but the entire valley region, including the eastern mountain slopes.

That principle is also acceptable to some of the leaders of the Likud, such as Binyamin Netanyahu, who has used the term "the Alon Plan plus." The Jordan Valley and its eastern mountain slopes is, in fact, Israel’s security spine. In the fickle Middle East, the emergence of an eastern front against Israel is something that can happen overnight.

As for Jerusalem, Rabin used the following terms: "First and foremost, a united Jerusalem,‘ as the capital of Israel. In the context of Jerusalem he included Ma’aleh Adumim to the east and Givat Ze’ev to the north; the Etzion bloc, Efrat and Beitar to the south. As for other settlements in Judea and Samaria, Rabin used the term ’settlement blocs" for the first time.

But no less important than drawing the physical borders, Rabin had a goal towards which he was striving in regard to the Palestinian Authority. Until his dying day, he opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state and intended to limit its authorities and sovereignty: "We would like it to be an entity that is less than a state,‘ Rabin said in his last speech, ’and would independently manage the lives of the Palestinians under its rule."

THOSE PRINCIPLES laid out by Yitzhak Rabin should guide the leaders of Israel even today. Nothing has changed in regard to Israel’s national and security needs. To the contrary, the dangers of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan have been clearly revealed in the last years.

Can a peace accord under the terms required by Israel be reached today? The answer is no. After the fiasco of the July 2000 Camp David conference followed by the further virtual concessions in Taba, such a plan cannot be sold to the Arabs. After these three years, the Arabs can only be sold a plan from which they can continue their Vietnam-style war to destroy the Jewish state.

From Israel’s point of view, Rabin’s principles are settlement, political and security destinations. There is no choice but to act towards their materialization while fighting the war that has been forced upon us.

I would add to these principles another principle which Rabin did not address at the time, because the reality in 1995 was different. That is the principle that Israel must fight terrorism and terrorist bases until their final destruction.

In view of the propaganda washing over Israel today, some will wonder: Was Rabin not afraid of the demographic problem? Rabin’s borders definitely indicate that he considered the demographic data, but today the propagandists of the 1949 lines claim that without the establishment of a full-fledged Palestinian state, Israel will supposedly be flooded by Arab childbirth, and will have to give all the Arabs west of the Jordan Israeli citizenship. That is a lie.

The Palestinians already belong today to a recognized political entity called "the Palestinian Authority." If they want to upgrade their political status, the Palestinians can hitch their political fate to the kingdom of Jordan. The idea of a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation that would prevent the creation of an independent Palestinian state in the territories of the West Bank and Gaza, was accepted not only by Rabin but also by Shimon Peres when they both signed the Oslo Accords in 1993.