Israeli ex-officers issue peace plan, condemn gov’t inaction

T. Belman. This is similar to the one announced last week in “Pro-Israel” heavyweights press hard for 2 states. I reject both initiatives. They are trying to circumvent our government.

They are working in cahoots. You will remember the Geneva Initiative and the Oslo Accords, both negotiated by left wingers in secret.

New initiative calls for freeze on settlement building and acceptance of Arab Peace Initiative in principle

AP, TOI

Palestinian stone throwers stand next to burning wood during clashes with Israeli security forces in Shuafat in East Jerusalem on October 5, 2015. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)

A group of more than 200 Israeli military and intelligence officers criticized the government for a lack of action in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Friday and issued a detailed plan they say can end the impasse.

The report’s publication closely follows a week of turmoil in Israeli politics that saw the appointment of a defense minister who is an outspoken skeptic of peace efforts with the Palestinians.

With peace talks in a deep freeze the plan by Commanders for Israel’s Security on Friday called to “preserve conditions” for negotiations with the Palestinians. It urges a combination of political and security initiatives together with delivering economic benefits to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem simultaneously.

It calls for a freeze on settlement building, the acceptance in principle of the Arab Peace Initiative and the recognition that East Jerusalem should be part of a future Palestinian state “when established as part of a future agreement.” The Israeli opposition and much of the international community have long argued for these proposals.

Commanders for Israel’s Security is a group comprised of more than 200 retired military generals and intelligence officers, veterans of decades of regional strife who are seeking to resolve the conflict. War veterans are well-respected in Israel, and their input has previously shifted debate.

The group’s chairman, Amnon Reshef, a fabled Israeli war hero and a former commander of its armored corps, said the plan “refutes the fear mongers” who claim there is currently no Palestinian peace partner or that conditions are not right for negotiations. He said such an argument, which is common in Israel after years of conflict and failed talks, “should not serve as an excuse for passivity and inaction.”

Reshef warned “the current status quo is an illusion” that endangers a two-state solution to the conflict.

The report widens a growing rift between the government and the country’s military leaders. The former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon was forced out after backing the military in a series of disagreements with political hard-liners. His ultranationalist successor, Avigdor Liberman, is largely at odds with the military he now commands.

In March, military leaders criticized a soldier who was caught on video fatally shooting an already-wounded Palestinian attacker in the head — and he is now on trial for manslaughter. While Ya’alon backed the military, Lieberman went to the court to offer his support to the soldier.

France is preparing to host a conference next month aimed at restarting peace talks that collapsed in 2014. The US-led quartet of international peace mediators is set to release a report shortly expected to be critical of Israel.

Israel is struggling to combat eight months of Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings, shootings and vehicular assaults, against civilians and security personnel that have killed 28 Israelis and two Americans. About 200 Palestinians were killed in that time, mostly attackers, Israel says. The assaults have been less frequent in recent weeks, but have not entirely stopped.

Reshef said his groups’ plan aims to preserve conditions for future peace talks with the Palestinians while bettering Israel’s national security, regional and international ties in the interim. “In our experience we know that you cannot defeat terror only by military means, you have to improve the Palestinians quality of life,” he said.

The group of military veterans said it hopes the plan will be considered by decision-makers and by the general public in Israel as well as in the US, where a campaign with the Israel Policy Forum, an NGO, will be launched next week.

May 28, 2016 | 8 Comments »

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  1. called to “preserve conditions” for negotiations with the Palestinians. It urges a combination of political and security initiatives together with delivering economic benefits to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem simultaneously.

    It calls for a freeze on settlement building, the acceptance in principle of the Arab Peace Initiative and the recognition that East Jerusalem should be part of a future Palestinian state

    Apparently they all belong to Meretz.

    They appear to be unaware of current events… perhaps their retirement has brought on some short term memory loss. There has been a settlement freeze for years… didnt they know that…dont they read the news? There is an article in their favorite news papaer haarets published here today … how did they miss it? if they dont know that then they must be idiots and everything else they advise is just as stupid.
    https://www.israpundit.org/archives/63615169

  2. “In our experience we know that you cannot defeat terror only by military means, you have to improve the Palestinians quality of life,” he said.

    what rubbish… it is only the military which has crushed terror… all the diplomatic action led to terror. Exactly the opposite is true…. until defensive shield the pals fed their terror off the diplomacy of Oslo. Terror was reduced enormously by defensive shield. merciless onslaughts against the pal population will give very good results and drive them from the land… its best to exploit that window of opportunity when it arrive… thats a military decision as opposed to the self proclaimed political and diplomatic expertise of these retired military.

  3. The report widens a growing rift between the government and the country’s military leaders. The former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon was forced out after backing the military in a series of disagreements with political hard-liners. His ultranationalist successor, Avigdor Liberman, is largely at odds with the military he now commands.

    this statement is propaganda disinformation… the rift was not between the gov and the army… it was between yaalon and his stooges and the rest of the IDF soldiers and Israel. its obvious that this article is just more leftist BS probably financed by the usual suspects.
    I dont see anything in their plan showing what the pals are willing to give in order to receive peace?

  4. Commanders for Israel’s Security is a group comprised of more than 200 retired military generals and intelligence officers, veterans of decades of regional strife who are seeking to resolve the conflict. War veterans are well-respected in Israel, and their input has previously shifted debate.

    Interestingly it is their “leadership”, their generation, there thinking, there models for peace…. which have resulted in utter failure after decades of repeating the same worn out leftist mantras of land for peace. How stupid does anyone have to be to keep repeating the same failures?

    the suggestions of this group, which is to be predicted of any leftist parroting clone collective now for decades, is exactly the arab plan…. so these losers are fronting the arab plan. I dont know about their military performance but its obvious that their political notions are proven ludicrous failures. Instead of doubling down on trying to push their delusions they should fade into retirement.

    the plan “refutes the fear mongers” who claim there is currently no Palestinian peace partner or that conditions are not right for negotiations. He said such an argument, which is common in Israel after years of conflict and failed talks, “should not serve as an excuse for passivity and inaction.”

    DUH?????
    there is no peace partner…. are they nuts? everyday the fake pal PM says he wont talk unless the jews give him all his demands. Are they saying the wars were won merely to give anti semites all their demands… this is their peace plan… to give them their demands? Even the goyim and LON mandate said all that empty land in JS was to be set aside for Jewsih homes… and these dummies want to give it to the enemy after so many jews died fighting that enemy.

    there is no logic, common sense or factual historical basis which can support their ridiculous suggestions….

  5. The best thing about American pressure on Israel is that comes from a democratic government. Thanks to its short lifespan, no US administration can force on Israel a solution she does not want. In a few months, Obama will be gone and possibly even BB and his government sooner.

    We fought with Syria, Egypt, and Iran three thousand years ago, and will continue fighting them in the centuries to come. The American democracy along with its rulers is just a blip on the radar of our history.

  6. @ LtCol Howard:

    There is one thing I detest more than Israeli defeatists and corrupted Israeli ex military officers and that is stupid American Jews who can’t stand the truth that we don’t need them anymore and they have limited leverage and influence in Israel….. Yes they have some Israelis who still run like beggars and kiss their asses but in reality we have left most of them in our dust… We have our own billionaires and oligarchs but at least they are here and assume the same threats and risks as all the rest. That gives them at least some skin in our game but American Jews??? Worse than our leftist 5th column.

  7. Now I know what the Arab starting point will be. Everything that these so-called defense and security experts are putting on the table will be the starting point …..and the additional demands from or the Arab actors will be never ending
    .
    What these delusional characters should’ve done was to draw up a list of Israel’s minimum nonnegotiable demands for security, safety, disarmament, no return of refugees, the dissolution of refugee camps and absorption of the “refugees” by the various Arab states, etc., etc., etc.

  8. Soon or later this group of Commanders for Israel’s Security will come to realize that it is/was TAQIYYA! And then?
    The API was initially a take it or leave diktat offer to Israel and it wont change much once the Muslim world get out of it fanatically genocidal infatuation with self-destruction.
    What about the systematic refusal of the Palestinians to make counter-offers???
    For sure let ‘s keep the door open to dialogue.
    But the West is constantly undermining Israel and that encourage the Pal in their total opposition to any resolution of the conflict.