Israeli Minister of Tourism and leader of the Moledet party Benny Elon has his own plan for achieving peace. Entitled “The Right Road To Peace, In the Wake of the War in Iraq ñ A Historic Opportunity for a Regional Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” his plan addresses the following six main points:
1. Dissolution of the Palestinian Authority.
2. A firm end to Palestinian terrorism by expelling terrorists, collecting weapons and dismantling terror-hotbed refugee camps.
3. The international community will recognize the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as the sole representative of the Palestinians and provide it economic assistance to enable absorption of a limited number of refugees.
4. Israel will become sovereign over Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and the Arabs living there will be Jordanian citizens living as residents of Israel.
5. The exchange of Jewish and Arab populations begun in 1948 will be completed, and the international community will assist with rehabilitation of refugees in their new countries.
6. Israel and Jordan-Palestine will declare the conflict ended and will work together as neighbors.
The strength of this plan lies in its recognition of the historical matrix behind the conflict.
For a start, the plan recognizes the fact that Jordan is the true PLO Arab state
Their reunification can only be effected in Jordan, the de-facto Palestinian Arab state, created in 1920, on 77 percent of historic Palestine, which is four times the size of Israel.
Palestinian Arabs have always comprised the vast majority of the population of Jordan, which makes it the Palestinian state, by definition. There is no justification to partition Israel a second time, to create a second Palestinian Arab state.
Furthermore, the plan recognizes the fact that the PA is controlling terrorism, and that terrorism must be eliminated before the conflict can be resolved.
My own reservation about the plan goes to its practicability, since Jordanian cooperation is a fundamental requirement. However, a news story from today’s Haaretz gives me hope that this barrier can possibly be overcome.
Prince Hassan bin Talal, uncle of Jordan’s Kind Abdullah and a former heir to the throne of the Hashemite kingdom, has told an Italian newspaper that he sees Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a pragmatic man, who wants security for his people, but is unable to find a partner on the Palestinian side with whom to conduct negotiations.
In comments published Monday by La Stampa, Prince Hassan said that ìArafat is at a transitory stage, but, unfortunately, we can see the growing influence of Hamas and Hezbollah among the Palestinians.”
Hassan, the younger brother of Jordanís deceased monarch King Hussein, also said that ìthe Palestinians continue to talk about Palestinian unity. The Palestinian question has never been resolved. From my perspective, Jordan should include all the Palestinians, and Israel, Palestine and Jordan should enjoy the same sort of interdependence as there is in the Benelux countries.î
