Winston Smith
Member
- Mar 6, 2010
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This weekend, yet another idea for a viable peace was offered. This time not by a politician, but by A journalist - Ehud Yaari. His entire plan (which he refuses to name "The Yaari Plan") can be read on the Foreign Affairs jouranal Website, but is only available to subscribers. Yaari also gave Yedioth Acharponot, an israeli daily, an interview concerning his plan and thoughts for the future. Unfortunately I don't have the time to translate the entire piece, but here are some excerpts.
First, a little info on the man: Yaari is of the foremost arabist jouranlists in israel, and has covered arab issues on various israeli and foreign media outlets for the past 30-odd years. He has conducted many interviews with many mid-east leaders during these years, including Pres. Mubarak of Egypt, Yasser Arafat, Anuar Sadat, the last two Kings of Jordan and the King of Morocco, Pres. Asad of Syria, Gaddafi, and, of course every Israeli PM of the last 20 years. He is also a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The Interview:
Generally, the idea is of an armistice covering most of the hot issues before going for one big peace deal, claiming one is not possible at the moment.
"For the past 10 years i have been noticing a palestinian retreat, stampede even, away from the idea of a Palestian state in the '67 borders. That is why i've begun talking with Israelis, Palestinians, Americans and Europeans about the idea that that a comprehensive peace deal has no chance and that we should find an altenative way to get a real dialogue going."
"I'm offering a temporary arrangement that is less than peace and includes a palestinian state under conditions that are a real step ahead.[...] We should come out and say that for an armistice, we would be willing to drop the principle that has been the principle of the negotiations since Rabin, i.e. that until everyting is solved, nothing is solved."
"We are making a mistake when we belive that the palestinian struggle for independence is a struggle for sovereignty. For the palestinians independence is throwing us off their backs. To stop to "Horse and Rider" existence. On the other hand, they are unwilling to partition the land. That is why we must realize - independence is one thing. sovereignty is something else altogether. Even when I mention this to their own people, including those who have been and are at the head of the negotiating table, they agree with me. Only when I talk to jewish crouds i hit a wall - they can't understand how a nation doesen't strive for nationhood."
Yaari's plan goes back further than '67 - to 1949: "In '49 and the battle of the Castel, the palestinians were no longer a player in the war. they weren't in control of the territories at the end and therefore weren't at the negotiating table. I say - bring them back to the table. today they have total control over Gaza, partial contro over the west bank. let's talk to them and create an armistice regime.[...] The guiding principles will be: let's come to temporary solutions on all of the future peace accords' issues, coming from the understanding that we can't solve them completely at the moment. let's give them an offer on a temporary border line, even if it falls short of the future border line. I'm intentionally not going into specifics; it's not the Yaari Plan, it's a point in a specific direction. I'm mean something that will give them most of the west bank, and will make us evacuate some 50,000 settlers."
"We can't solve the jerusalem problem right now, but we can come to a temporary agreement concerning the arab neighborhoods, and a joint custody over the holy sites."
Concerning the refugee issue: "Since it has already been accpeted by the other side that the majority of the refugees will be taken by the palestinian state, we can agree on a compensation deal for those already living the territories without putting their status in the final agreement into question."
"The idea is to create an entire regime, with elements of sovereignty, of territory, of agrrements on economic issues as well as those of jerusalem and the refugees, in order to push the entire process in the direction of attainable goals."
That's it for me, sorry for the long post, think it was worth it, though. would love to hear your thoughts on the matter....
First, a little info on the man: Yaari is of the foremost arabist jouranlists in israel, and has covered arab issues on various israeli and foreign media outlets for the past 30-odd years. He has conducted many interviews with many mid-east leaders during these years, including Pres. Mubarak of Egypt, Yasser Arafat, Anuar Sadat, the last two Kings of Jordan and the King of Morocco, Pres. Asad of Syria, Gaddafi, and, of course every Israeli PM of the last 20 years. He is also a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The Interview:
Generally, the idea is of an armistice covering most of the hot issues before going for one big peace deal, claiming one is not possible at the moment.
"For the past 10 years i have been noticing a palestinian retreat, stampede even, away from the idea of a Palestian state in the '67 borders. That is why i've begun talking with Israelis, Palestinians, Americans and Europeans about the idea that that a comprehensive peace deal has no chance and that we should find an altenative way to get a real dialogue going."
"I'm offering a temporary arrangement that is less than peace and includes a palestinian state under conditions that are a real step ahead.[...] We should come out and say that for an armistice, we would be willing to drop the principle that has been the principle of the negotiations since Rabin, i.e. that until everyting is solved, nothing is solved."
"We are making a mistake when we belive that the palestinian struggle for independence is a struggle for sovereignty. For the palestinians independence is throwing us off their backs. To stop to "Horse and Rider" existence. On the other hand, they are unwilling to partition the land. That is why we must realize - independence is one thing. sovereignty is something else altogether. Even when I mention this to their own people, including those who have been and are at the head of the negotiating table, they agree with me. Only when I talk to jewish crouds i hit a wall - they can't understand how a nation doesen't strive for nationhood."
Yaari's plan goes back further than '67 - to 1949: "In '49 and the battle of the Castel, the palestinians were no longer a player in the war. they weren't in control of the territories at the end and therefore weren't at the negotiating table. I say - bring them back to the table. today they have total control over Gaza, partial contro over the west bank. let's talk to them and create an armistice regime.[...] The guiding principles will be: let's come to temporary solutions on all of the future peace accords' issues, coming from the understanding that we can't solve them completely at the moment. let's give them an offer on a temporary border line, even if it falls short of the future border line. I'm intentionally not going into specifics; it's not the Yaari Plan, it's a point in a specific direction. I'm mean something that will give them most of the west bank, and will make us evacuate some 50,000 settlers."
"We can't solve the jerusalem problem right now, but we can come to a temporary agreement concerning the arab neighborhoods, and a joint custody over the holy sites."
Concerning the refugee issue: "Since it has already been accpeted by the other side that the majority of the refugees will be taken by the palestinian state, we can agree on a compensation deal for those already living the territories without putting their status in the final agreement into question."
"The idea is to create an entire regime, with elements of sovereignty, of territory, of agrrements on economic issues as well as those of jerusalem and the refugees, in order to push the entire process in the direction of attainable goals."
That's it for me, sorry for the long post, think it was worth it, though. would love to hear your thoughts on the matter....
