106 IDF Ex-Generals, Spy Chiefs Urge New Peace Bid
By J.J. Goldberg
In
what appears to be the largest-ever joint protest by senior Israeli
security personnel, a group of 106 retired generals, Mossad directors
and national police commissioners has signed a letter to Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu urging him to “initiate a diplomatic process” based
on a regional framework for peace with the Palestinians.
Several of the signers told Israel’s Mako-Channel 2 News in
interviews that Israel had the strength and the means to reach a
two-state solution that “doesn’t entail a security risk,” but hadn’t
managed to reach an agreement because of “weak leadership.”
“We’re
on a steep slope toward an increasingly polarized society and moral
decline, due to the need to keep millions of people under occupation on
claims that are presented as security-related,” reserve Major General
Eyal Ben-Reuven told Mako’s Roni Daniel. “I have no doubt that the prime
minister seeks Israel’s welfare, but I think he suffers from some sort
of political blindness that drives him to scare himself and us.”
The
letter was initiated by a former Armored Corps commander, reserve Major
General Amnon Reshef. He told Yediot Ahronot in an interview published
Friday, and posted in English today
on Yediot’s Ynetnews.com website, that he was “tired of a reality of
rounds of fighting every few years instead of a genuine effort to adopt
the Saudi initiative.”
He was referring to the Saudi-backed peace proposal that was adopted unanimously by the Arab League in 2002 (here is the full text)
and later endorsed by the 57-member Organization of Islamic
Cooperation, with Iran abstaining. It has since been repeatedly
reaffirmed and its terms softened. As currently framed, it offers full
peace, diplomatic recognition and “normal relations” between the Arab
states and Israel in return for Israeli withdrawal to borders based on
the pre-1967 armistice lines, with negotiated land swaps, and a “just”
and mutually “agreed” compromise solution to the Palestinian refugee
problem.
The
generals’ call echoes a proposal for a regional peace conference that
was floated during the Gaza war this summer by Israel’s science
minister, Yaakov Peri, a member of Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party and a
former director of the Shin Bet security service. It’s currently being
advocated within the security cabinet by Lapid and justice minister
Tzipi Livni.
Netanyahu takes the position that Palestinian statehood at this juncture would imperil Israel’s security.
Retired
generals have occasionally made joint statements in the past, but never
in such numbers and rarely on political matters that aren’t directly
related to army business. In January 2012, 52 ex-generals signed a petition calling
for legislation to require military or equivalent national service for
Haredi men. In November 2011, 19 ex-generals called on IDF chief of
staff Benny Gantz to combat growing religious extremism in the army. In
February 2010, 15 ex-generals signed a statement criticizing “leftist
organizations,” including the New Israel Fund, that they said had
damaged the IDF by aiding the Goldstone Report.
Signers
of the current letter to Netanyanu include 101 IDF veterans with the
rank of brigadier or major general, as well as two former chiefs of the
Mossad intelligence agency and three former commanders of Israel’s
National Police. (Yediot’s report, which preceded Mako, gave a total of
105.)
The
generals’ letter apparently doesn’t refer directly to the Arab Peace
Initiative (I haven’t seen the letter’s full text yet), but in calling
for a regional process it appears to rely on the willingness of the
Saudis and Egyptians to sponsor a conference leading to negotiated peace
that renders “the Arab-Israeli conflict ended,” based on the
initiative.
The
purpose of enlisting the neighboring Arab states is to give the
Palestinian leadership backing and legitimacy to accept compromises it
has failed to embrace on its own in bilateral talks.
Here are the portions of the letter published by Yediot (translation by Ynetnews):
We,
the undersigned, reserve IDF commanders and retired police officers,
who have fought in Israel’s military campaigns, know first-hand of the
heavy and painful price exacted by wars.
We
fought bravely for the country in the hope that our children would live
here in peace, but we got a sharp reality check [literal translation:
“but reality slapped us in the face” — jjg], and here we are again
sending our children out onto the battlefield, watching them don their
uniforms and combat vests and go out to fight in Operation Protective
Edge…
This
is not a question of left or right. What we have here is an alternative
option for resolving the conflict that is not based solely on bilateral
negotiations with the Palestinians, which have failed time and again…
We expect a show of courageous initiative and leadership from you. Lead –
and we will stand behind you.
http://blogs.forward.com/jj-
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