Benny Elon?s plan, called ?The Right Road to Peace?, is the perfect solution. It postulates a two-state solution - namely Jordan and Israel - with the Arabs remaining on the West Bank and becoming citizens of Jordan. It requires the commitment of the US to the plan and the acceptance by Jordan. As part of the plan, Israel would destroy the Palestinian Authority, would destroy the terrorist infrastructure and expel the terrorists.



This Plan should have great appeal to the Americans for the following reasons:



1. The PA has demonstrated that it doesn?t have the will or the intention to get rid of terror or incitement, or to negotiate realistically.



2. Jordan, with whom Israel already has a Peace Agreement, would replace the PA as the negotiating partner.



3. Neither Arab nor Jew would have to be transferred.



4. The Jordan River would serve as a natural border.



5. Jordan would benefit greatly by US investment of money to absorb the Palestinians and by Israel?s cooperation in hiring Arabs to work in Israel.



Now that the US is putting major pressure on Syria to abandon terrorism, get out of Lebanon and to cooperate on Iraq, there is every reason to believe it will succeed. If Syria, then, will change sides, so to speak, it is not much to ask them to also support the Elon Plan. Syria might as well go whole hog for the enlarged benefits they get in return. Such an about face by Syria will truly break the logjam of Arab rejectionism.



America?s greatest difficulty with such a plan is the possibility that the Palestinians will take control of Jordan, democratically or otherwise.



So far, as is obvious, the US has not bought into it. Israel can?t go it alone and Sharon has decided, rightly or wrongly, under pressure or otherwise, to reach agreement with the US on all things, rather than to act in defiance of them.



That is not to say that the Elon plan and the Roadmap will not have a point of convergence at some future time.



Both Sharon and Bush insist that the Roadmap is the way to go for now, even though it appears to be mired in the mud of terrorism. The Roadmap requires someone to negotiate with and so the PA is kept intact, though barely alive. (Oslo created the PA for this purpose, so in that respect it has yet to be abandoned.) It also requires that the PA become a true partner for negotiations by destroying the terror option and transforming itself. For a short while, there were indications that a state would be created in any event, but it appears now, what with the recent utterances of Powell and Blair, that a cessation of terror, at a minimum, is a pre-requisite.



Sharon?s Disengagement Plan is being developed to fill the gap between now and when the PA will meet its obligations. Essentially, it contemplates the evacuation of certain outposts, lawful or otherwise, while at the same time strengthening Israel?s hold on the territories west of the fence. The construction of the fence puts pressure on the PA to perform and exacts a penalty if they don?t. Disengagement means no more or no less than that. It is partial disengagement only.



There will still be settlements on the east side of the fence and the IDF will not withdraw, cease its security functions (this was tried in Oslo and was a total failure), open up borders or cede any control of the airspace.



What is required is an agreement on coexistence. Discussions took place prior to Camp David for the sharing of Jerusalem, which involved a layering of rights, with sovereignty being of less importance. Similar discussions have to take place for the territories themselves, which would allow Israelis to remain there and maintain security. Barring agreement on these very important issues, no ?vacuum? should be created in these areas, Ehud Olmert notwithstanding.



If coexistence cannot be negotiated, whether for Jerusalem or the territories, then the creation of Palestine should be a non-starter. If the PA is incapable of transforming itself, it should be destroyed, thereby bringing the Oslo era to an end. In its wake, Jordan should be induced to be the negotiating party.



Sharon?s Disengagement Plan, as he admits, is half-baked. His latest pronouncement was that it wouldn?t be put into practice unless approved by Knesset and that it would take six months to work out the details. And the devil, as you know, is in the details. One of those details is what will happen on the east side of the fence. Israel should not evacuate these lands or create a state without an agreement to Israeli satisfaction.



It has already been mooted that in a peace deal with the Palestinians the settlers would stay in their homes and be Israeli citizens, notwithstanding the Palestinians having sovereignty. This is the mirror image of the Elon Plan, which envisages Israeli sovereignty and the Arabs therein getting Jordanian citizenship. If we could negotiate an agreement where everyone could remain in his or her own homes, then the border takes on less significance.



While Israel is playing the Roadmap game, she should launch a diplomatic effort to establish the Elon Plan as an alternative. The Left understood that to undermine the Roadmap, an alternative (Geneva) must be presented. It is time for the Right to understand this as well.



The ZOA, together with the Christian Coalition, should spearhead this effort. Also a caucus should be developed in Congress in support of the Plan. Such a plan would give Christians and their holy sites real protection, rather then the persecution they are subject to now under the PA. Israel should do its best to mount a campaign, like the supporters of the Geneva Understandings did, in order to get this plan before the world and accepted by a growing constituency. If Israel can?t do this because it is committed to the Roadmap, it should get others to do it.



Elon?s Plan should be Israel?s Plan.