\"The right wing has no alternative to Oslo.\" With these words, Israel\'s left wing consistently challenges the nationalist camp to come up with a solution to the \"problem\" of the Israeli conflict with the Arabs. Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg, speaking in the Knesset last week, formulated the problem as he sees it:
\"The State of Israel has three ambitions. If it were possible, it would want to live all three of them in their entirety: The first is to be a complete and ideological democracy, a state of equality and justice for all its citizens, regardless of religion, race, or gender. The second is to be the State of the Jews, one that preserves its Jewish majority and its eternal ethical values and the special national character of the only state of this ancient people. The third is to preserve the nation\'s historic homeland, the entirety of Eretz Yisrael, that which was promised us in these Torah portions, the cradle of Jewish civilization. For many years we avoided a resolution; we thought that six days of miracles and heroism in 1967 would last us for the seventh day as well, which has already lasted for over three decades. We fooled ourselves by wanting all, and we are on the verge of receiving nothing.
\"He who is honest knows that we cannot have all three, just like Avraham and Lot. Whoever wants a full democracy with a Jewish majority cannot hold onto the entire land, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, because it is a land that has people of another nation with different national aspirations. And whoever wants the whole land and a Jewish majority, must give up on democracy, and instead have a dark and oppressive regime. And whoever wants a democracy and the entire Land, must give up on his idea of a Jewish state with a Jewish majority.\"
Arutz-7 Israel National Radio, rising to the challenge of answering the question, \"What\'s your alternative?\", brought together over 20 leading thinkers of Israel\'s nationalist camp and asked them to formulate their substitute for the Oslo process. Two responses were excerpted here yesterday, and additional answers appear below; stay tuned for more throughout the week.
Tourism Minister Benny Elon:
\"Burg\'s premise is wrong, as we are not demanding the entire Eretz (Land of) Yisrael. The entire Land also includes the other side of the Jordan, that which is the Promised Land of the Bible and that which Balfour promised the Jewish People for a national home. Most of this area, 78% of it, already has a Palestinian state - Jordan... We must make it clear that Eretz Yisrael has two sides of the Jordan, and that if the Arabs want a Palestinian state, it already exists, in the form of Jordan. If we keep on claiming that only 1/4 of the entire Land is ours, while the Arabs claim the whole thing, then Jewish Law says that we have to split our differences, which means we\'ll end up with only 1/8...
\"Our solution [the voluntary exodus of Arabs out of Judea and Samaria] will lead to real peace, with a democratic Jewish state between the Mediterranean and the Jordan. Gandhi [the assassinated Rehavam Ze\'evi, founder of the Moledet party that Elon now heads] taught us that there are different types of transfer: The forcible type, which is not desirable or democratic, occurs during wartime. It is sometimes justified as a form of punishment to those who start a war. Just as in the War of Independence, when they brought upon themselves a \"nakba,\" catastrophe, and we celebrate our independence. If they continue to war with us, then that is what will happen again.
\"On the other hand, we are willing to negotiate with them over some form of autonomy, with its capital in Amman, and connected culturally and municipally and in other ways to Jordan, but with Israel in control of the borders, sovereignty, Jordan Valley. This can be done if they are willing to live with us in peace. But if they are not willing to do so, then the painful price they will have to pay will be transfer.\"
\"The State of Israel has three ambitions. If it were possible, it would want to live all three of them in their entirety: The first is to be a complete and ideological democracy, a state of equality and justice for all its citizens, regardless of religion, race, or gender. The second is to be the State of the Jews, one that preserves its Jewish majority and its eternal ethical values and the special national character of the only state of this ancient people. The third is to preserve the nation\'s historic homeland, the entirety of Eretz Yisrael, that which was promised us in these Torah portions, the cradle of Jewish civilization. For many years we avoided a resolution; we thought that six days of miracles and heroism in 1967 would last us for the seventh day as well, which has already lasted for over three decades. We fooled ourselves by wanting all, and we are on the verge of receiving nothing.
\"He who is honest knows that we cannot have all three, just like Avraham and Lot. Whoever wants a full democracy with a Jewish majority cannot hold onto the entire land, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, because it is a land that has people of another nation with different national aspirations. And whoever wants the whole land and a Jewish majority, must give up on democracy, and instead have a dark and oppressive regime. And whoever wants a democracy and the entire Land, must give up on his idea of a Jewish state with a Jewish majority.\"
Arutz-7 Israel National Radio, rising to the challenge of answering the question, \"What\'s your alternative?\", brought together over 20 leading thinkers of Israel\'s nationalist camp and asked them to formulate their substitute for the Oslo process. Two responses were excerpted here yesterday, and additional answers appear below; stay tuned for more throughout the week.
Tourism Minister Benny Elon:
\"Burg\'s premise is wrong, as we are not demanding the entire Eretz (Land of) Yisrael. The entire Land also includes the other side of the Jordan, that which is the Promised Land of the Bible and that which Balfour promised the Jewish People for a national home. Most of this area, 78% of it, already has a Palestinian state - Jordan... We must make it clear that Eretz Yisrael has two sides of the Jordan, and that if the Arabs want a Palestinian state, it already exists, in the form of Jordan. If we keep on claiming that only 1/4 of the entire Land is ours, while the Arabs claim the whole thing, then Jewish Law says that we have to split our differences, which means we\'ll end up with only 1/8...
\"Our solution [the voluntary exodus of Arabs out of Judea and Samaria] will lead to real peace, with a democratic Jewish state between the Mediterranean and the Jordan. Gandhi [the assassinated Rehavam Ze\'evi, founder of the Moledet party that Elon now heads] taught us that there are different types of transfer: The forcible type, which is not desirable or democratic, occurs during wartime. It is sometimes justified as a form of punishment to those who start a war. Just as in the War of Independence, when they brought upon themselves a \"nakba,\" catastrophe, and we celebrate our independence. If they continue to war with us, then that is what will happen again.
\"On the other hand, we are willing to negotiate with them over some form of autonomy, with its capital in Amman, and connected culturally and municipally and in other ways to Jordan, but with Israel in control of the borders, sovereignty, Jordan Valley. This can be done if they are willing to live with us in peace. But if they are not willing to do so, then the painful price they will have to pay will be transfer.\"