The Zionist Organization of America, which has long been one of the leaders in the information campaign explaining the dangers of a Palestinian state to Israel and to world-wide interests, has already released a list of "five new, troubling elements" in the latest Bush plan. These are:
* Bush ignored the very recent call by the Prime Minister-designate to murder Israelis living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. As has been widely quoted - and widely ignored - of late, Abu Mazen told the A-Sharq Al-Aussat newspaper on March 3rd, "The intifada must continue and it is the right of the Palestinian People to resist and use all possible means in order to defend its presence and existence." "Including using arms?" the interviewer asked, and Abu Mazen replied: "All means and arms..." The ZOA notes that Abu Mazen does not fit Bush's original stipulation of a "new [PA] leader not compromised by terror."
* Bush is taking the major step of presenting the plan even before the PA has begun to reduce terrorism.
* President Bush said, "As progress is made toward peace, settlement activity in the occupied territories must end." The term 'progress' is vague enough that even an incidental drop in Israeli deaths at the hand of Palestinian terrorists over any given period could be defined by the State Department as fulfilling this condition. On the other hand, Bush's words "smacked of racism," ZOA stated, by making no mention of the fact that Arab construction activity in Yesha, much of it illegal, is continuing at "ten times the rate of the Jewish residents of those areas"
* Furthermore, he said that "as the terror threat is removed and security improves, Israel must take concrete steps to support the emergence of a viable and credible Palestinian state." Thus, the end to terrorism need not come before Israel's actions, but rather at the same time. The ZOA concludes: "Israel is thus forced to assume an enormous risk to its security before the Palestinian Arabs have demonstrated that they have genuinely ended terrorism."
* President Bush "called upon all parties in the Middle East to abandon old hatreds and to meet their responsibilities for peace" - implying that Israel and the Arabs are equally to blame for those "hatreds," when in fact it is the PA alone that constantly fosters hatred of Jews, Israel, and America in its official media, schools, summer camps, officials' speeches, and religious sermons by PA-appointed clergy.
Ariel Sharon's Bureau Chief Dov Weisglass and other top aides were invited to Washington before the speech and were even shown a copy beforehand, Maariv reports. The newspaper stated that the Israelis asked for the insertion of a sentence saying that the sides would be able to add their comments after receiving the plan, and the request was fulfilled. It was not clear whether this was their only request.
It should be noted that Bush's reference to the "emergence of a viable and credible Palestinian state" *has* been watered down by Israeli responses until now. Israel, in its official references to the Road Map to date, does not make mention of an "independent" Palestinian state, but rather to an entity that has "certain attributes of sovereignty" and that must be "credible" and "law abiding." Prime Minister Sharon has long said that any future Palestinian state will be completely demilitarized, with only lightly-armed police and interior forces, with its entries, exits, and airspace controlled by Israel, and without the ability to form alliances with Israel's enemies.
Bush said that the position of PA prime minister should be a position with "real authority" - but in the next sentence said that he would accept Abu Mazen even before the fulfillment of that condition had been ascertained. In fact, Bush seemed to ignore indications precisely to the contrary. For instance, leading PA official Yasser Abed Rabbo is quoted on the official Palestinian Authority website as saying that Abu Mazen as prime minister will be limited to powers "which cannot be exercised except through permanent, continuous coordination with President Arafat."
Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA writes that it is most unfortunate and ironic that while "President Bush struggles against a world that adamantly refuses to accept the truth about Saddam Hussein, he himself acts no better than Mr. Blix in assessing the performance of the PA." He calls upon Israel, whose official response to Bush's remarks on Friday has been fairly welcoming, to demand that Bush institute a more exacting standard in measuring the PA's compliance with its obligations, to avoid bringing "more terror and suffering to the region."
* Bush ignored the very recent call by the Prime Minister-designate to murder Israelis living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. As has been widely quoted - and widely ignored - of late, Abu Mazen told the A-Sharq Al-Aussat newspaper on March 3rd, "The intifada must continue and it is the right of the Palestinian People to resist and use all possible means in order to defend its presence and existence." "Including using arms?" the interviewer asked, and Abu Mazen replied: "All means and arms..." The ZOA notes that Abu Mazen does not fit Bush's original stipulation of a "new [PA] leader not compromised by terror."
* Bush is taking the major step of presenting the plan even before the PA has begun to reduce terrorism.
* President Bush said, "As progress is made toward peace, settlement activity in the occupied territories must end." The term 'progress' is vague enough that even an incidental drop in Israeli deaths at the hand of Palestinian terrorists over any given period could be defined by the State Department as fulfilling this condition. On the other hand, Bush's words "smacked of racism," ZOA stated, by making no mention of the fact that Arab construction activity in Yesha, much of it illegal, is continuing at "ten times the rate of the Jewish residents of those areas"
* Furthermore, he said that "as the terror threat is removed and security improves, Israel must take concrete steps to support the emergence of a viable and credible Palestinian state." Thus, the end to terrorism need not come before Israel's actions, but rather at the same time. The ZOA concludes: "Israel is thus forced to assume an enormous risk to its security before the Palestinian Arabs have demonstrated that they have genuinely ended terrorism."
* President Bush "called upon all parties in the Middle East to abandon old hatreds and to meet their responsibilities for peace" - implying that Israel and the Arabs are equally to blame for those "hatreds," when in fact it is the PA alone that constantly fosters hatred of Jews, Israel, and America in its official media, schools, summer camps, officials' speeches, and religious sermons by PA-appointed clergy.
Ariel Sharon's Bureau Chief Dov Weisglass and other top aides were invited to Washington before the speech and were even shown a copy beforehand, Maariv reports. The newspaper stated that the Israelis asked for the insertion of a sentence saying that the sides would be able to add their comments after receiving the plan, and the request was fulfilled. It was not clear whether this was their only request.
It should be noted that Bush's reference to the "emergence of a viable and credible Palestinian state" *has* been watered down by Israeli responses until now. Israel, in its official references to the Road Map to date, does not make mention of an "independent" Palestinian state, but rather to an entity that has "certain attributes of sovereignty" and that must be "credible" and "law abiding." Prime Minister Sharon has long said that any future Palestinian state will be completely demilitarized, with only lightly-armed police and interior forces, with its entries, exits, and airspace controlled by Israel, and without the ability to form alliances with Israel's enemies.
Bush said that the position of PA prime minister should be a position with "real authority" - but in the next sentence said that he would accept Abu Mazen even before the fulfillment of that condition had been ascertained. In fact, Bush seemed to ignore indications precisely to the contrary. For instance, leading PA official Yasser Abed Rabbo is quoted on the official Palestinian Authority website as saying that Abu Mazen as prime minister will be limited to powers "which cannot be exercised except through permanent, continuous coordination with President Arafat."
Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA writes that it is most unfortunate and ironic that while "President Bush struggles against a world that adamantly refuses to accept the truth about Saddam Hussein, he himself acts no better than Mr. Blix in assessing the performance of the PA." He calls upon Israel, whose official response to Bush's remarks on Friday has been fairly welcoming, to demand that Bush institute a more exacting standard in measuring the PA's compliance with its obligations, to avoid bringing "more terror and suffering to the region."