Although the Road Map plan, as submitted to Israel and PA officials yesterday, has so far not incorporated any of the 15 changes Israel submitted over the past months, hardly any Israeli government representatives have commented on its dangers. Minister Uzi Landau said yesterday that it was "dangerous" and that he would not vote for it in its current format, but silence has been the order of the day from the other ministers.
Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane studied the plan and made the following observations:
"From Israel's standpoint, it's worse than Bush's June 24th two-state vision, totally ignoring the 15 corrections that Israel wished to make. Its demands on the PA are less concrete than even the previous plans. It is based on a combination of the Saudi proposal and UN Resolutions 242 and 338 which, taken together, mean a total Israeli withdrawal from all of Yesha [Judea, Gaza, and Samaria] back to the pre-Six Day War borders.
"The plan has three stages, beginning with mutual declarations of acceptance of Bush's two-state vision, and mutual (!) cessation of all incitement. The PA must make 'visible efforts' against terrorism, including reducing the 17 security bodies to three, one of which must 'arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere.' At the same time, the PA must continue with political and economic reforms, while Israel must gradually withdraw from the areas it entered during the Oslo War, stop its own measures against terrorism, and cease all construction in Yesha, including for natural growth. All this is supposed to take only one month!
"The second stage includes PA elections, restoration of diplomatic relations with Israel by Arab countries, and deeper PA reforms. Israel, for its part, must withdraw from additional areas to allow PA contiguity, re-open PA institutions in Jerusalem, ease restrictions, and withdraw from all Yesha settlements that were built after March 2001. This stage is supposed to take six months.
"The third stage, leading to a PA state in temporary borders, is scheduled to start in the beginning of 2004. It includes the beginning of a final-status arrangement on the outstanding issues, including refugees, Jerusalem, borders. The entire process is under the supervision of the Quartet - the U.S., UN, EU, and Russia."
Kahane noted that the PA news agency released a version of the Road Map that leaves out many of the PA obligations, such as the cutting-down of PA military agencies - "which gives us some idea on how they see the future of this plan."
Even Oslo architect Ron Pundak sounded skeptical about the plan's chances for success. He told Arutz-7 today that the Road Map faces criticism from both the right and left in both the PA and Israel. Regarding the demand that Abu Mazen put up a fight against terrorists in his own back yard, Pundak said that this is "very complex and involved."
Extreme-conservative former American presidential candidate Pat Buchanan predicts that top U.S. Administration officials, including Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, will fight to kill the Road Map plan. Buchanan says that in essence, a long list of groups will strenuously object to the plan, including, "the Israeli Lobby, neoconservative columnists, Evangelical Christians, House Republicans, and the leadership and presidential candidates of a Democratic Party that will see this as an opportunity to drive a wedge between Bush and his new enthusiasts in the Jewish community." In addition, writing recently in his American Conservative magazine, Buchanan wrote that there is "no hard evidence [that] Bush himself believes that deeply in the road map, or is willing to pay the hellish price he would have to pay to impose it upon Ariel Sharon."
New York Times analyst Steven R. Weisman, writing in today's edition, similarly noted the "almost low-key manner in which the [Road Map] was released [yesterday] in the United States." He concluded, however, that whatever the results of Secretary Powell's trip to the region this week, "the issue is not likely to be one Mr. Bush can avoid. There are too many people demanding that he remain involved, whatever the political risk."
Bush said today that he welcomes the publication of the Road Map, as well as the installation two days ago of Abu Mazen as Prime Minister in the Palestinian Authority. Bush said that Abu Mazen is "a man I can work with, someone I look forward to working with." He said that the PA would have to take steps on behalf of an agreement with Israel, and that Israel would have to make "painful concessions" to that end.
Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane studied the plan and made the following observations:
"From Israel's standpoint, it's worse than Bush's June 24th two-state vision, totally ignoring the 15 corrections that Israel wished to make. Its demands on the PA are less concrete than even the previous plans. It is based on a combination of the Saudi proposal and UN Resolutions 242 and 338 which, taken together, mean a total Israeli withdrawal from all of Yesha [Judea, Gaza, and Samaria] back to the pre-Six Day War borders.
"The plan has three stages, beginning with mutual declarations of acceptance of Bush's two-state vision, and mutual (!) cessation of all incitement. The PA must make 'visible efforts' against terrorism, including reducing the 17 security bodies to three, one of which must 'arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere.' At the same time, the PA must continue with political and economic reforms, while Israel must gradually withdraw from the areas it entered during the Oslo War, stop its own measures against terrorism, and cease all construction in Yesha, including for natural growth. All this is supposed to take only one month!
"The second stage includes PA elections, restoration of diplomatic relations with Israel by Arab countries, and deeper PA reforms. Israel, for its part, must withdraw from additional areas to allow PA contiguity, re-open PA institutions in Jerusalem, ease restrictions, and withdraw from all Yesha settlements that were built after March 2001. This stage is supposed to take six months.
"The third stage, leading to a PA state in temporary borders, is scheduled to start in the beginning of 2004. It includes the beginning of a final-status arrangement on the outstanding issues, including refugees, Jerusalem, borders. The entire process is under the supervision of the Quartet - the U.S., UN, EU, and Russia."
Kahane noted that the PA news agency released a version of the Road Map that leaves out many of the PA obligations, such as the cutting-down of PA military agencies - "which gives us some idea on how they see the future of this plan."
Even Oslo architect Ron Pundak sounded skeptical about the plan's chances for success. He told Arutz-7 today that the Road Map faces criticism from both the right and left in both the PA and Israel. Regarding the demand that Abu Mazen put up a fight against terrorists in his own back yard, Pundak said that this is "very complex and involved."
Extreme-conservative former American presidential candidate Pat Buchanan predicts that top U.S. Administration officials, including Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, will fight to kill the Road Map plan. Buchanan says that in essence, a long list of groups will strenuously object to the plan, including, "the Israeli Lobby, neoconservative columnists, Evangelical Christians, House Republicans, and the leadership and presidential candidates of a Democratic Party that will see this as an opportunity to drive a wedge between Bush and his new enthusiasts in the Jewish community." In addition, writing recently in his American Conservative magazine, Buchanan wrote that there is "no hard evidence [that] Bush himself believes that deeply in the road map, or is willing to pay the hellish price he would have to pay to impose it upon Ariel Sharon."
New York Times analyst Steven R. Weisman, writing in today's edition, similarly noted the "almost low-key manner in which the [Road Map] was released [yesterday] in the United States." He concluded, however, that whatever the results of Secretary Powell's trip to the region this week, "the issue is not likely to be one Mr. Bush can avoid. There are too many people demanding that he remain involved, whatever the political risk."
Bush said today that he welcomes the publication of the Road Map, as well as the installation two days ago of Abu Mazen as Prime Minister in the Palestinian Authority. Bush said that Abu Mazen is "a man I can work with, someone I look forward to working with." He said that the PA would have to take steps on behalf of an agreement with Israel, and that Israel would have to make "painful concessions" to that end.