The Yesha Council released a response and rebuttal to each clause of the Road Map today. Council Spokesman Yehoshua Mor-Yosef told Arutz-7, "We hope that people will be more open this time to understanding the dangers here than they were regarding Oslo." Asked what part of the plan was most disturbing to him, Mor-Yosef said,
"I would say that what bothers me the most is the duration between now and the time the plan dies its natural death - because during that period, most unfortunately, many people will be killed, until it becomes totally clear that this is a plan leading to terror, not peace. There is no one in the world who really believes that the PA will truly do what it is supposed to in terms of fighting terrorism - yet we will have to pay a heavy price in blood until this becomes manifest."
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has strongly criticized the Road Map plan, warning that it will create a Palestinian Arab terrorist state that will endanger Israel and undermine America's war against terrorism. In its nationwide campaign against the Road Map - including full-page newspaper advertisements, meetings with Members of Congress and the Bush administration, and public programs in conjunction with pro-Israel Christian organizations - the ZOA will make the following points:
* The Road Map will create a new mini-Iraq terror state as early as this year, with permanent borders by 2005. The PA already shelters, glorifies, and sponsors terrorists, and actively promotes anti-Jewish and anti-American hatred and violence in its media, schools, summer camps, religious sermons, and speeches, leaving no doubt as to the nature of a future PA state.
* Obligations upon the PA are vague and unverifiable. The demand for "visible efforts on the ground" against terrorism does not require it to undertake specific, verifiable actions such as outlawing terrorist groups, surrendering terrorists to Israel for prosecution, or seizing terrorists' weapons.
* The plan endangers Israeli control of its capital city, Jerusalem.
* Monitoring compliance will be in the hands of harsh critics of Israel - the European Union, the United Nations, Russia, and the State Department.
* It undermines Israel's anti-terror operations by ruling out demolitions of the homes of "Palestinian militants."
* The new PA Prime Minister, Abu Mazen, supports terror and denies the Holocaust.
* Jewish construction is restricted while Arab construction is ignored.
* The plan undermines America's war against terrorism, effectively rewarding the PA for its ongoing terrorist war against Israel.
"I would say that what bothers me the most is the duration between now and the time the plan dies its natural death - because during that period, most unfortunately, many people will be killed, until it becomes totally clear that this is a plan leading to terror, not peace. There is no one in the world who really believes that the PA will truly do what it is supposed to in terms of fighting terrorism - yet we will have to pay a heavy price in blood until this becomes manifest."
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has strongly criticized the Road Map plan, warning that it will create a Palestinian Arab terrorist state that will endanger Israel and undermine America's war against terrorism. In its nationwide campaign against the Road Map - including full-page newspaper advertisements, meetings with Members of Congress and the Bush administration, and public programs in conjunction with pro-Israel Christian organizations - the ZOA will make the following points:
* The Road Map will create a new mini-Iraq terror state as early as this year, with permanent borders by 2005. The PA already shelters, glorifies, and sponsors terrorists, and actively promotes anti-Jewish and anti-American hatred and violence in its media, schools, summer camps, religious sermons, and speeches, leaving no doubt as to the nature of a future PA state.
* Obligations upon the PA are vague and unverifiable. The demand for "visible efforts on the ground" against terrorism does not require it to undertake specific, verifiable actions such as outlawing terrorist groups, surrendering terrorists to Israel for prosecution, or seizing terrorists' weapons.
* The plan endangers Israeli control of its capital city, Jerusalem.
* Monitoring compliance will be in the hands of harsh critics of Israel - the European Union, the United Nations, Russia, and the State Department.
* It undermines Israel's anti-terror operations by ruling out demolitions of the homes of "Palestinian militants."
* The new PA Prime Minister, Abu Mazen, supports terror and denies the Holocaust.
* Jewish construction is restricted while Arab construction is ignored.
* The plan undermines America's war against terrorism, effectively rewarding the PA for its ongoing terrorist war against Israel.