The Road Map will lead to Road Kill
For Immediate Release – February 18, 2005 – Contact: Esther Levens
Ph. 913 648 0022
The above headline quotes a statement made February 14 by Israeli MK Benny Elon at a Press Conference in Anaheim, CA, sponsored by the Unity Coalition for Israel and Christian Friends of Israeli Communities. MK Elon further stated: “ There is no positive element for Israel in the entire Road Map document.”
The statements were made at the Annual National Religious Broadcasters Convention during what has become a UCI media event tradition. Always featuring prominent speakers, the Press Conference spotlights issues that are of special current interest. This year the focus was on the controversial Road Map and the Disengagement Plan that is being promoted by PM Ariel Sharon in cooperation with the UN, the EU, Russia and the US State Department.
The unilateral evacuation plans have met with widespread opposition within Israel because they would displace 8,000 long-time residents of Gaza, plus four Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. No such reciprocal concessions are required on the part of the Palestinians. Opponents fear that this looks like a retreat, signaling more concessions if the PA is encouraged to follow up with more brutal acts of terrorism. It means that the 4 years of the Palestinian intifada has paid off as the weapon of choice.
Esther Levens, CEO and Founder of the UCI coalition that hosted the Press Conference, also presented a strong case against the Road Map and the Disengagement Plan in the form of a Declaration of Concerns. It represented the views of more than 200 member Christian and Jewish organizations, who oppose the land giveaway. Based on inconsistent statements and no track record as yet by the newly elected Palestinian official, Abu Mazen, there is much skepticism and fear that the new plan is simply a rehash of the previous Oslo Accord, which collapsed when Arafat walked away from the Camp David meetings.
Key elements of the UCI Declaration of Concerns follow:
Features of the Road Map that fail to provide a climate for peace:
Israel is expected to evacuate territory twice used by Arab nations as launching pads to attack and annihilate Israel.
Israel is expected to release hundreds of mass murderers into its population as a sign of good will.
Israel is expected to evacuate 8,500 Jewish citizens from their homes, schools, and established communities.
Israel is expected to accept an edict that would prohibit Jews from living in their 3,000-year homeland and birthplace of their sacred religious heritage.
Israel is expected to believe that Hamas, Hizbullah, and other terrorist groups supported by Syria and Iran, will simply lay down their guns and hand held missiles and forever stop the senseless murder and maiming of innocent Israelis.
Unresolved issues:
The Palestine National Council’s 1964 Charter has never been revoked. It calls for Israel’s annihilation.
The Arab League and the Palestinian Authority have never acknowledged Israel’s right to exist.
Proposed borders would leave Israel indefensible with an 8 mile distance at one point from the border to the Mediterranean sea.
Arab Palestinian children continue to be indoctrinated into a culture that teaches them to hate Jews and turn themselves into human bombs to kill as many Israeli Jews as possible.
Families of Palestinian suicide bombers continue to receive thousands of dollars from Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The “Right of Return” claim for Arab Palestinians fails to acknowledge the “Right of Return” claim of an equal number (800,000) Jews forced to flee their homes in Arab countries when the UN declared Israel a nation in 1948. This issue must be addressed.
Israel absorbed Jewish refugees into their tiny nation – the size of New Jersey – in less than a generation while the UN exacerbated the Arab refugee problem by funding their long-term encampment rather than integrating them into the Arab Middle East – the size of the entire North American continent.
The return of three generations of Arab Palestinian refugees to the West Bank and Gaza poses an exponential threat to the survival of Israel.
The Israeli people are calling for a referendum on the disengagement plan. Prime Minister Sharon should acquiesce to this request, and take the opportunity to legitimize his controversial plan.
Additional US funding for the Palestinians must be contingent upon a strict system of financial accountability and a clear record of progress in accomplishing the above listed conditions.
Members of the Unity Coalition for Israel maintain that before there can be any movement for peace under the terms of the Road Map, the prerequisites listed below must prevail, in reality, not just on paper:
The Arab world must acknowledge Israel’s right to exist. They must formally and officially give up their declared purpose of driving Israel into the sea. They must sign peace treaties and normalize relations with Israel, rather than making perennial empty promises.
Acknowledging Israel’s right to exist is a two-step process. 1) The Palestinians must formally and officially vote to revoke their National Charter and with it their declared purpose of eradicating Israel. 2) The Charter itself must be replaced with a document declaring their intent for peace and demilitarized co-existence with Israel.
All school books and TV must be examined and all hate and incitement to violence and suicide must be eradicated.
Funding of suicide bombers and payments to their families by Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia must be investigated and legally stopped.
The “Right of Return” of Arab Palestinians has no place in the negotiation process.