The “Bush Plan”
(Updated July 2002)
President Bush has laid
out a path for advancing the Israeli-Palestinian
peace process that is consistent with the policies of the last several
Israeli Prime Ministers.
Bush rightly focuses on three elements
that are prerequisites to peace: the removal of Arafat as leader of the Palestinian
Authority, the reform of the PA, and an end to violence.
Prime Minister Sharon has emphasized the same points over the last several months
as he has sought to resume peace negotiations.
Palestinians have the right to select their own leaders,
but both Israel and the United States also have the right
to decide which leaders they are prepared to recognize and
negotiate with. Israel cannot be expected to negotiate with
someone who does not recognize its right to exist and conducts
a terror campaign against its citizens. Every Arab leader
who has recognized Israel and been prepared to make peace
has gotten both land and peace.
As the only democracy in the region, one which allows women
to vote, and even pro-PLO Israeli Arabs to serve in its government,
Israel respects democratically elected leaders. The Palestinian
Authority is a corrupt dictatorship run by a terrorist "elected"
in a sham election in 1996, and whose term was supposed to
be over long ago. He clings to power through intimidation
and violence. Only true democratic elections monitored by
international observers with multiple candidates can bring
representative leadership to the Palestinians.
The President has reinforced Israel's long-held view that
a Palestinian state "will never be created by terror."
President Bush made clear, as Israel has
done, that nations committed to peace must "stop the
flow of money, equipment, and recruits to terrorist groups
seeking the destruction of Israel, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad,
and Hezbollah."
Israel has repeatedly sought to negotiate
peace with Syria, but the Syrians have refused to accept Israel's offer to trade land for peace.
On the contrary, they have also pursued the path of terror,
so President Bush's call for Syria to close its terrorist
camps and expel terrorist organizations is a vital precursor
to ending Syria's state of war with Israel.
Israel also is in full agreement with the
President's view that the Palestinian Authority should be
stable and peaceful with a healthy economy. The Oslo
accords specifically laid out plans for economic cooperation
and Israel has consistently supported the appropriation of
American foreign aid to the Palestinians.
The Bush Plan also makes demands on Israel, but he rightly
said the Palestinian terror must first stop, and the PA must
begin to reform before Israel is obligated to act. Even before
the President's speech, Israel had agreed to withdraw its
troops from Palestinian Authority territories after the violence
stops (and would not be in them in the first place if not
for the violence).
Israel has also agreed to the Mitchell Plan and its call
for freezing settlement activity, but the implementation
of Mitchell also first requires a cessation of violence,
and that plan also includes a number of other recommendations
requiring Palestinian action.
The President envisions a Palestinian state side by side
with Israel, both living in peace and security. This is a
vision shared by Israel's leaders as well.
The President ended his speech with the
Biblical injunction that when given the choice between life
and death, one should choose life. This is the view of the
Jewish people and the citizens of Israel. It is not the view
of suicide bombers and those who glorify them. When the Palestinians
share Israelis' commitment to choosing life, the prospects
for peace will be brighter.
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