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Zalman Shoval, the former Israeli Ambassador to the US (photo: Knesset)
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| By Jerusalem Newswire March 14, 2007 |
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Former Israeli Ambassador to the US, Zalman Shoval, has denounced the much-touted Saudi peace plan as an attempt to get Israel to commit suicide.
The plan, which will be featured at an Arab League summit in Riyadh later this month and has been the focus of recent visits to the region by senior US officials, demands the following of Israel:
-- A full withdrawal from every inch of Judea and Samaria;
-- The surrender of the eastern half of Jerusalem, including the Old City, Temple Mount and Western Wall;
-- A full withdrawal from every inch of the Golan Heights;
-- Conferring citizenship on millions of foreign-born Arabs who, with the full backing of the international community, claim to be Palestinian refugees.
In return, the Arab states promise to make peace with what would, effectively, no longer be the Jewish state.
Shoval noted that the demands on Israel contained in the Saudi plan are actually presented as preconditions for peace, effectively making the initiative a "recipe for the destruction of Israel" that is not up for negotiation.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni continue to talk of the Saudi plan as a positive development and a basis for future peace.
Olmert and Livni hope that at the upcoming Arab League summit, delegates will take into consideration Israel's concerns about a Palestinian right of return, and alter the plan in a way that will facilitate the commencement of a regional peace process.
Arab diplomats have assured Israel they will do no such thing.
Nevertheless, Washington and Europe can be expected to push the deal on Israel, while deferring the issues of refugees and control of Jerusalem to a future undetermined date.
Reprinted with permission from Jerusalem Newswire. |
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