Israel has awoken to a new political reality today, in which the Right-wing bloc has gained much more power than it had in the 17th Knesset. Commentators tend to view this new situation as a threat to the "peace process", while ignoring the fact that the so-called Peace Camp has not suggested any feasible way to move forward on this process in recent years.



The main difference between the Israeli right and left in recent years has been the attitude towards the "Two-State Solution" paradigm. The left were in favor while the right opposed. But this was, and still is, a useless debate, because in the current situation no such viable solution exists. This is well demonstrated by the fact that the Olmert government did not make any progress towards a Palestinian state, though it was one of its goals.



Last week Prof. Efraim Inbar of the BESA research center published a paper determining that the "Two State" paradigm failed, and that peace can be achieved only by discarding the concept of Palestinian sovereignty and reaching agreements with Jordan and Egypt as strategic partners. These conclusions are the exact core ideas of the Israeli Initiative.

To read Inbar's paper Click here

The Israeli political arena is ready for new ideas, now more than ever. Binyamin Netanyahu will probably assemble the new government, and he will have to present a vision for a better Middle East – a vision that will solve the Palestinian problem and will block the threat from Iran. The Israeli Initiative is the only political plan that can offer such a vision. This is the only plan that can be accepted by the majority of Jews in Israel; Other plans confront the Zionist commitment of most Jews in Israel.

In order to promote the Israeli Initiative and reach decision makers during these critical weeks, during which the new government is formed and its guidelines are written - we launched a mini internet banner campaign about the need to solve the problem of Gaza in a new, different way. We reminded the Israeli public that the war did not solve the threat from Gaza, nor did it do any good for the Palestinians. Israel will have to pullout and move back in, again and again, until a different approach will be imposed.

The Initiative's leader, MK Benny Elon, will be completing his career in the Knesset after more than 12 years. The Initiative sees this changing point as an opportunity to deepen its work as an ex-parliamentary organization, free from involvement in political parties. One of the first goals of the Initiative's staff is to promote the Initiative to all the new MKs, and encourage them to reestablish the caucus for the solution of the refugee problem, which was created in the 17th Knesset by MKs Amira Dotan & Benny Elon.

Due to a technical problem most of the recipients did not receive our last newsletter – it is therefore attached here.

Yoav Sorek
Israeli Initiative Team

The war in Gaza is behind us, and the Israeli political system has returned to the task of elections. The political unrest has not influenced the path of the "Israeli Initiative", which has already proved that it is paving a cross-party path; the only one with the power to bring peace and real stability to the Middle East that will serve the interests of the State of Israel, the free world and the moderate Arab states.

The war showed Israel's unwillingness to continue to tolerate firing from Gaza, but has not created a new strategic situation: the Gaza Strip continues to be home to hundreds of thousands of refugees, an ideological base for terror and a source of constant threat to the stability of the Middle East. Treating the symptons of the problem will only bring short-term solutions. On the other hand, a conceptual change in the treatment of the refugees in Gaza can bring a real change.

The war has again taught us to what extent the population in Gaza is connected to the hub of UNRWA, whose support funds some of the infrastructures of the Gazan state of terror. If UNRWA attempted to rehabilitate the refugees instead of this, Gaza would have become a beautiful summer resort on the shores of the Mediterranean a long time ago - like its Israeli counterpart, Ashkelon.

Conceptions are hard to change. The new American administration is expected to continue on the path of Bush's vision and to advocate the solution of "two states for two peoples" which everyone knows is unfeasible. It is difficult to break this conception, as is the case with other failing conceptions, and therefore the cycle of bloodshed has not ceased but is only enjoying a period of temporary calm.

"The Israeli Initiative" wishes to change the outlook, but instead of engaging in critical arguments, we are investing our efforts in changing the way in which finding a solution to the conflict is handled. Instead of pushing the issue of the refugees to the end of a never-ending process, we are acting in order to place the subject and its solution onto the agenda, primarily by means of bringing the issue of UNRWA's problematic role to the awareness of the Western world.

After the first parliamentary caucus of its kind focusing on a solution to the refugee problem was established in the Knesset, , MK Benny Elon has begun to propel the group forward in order to raise the topic in international forums. As mentioned, the outgoing US Congress has already built an impressive group of supporters of the process, and we are currently working to achieve the same result in Europe.

The Brussels-based Pan-Caucus for Israel, gathered in Paris last week for an unprecedented convention of hundreds of European Members of Parliament, in which ministers and heads of state also participated. The closing session that was run by the organizers in conjunction with the World Organization of the Friends of Israel, was devoted to a discussion on the role of UNRWA and ways in which to advance a solution to the problem of the refugee problem in the spirit of the Israeli Initiative's ideas.

Click here to watch MK Benny Elon's address to the European Parliaments ahead of the convention.

Click here to read an article in the Jerusalem Post about the convention and the discussion.

As everyone knows, the 'Initiative' is based on three main principles: rehabilitation of the refugees, Israeli sovereignty up to the Jordan River, and exchanging a Palestinian partner with a Jordanian partner. While we are focusing on one principle, reality continues to flow on the other principles.

The de-facto Israeli control of the territories of Judea and Samaria is regarded today as part of the background that all sides understand cannot be changed. The knowledge that with the absence of the stability provided by the IDF's presence, the horrendous terror of suicide bombers would be renewed and Hamas would also become dominant in Judea and Samaria, dissuades every intelligent person from regarding an IDF withdrawal as an option.. An interesting remark was made to that effect this week by former Minister and future contender Benny Begin. In a newspaper interview he explained that in actual fact, the argument being waged in Israel between the left-wing and the right-wing has no significance to the future of Judea and Samaria, as everyone agrees over the present.

And here, 'the Jordanian Option' – that is, restoring Jordanian citizenship to Palestinian residents of Judea and Samaria- is coming alive. A survey carried out recently among the Arab population of Judea and Samaria shows that they are not afraid of the dismantlement of the failing Palestinian Authority, and of Jordan's participation in the restoration of sovereignty. This idea, which in the opinion of many of the Initiative's opponents, was something that could never be conceived of, and certainly something that the Arabs would unequivocally oppose, is the most respected option in the internal Arab market of ideas. No less than 40% of the participants in the latest survey by An-Najah University in Nablus argued that the Palestinian Authority should be dismantled, while almost 30% determined that they support the idea calling for the unification of a joint Jordanian-Palestinian state.

Click here in order to read the Initiative's concept regarding strategic cooperation with Jordan

Click here in order to read an article about the survey

Click here to read the survey itself on the An-Najah University webpage (the statistics cited appear on p2 and p9).


When we compare the possibilities open to Israel – on the one hand, building systematic ties with an unstable entity, which draws its national ethos from the Jewish homeland and from the ambition of subjugating Israel, and on the other hand, reaching a solution regarding the rule and citizenship in Judea and Samaria with a stable country, which already has ties of peace with Israel – of course, reason leads to the Jordanian option. International support for the Hashemite regime and a package of benefits for regional cooperation can strengthen the Jordanian voices who understand that we must strive for this solution.

Can the new American administration and Israel’s next administration understand that this is the true and responsible way to peace – far removed from the formula of 'two states'? Time will tell. In the meantime, reality continues to teach us that this is the correct path.

As always, we would be happy to hear your comments.

Yoav Sorek
Israeli Initiative Team