Amidror focuses on Israel's security needs
Photo: Shalom Bar Tal
Rightists unveil 'blueprint for peace'
Dore Gold, Yaakov Amidror submit alternative peace plan that would safeguard national security; Israel must prevent loss of strategically important land territories, they say
Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Dore Gold and Major-General (res.) Yaakov Amidror have proposed a "right-wing" alternative to the leftist Geneva Accord, demanding that in any future negotiations Israel will insist on keeping strategic areas for pure security considerations.
The two have been working together since October 2004 as part of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, headed by Gold, in order to advance the question of Israel's security needs in future negotiations.
Gold and Amidror's axiom is that beyond the Palestinian demographic problem and the international pressures exerted on Israel, decision-makers must prevent the loss of strategic land assets
According to their plan, Israel will not cede the Jordan Rift Valley in any future agreement, will widen the Tel Aviv - Jerusalem corridor, and will not concede the hills dominating Ben Gurion airport and the hills overlooking Hadera's power station.
Meeting with U.S. officials
Gold and Amidror submitted the findings of a study conducted on their behalf by Dr. Mina Tzemach of the Dahaf Institute to the Prime Minister's Office and to the Defense Minister's Office.
The survey's findings point to the public's stance regarding the need to maintain strategic asets and territories important for Israel's security.
Gold and Amidror's contacts with top political officials follow a series of meetings with political figures in the United States and with top American journalists.
"Our goal is not to determine the final borders as part of negotiations with the Palestinians on a final-status agreement. All we ask is to present Israel's security needs to the world and to Israel's decision-makers," Amidror said.
Gold added that "everybody talks about the demographic issue, Palestinian villages, and settlements, but nobody deals with the issue that was well understood by former Foreign Minister Yigal Alon and later by Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Rabin."
