FP: Binyamin Elon, welcome to Frontpage Interview.
Elon: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to discuss the conceptual change I am trying to make regarding the Israeli-Arab conflict.
FP: And thank you for coming to discuss it with us.
You have a plan for peace in the Middle East: The Israeli Initiative. The new cinematic trailer serving as a tool for marketing the plan, The Last Fanatic, has become one of the most popular video clips on YouTube since its release. Before we get into a discussion on the initiative itself, tell us a bit about The Last Fanatic.
Elon: Yes. Creativity is an essential part of the Israeli Initiative. Those who have already been exposed to its content – and the number of subscribers to our newsletter has already crossed the 10,000 mark – know that it is possible to think outside the box about the conflict in the Middle East, not via the worn-out and failed formulas of 'Two states for two people'. We are proud that our creativity is also being revealed in the Initiative's advertising methods.
The Last Fanatic – a video clip resembling a Hollywood cinematic trailer to a film which does not exist - was distributed on the Internet by the Initiative in order to direct people to our website and to establish the understanding that there is another alternative: that the Palestinians do not need to choose the way of terror, and that the rise of Fundamentalist Islam is not a decree which is impossible to contend with.
The Last Fanatic depicts a would-be suicide bomber who unexpectedly calls off his attack plans – which leads the viewer to question what led him and his supporters to deviate from their path. The video clip, which ends with the words 'Coming soon to the Middle East' has garnered tens of thousands of hits, both on the Israeli Initiative website and on YouTube.
Within the first five days of the video clip's posting on YouTube, it reached seventh place within YouTube's weekly ratings and was viewed by more than 12,000 people within this period. This is especially impressive because it was achieved during a particularly crowded week in terms of the American electoral system.
The Last Fanatic has received extensive media coverage, among others by Israeli Channel 2 News, SKY News, The International Herald Tribune, The Jerusalem Post and on the Metacafe website.
Up to now, more than 50,000 people have already viewed The Last Fanatic on YouTube.
FP: So tell us about The Israeli Intiative.
Elon: Since the establishment of the State of Israel, we have longed for peace with our Arab neighbors. We dream of a time when we will be able to devote our efforts and resources not to war and survival but to growth and prosperity for the benefit of all residents of the region.
The Oslo dream has become a nightmare. Despite our strong desire for peace and in spite of repeated attempts to find solutions, many of which have included painful concessions on our part, the Israeli-Arab conflict continues and exacts a high price from us. The actions of Israeli governments to establish a Palestinian State in the spirit of the Oslo Agreement have not brought about peace but rather a whirlpool of blood: Hamas controls Gaza; Kassam rockets are fired at the residents of Sderot; Hezbollah has missiles trained on Haifa, and only the persistent activities of the IDF are preventing terrorist attacks originating in Judea and Samaria. Neither have the Palestinians reaped any benefits from the Oslo Agreement. Poverty and suffering and a regime that employs terrorism against its own citizens are the net results of the Oslo approach.
We were not mistaken in striving for peace, but only in the way we set out to achieve it. We must re-examine all the assumptions that guided us, understand where we were mistaken, and move forward in the right direction.
The Israeli initiative is the product of in-depth assessments that address all the players in the region: Palestinians, Americans, the international community and first and foremost, Israelis and Arabs. The Israeli Initiative is the first initiative that takes into consideration the new global and regional reality -- the rise in power of Iran, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas.
FP: Expand for us about the Israeli Initiative itself.
Elon: The Israeli Initiative is based on the belief that conditions can become much better here, that a new Israel can emerge. We believe that a new language can be created between us and our Arab neighbors, a language based on preservation of what is important to us, while at the same time respecting their needs and rights.
We must abandon the old fixed ideas: No to a "Palestinian State," no to "territories in return for peace," no to "the strengthening" of Abu Mazen and/or the Palestinian Authority. The time has come for the State of Israel to present its own diplomatic initiative based on the integration of its interests and those of its neighbors—an initiative that realistically leads to peace and prosperity for the entire region.
The Israeli Initiative proposes a viable alternative to the Oslo/Camp David/Annapolis accords. The Initiative consists of three main principles: Rehabilitation of the refugees and dismantling of the camps, strategic cooperation with Jordan and Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. Under these principles, UNRWA will be dismantled and Israel, the US, and the international community will recognize Jordan as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians, and Jordan will again grant citizenship status to the residents of Judea and Samaria.
FP: Ok, let's get a bit specific. How would rehabilitation of the refugees and dismantling of the camps work exactly?
Elon: To begin with, Israel, the US and the international community will create a multi-year program to ensure the rehabilitation of the Palestinian refugees, while absorbing them as citizens in various countries. As part of the rehabilitation process, UNRWA, an organization which for tens of years has only perpetuated the status of the refugees, will be dismantled, as will the refugee camps. All residents of the refugee camps will be offered a permanent place of residence outside of Israel, with full citizenship rights and a generous rehabilitation grant.
Independent surveys carried out among the Palestinians clearly indicate that Palestinians are becoming increasingly convinced that living under Palestinian Authority control will not solve their problems. There are growing signs that the Palestinian population would be open to a true humanitarian solution that would enable them to rebuild their lives in other countries. For instance, a survey carried out by An-Najah University in Nablus in 2007 showed that 31.7% of Palestinians are considering rebuilding their lives in another country, while a survey carried out in 2004 by Ma'agar Mochot - a leading Israeli polling agency - in cooperation with The Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, showed that 50% of Palestinian society did not rule out moving to another country providing that they had the means and the ability to relocate.
FP: Just a second, the residents of the refugee camps will be offered a permanent place of residence outside of Israel. But in what countries? Where will the Palestinians go exactly?
Elon: According to the Israeli Initiative, the residents of the refugee camps will be absorbed in other countries, preferably the surrounding Arab countries. The Arab countries will be encouraged by the international community to absorb and offer the Palestinian refugees full citizenship, and will also help fund the rehabilitation grants that will be given to the refugees, in order for them to move to other countries not as poor refugees, but as people with considerable means, say $100,000 per family. These funds will give a well-needed boost to the economy of the absorbing Arab countries in the region, and will supply these countries with international backing.
FP: What will be involved in terms of strategic cooperation with Jordan and Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria?
Elon: Israel, the US and the international community will invest in the long-term development of Jordan in order to restore and strengthen its economy. Israel and Jordan, together with Egypt, Turkey and the US, will create a strategic organization to halt the Islamic axis based in Teheran and to promote overall peace between Israel and Arab countries.
In coordination with Jordan, Israel will extend its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. Arab residents of these areas will become citizens of Jordan (Palestine). Their status, their relationship to the two countries, and the nature of the administration in the populated areas will be formulated and set forth in an agreement between the governments of Israel and Jordan.
Israeli control of Judea and Samaria is necessary to ensure stability in the region. The IDF presence in Judea and Samaria is what has succeeded in almost completely eliminating suicide bombs within recent years and prevent it from being turned into "Hamasland". This was not done, and cannot be done, by Abu Mazen's weak forces.
FP: So Jordan will become the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians and the international community will recognize it as such? Please explain.
Elon: Israel, the US and the international community will recognize the Kingdom of Jordan as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians, and once again, Jordan will grant citizenship to the residents of Judea and Samaria. The Palestinian Authority will no longer be recognized as a representative body within Judea, Samaria and Gaza and all the weapons will be collected from armed organizations.
The Arab population that will continue to reside inside the new borders of the State of Israel will enjoy full human rights awarded by the State of Israel, but they will possess Jordanian-Palestinian citizenship, and their political rights will be realized in Amman. The Arab settlements will have limited autonomy with day-to-day administrating being under Israel's authority in a form which will be determined between Israel and Jordan.
FP: How realistic is this plan of yours? How can it succeed in a sea of so much anti-Semitism? We know that many Arabs and Palestinians are not interested in a Palestinian homeland; they are interested in destroying the Jewish homeland. Are you optimistic in this context?
Elon: I am optimistic that this is realistic for several reasons. First of all, previous initiatives have failed as they have not taken into consideration the refugees' plight, which is something that cannot be ignored. The Israeli Initiative does not ignore this and therefore is a much more realistic and viable plan. Our plan enables the refugees to make a new beginning in a new country, not as poor refugees, but as people of means, which makes their absorption in other countries both more likely and appealing to the host countries.
I am also optimistic that this is viable because the international community is starting to recognize that the refugee problem must be solved in order to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that rather than helping to solve the problem, UNRWA is actually helping to perpetuate it and maintain the status of the refugees.
A senior American analyst, Dr. Daniel Pipes, who specializes in the Middle East, published the following on the connection between the USA and UNRWA, a month prior to the renewal of UNRWA's mandate in 2003.
"The time has come to help those generations of non-refugees (that is to say the offspring of Palestinian refugees), to save them from the refugee status and to make them citizens, to help them gain the skills to build a better future.The best possible thing for them is to close UNRWA and transfer the responsibility to UNHCR so that they can handle the real refugees that are left."
Politicians in America are also beginning to be aware that UNRWA must be dismantled in order to solve the refugee problem. Last year, a group of senators began working towards halting the American funding of UNRWA, and I am currently in touch with a group of leaders in Congress and Senate that intend on promoting legislation that will divert American funds that were given to UNWRA to programs that will truly help the refugees move out of their refugee status.
FP: What are your policy suggestions for American and Israeli leaderships in the short-term future in terms of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Elon: My policy suggestions for the American and Israeli leaderships in the short-term future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that rather than signing yet another agreement which at best maintains the current status quo and at worst, leads to the outbreak of another Intifada, they should consider altering their perspective and contemplate the idea that perhaps it is worth exploring the issues that the Israeli Initiative suggests, particularly resolving the plight of the refugees, as none of the previous accords, which have all failed, have considered the possibility of dismantling UNRWA and granting funds to the refugees in order to begin a new life outside of the refugee camps.
FP: Binyamin Elon, thank you for joining Frontpage Interview.
Elon: Thank you again for giving me this opportunity.