Powell Should Not
Meet With Rogue Group
NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has condemned the rogue Geneva Accord, which would push Israel back almost to the nine-miles-wide pre-1967 borders, expel many thousands of Jews from their homes, and give away Judaism’s holiest site.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s spokesman, Ra’anan Gissin, has described the Geneva Accord as “tantamount to Israel committing suicide.” (Ha’aretz, Dec. 2, 2003) According to the Geneva plan, Israel would have to retreat virtually all the way to the narrow pre-1967 borders, and give up parts of the Negev region (which is now part of the State of Israel); a sovereign Palestinian Arab state would be established, right next to Israel’s major population centers; half of Jerusalem would be turned into the capital of the Palestinian Arab state, including Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount; and many of the 230,000 Jews living in Judea-Samaria-Gaza would be expelled from their homes and towns. The Geneva accord does not specifically rule out the Arab demand for the “return” of millions of Arab “refugees” to Israel.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “It is outrageous for individuals acting in opposition to the democratically-elected government of Israel to negotiate an ‘accord’ that undermines Israel’s security by putting pressure on Israel to retreat to indefensible borders and divide its own capital, Jerusalem.”
The ZOA president also expressed strong opposition to the plan by Secretary of State Colin Powell to meet with the architects of the Geneva Accord: “Imagine how the U.S. would feel if the Israeli government embraced a group of radical former Congressmen who negotiated an ‘accord’ on nuclear weapons with the North Korean government.”
Concerning the danger of the 1967 borders, the ZOA noted:
* The late Abba Eban said that the 1967 border would leave Israel so vulnerable that “it has for us something of a memory of Auschwitz.” (Der Spiegel, November 5, 1969)
* A study by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in June 1967 concluded: “From a strictly military point of view Israel would require the retention of some captured Arab territory in order to provide militarily defensible borders … [including] control of the prominent high ground running north-south through the middle of West Jordan [Judea-Samaria],” as well as the entire Gaza Strip and the entire Golan Heights.
* Lt.-Gen. Thomas Kelly, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 Gulf War, said: “It is impossible to defend Jerusalem unless you hold that high ground [in Judea-Samaria]. I look out from those heights and look onto the West Bank and say to myself, ‘If I’m the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, I cannot defend this land without that terrain.’” (Jerusalem Post, Nov.7, 1991)