Sunday, Nov 16, 2003
Former security chiefs slam Sharon's policies
By Atul Aneja
MANAMA Nov. 15. In a move that could pave the way for a fresh dialogue, four former Israeli security chiefs have launched a frontal assault on Tel Aviv's policy towards the Palestinians and warned that it would lead to `disaster', unless reversed.
The four former top Israeli intelligence officials, known for their intimate knowledge of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, called for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and dismantlement of Jewish settlements. "(The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon has spoken often about the need for painful compromises, and there are no painful compromises except evacuation of settlements," Yaakov Peri, the chief of the Israeli security service, Shin Bet from 1988 to 1995, told the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronoth. The other three former Shin Bet heads that have triggered a raging debate on Israel's handling of its Palestinian policy are Karmi Gilon, Avraham Shalom and Ami Ayalon.
Two weeks ago, the Israel Defence Forces Chief of Staff, Moshe Yaalon, also criticised the government policy, and pointed out that the security roadblocks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were fuelling Palestinian anger and leading to growing support for Hamas and other extremist groups. Earlier, dissonance within the Israel's security establishment became visible when, Ephraim Helevy, Director of Israel's external intelligence agency Mossad till 2002, resigned as head of the National Security Council and strategic adviser to Mr. Sharon in September. "We are heading downhill towards near-catastrophe. If nothing happens and we go on living by the sword, we will continue to wallow in the mud and destroy ourselves," Mr. Peri said.
Speaking on Israel radio, he called upon Israel to take unilateral steps, saying: "We need to take the situation into our own hands and leave Gaza with all the difficulty that that entails."
The four said that Israel needed to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza Strip even if it meant an inevitable clash with the settlers. "There will always be some groups... for whom the land of Israel nestles in the hills of Nablus and inside Hebron and we will have to clash with them," Mr. Perri said. However, Mr. Ayalon pointed out that he did not expect more than 10 per cent of above 220,000 settlers to resist an evacuation of settlements. "We have to be capable of facing such a number," he said.
Mr. Ayalon who himself is the co-author of "Peoples Voice", an unofficial peace plan with Sari Nusseibah, a leading Palestinian intellectual and President of Al-Quds university said that without a peace deal, Israel's existence would be endangered. The timing of the utterances of the former security chiefs is seen by analysts as significant, as this could shape public opinion towards the peace proposals in the Geneva accords which will be formally unveiled next month.
Unlike the stalled "road map" proposals favoured and authored by the United States and three partners, the Geneva accords are a result of direct interaction between Leftist Israelis, human rights activists, intellectuals and Palestinian politicians.
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