JERUSALEM – In exchange for Saudi Arabia attending this week's U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian conference in Annapolis, the Israeli government agreed to recognize the importance of a Saudi-sponsored "peace initiative" in which the Jewish state is called upon to evacuate the strategic Golan Heights, the entire West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, WND has learned.
WND obtained a draft Israeli-Palestinian declaration to be presented at the Annapolis conference and to serve as an official outline of a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority .
The wording is still being negotiated by both sides, but according to Israeli diplomatic sources, Israel agreed to a Saudi request that the declaration document include reference to a Saudi-backed Arab Peace Initiative, first presented in 2002 and reissued earlier this year at a meeting of the Arab League, an umbrella association of Mideast Arab states.
When it was first revealed, the Arab Initiative was heavily criticized by the U.S. and Israel because the text requires the Jewish state to withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza and allow for the creation of a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem, including the evacuation of the Temple Mount - Judaism's holiest site.
The Initiative also called for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights, strategic mountainous territory that looks down on Israeli population centers and that was twice used by Syria to launch ground invasions into the Jewish state.
But now Israel has recognized the Arab Initiative as a precondition for Saudi Arabia to attend the Annapolis summit, according to diplomatic sources in Jerusalem.
While Israel doesn't commit itself to the Arab Initiative's requirements, a clause in the current draft of the Israeli-Palestinian declaration slated for the Annaplis conference and obtained by WND reads: "We recognize the critical supporting role of Arab and Muslim states and the importance of the Arab Peace Initiative."
The draft declaration is subject to final changes up to Tuesday's summit.
Saudi Arabia announced yesterday it would send its foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, to the Annapolis summit after the Arab League decided to back the Israeli-Palestinian conference.
Syria has not yet officially decided whether to attend but has made clear it would not send a representative to Annapolis unless the Golan Heights was placed on the agenda.
Syria is in a military alliance with Iran and is accused by the U.S. of supporting the insurgency in Iraq and generating instability in Lebanon. Israel says Syria regularly ships Iranian rockets and weaponry to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. The chiefs of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad Palestinian terror groups are based in Damascus.
The U.S. extended an invitation to Syria without any preconditions.
While many in Washington have high hopes for Annapolis, recent polls here show Israelis are less optimistic.
A survey sponsored last week by the Israel Policy Center for Promoting Parliamentary Democracy and Jewish Values in Israeli Public Life found 77 percent of Israelis believe Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas lacked the power to prevent attacks from the West Bank.
Sixty-one percent of the general Israeli public opposes a withdrawal from most of the West Bank and handing the strategic territory to the Palestinians.
If Israel indeed evacuated the West Bank, some 55 percent of Israelis believe Palestinians will use the territory to fire rockets into Jewish population centers, and 65 percent believe there is a high or very high chance Hamas would take control of the area, according to the new poll. Hamas leaders in recent days warned their terror group would take over the West Bank if Israel withdrew.
7 comments:
Dear Mr. Tiger,
I had to send that castro beer video to my brother, as well as a Cuban friend of mine. As a redneck comic says, "I don't care who you are, that's funny!"
Adult stem cells work better so we do not need embryonic ones? The truth takes longer and longer for some people to accept. I wonder how much longer it will take for people to know global warming is not manmade?
Why do people want to give freedoms away to saudis and the chinese? "Money trumps peace." People are not thinking of the future.
Dear Mr. Tiger,
Mr. Whit did a brave BLOG on "Ideological Warfare" at EB.
He is a spiritually enlightened man. I wish I knew how to save his words in this BLOG especially in the comments. I hope my husband can help me to do this. Could you pass on my compliments to him? I am not comfortable making comments at EB.
The Beer thing is funny! : )
Whit reads this Blog so I'm sure he has your thanks already. You can just cut and paste his words into a Notepad or Word file if you like.
Yes, the Saudis are wrapping us up like a Chicago "dog", bright green relish and everything (who says they don't eat pork?).
I just heard, the Saudis might bail out CITIGroup's financial problems. The towel heads will own us, thanks to G.W. Bush. Right now they're controlling the "PEACE" process at the Annapolis meeting.
What does the good book say? They'll be crying peace! Peace! PEACE! - And that's when the calamity will hit!
Lets hope this is not "that" time. Then again, I hope it is! : )
BTW, this is all about Bush saving his legacy. Remeber Slick Willie?
Bush doesn't understand he already has a legacy - HE SOLD OUT HIS COUNTRY!
Lady - here is an editorial from NRO concerning the "Peace Conference". They simply state the obvious - "it will make matters worse"!
Dear Mr. Tiger:
Since lying is part of the muslim religion, why does bush think this conference will be successful? As Herbert's Dune says "There are plans within plans" and since "money trumps peace" I do not believe this conference is for reconciliation but for illegitimate economic deals.
God help God-fearing freedom-loving people in this world. bush is trying to sell their souls to the saudis by giving their freedoms away.
Well, Bush takes them at their word anyway! (Even though it’s permissible to lie to an infidel). President Bush has NEVER understood the W. O. T. or our enemy, IMO.
Bush wants his "legacy". He will try to talk Israel into giving back the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip (all the portions not given back already!). He will also ask Israel to release most, if not all, Palestinian prisoners. He will try to convince the Arab "world" in the ME that Iran is their enemy. : ) He may even try to convince Israel to hand over ALL of Jerusalem so the Palestinians can have a capital city.
The Arabs will grin and agree - even sign an agreement possibly; then at some point in the future the attack will come (probably from the Golan), using American made weapons and training, and with Iranian and Saudi help, and history will repeat itself.
Bush believes in the one-world economic “model” so completely that he’ll do anything to see it come to its ultimate zenith. He is a “one-worlder”, under money, in which he trusts.
I believe it to be that simple!
In the meantime, Iran continues with its nuclear efforts, just like N. Korea, and will eventually get the bomb.
Here's the religion question of the week: Is the modern day biblical "Israel" GODs people, or the nation we know as Israel? Did the "protection" of Israel end with the new covenant? Or, as most Christians believe, will GOD protect the nation of modern-day Israel?
We may find out!
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