Peres: Israel Gave Land Before, but Rec'd No Peace, No Security
Pastor Dale Morgan
Peres: Israel Gave Land Before, but Rec'd No Peace, No Security*
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) President Shimon Peres says the "land for peace" formula
on which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is working has not worked for Israel.
Speaking on Tuesday to some 150 foreign reporters at the President's
Residence in Jerusalem, Peres poured coldish water on the plans to give
up 95% of Judea and Samaria for an Arab state. It is known that Prime
Minister Olmert is working on just such a plan, in anticipation of the
upcoming US-sponsored international summit this November.
"The chemistry between Olmert and [PA chief Mahmoud] Abbas is good,"
Peres said, "but this does not mean they have reached any conclusions."
In similar cases, like in Gaza and Lebanon, Israel gave up land - but
received neither peace nor security.
The presidential speech was broadcast around the world, including on
Al-Jazeera.
Summing up the situation for those who might not have known, Peres said,
"The problems are peace, land, and security... In similar cases, like
in Gaza and Lebanon, Israel gave up land - but received neither peace
nor security."
"The negotiations are direct, and I don't believe that intermediaries
are needed. The leaders are talking to each other, and to their nations
at the same time. Only the Palestinian president and the Israeli prime
minister can determine how far and how fast to go without losing the
support of their peoples."
"We have been forced to fight seven wars and two intifadas in our 60
years of existence," Peres said. "That is, we have had a war every
seven years. It is now our hope to form peace with the Palestinians,
with the Syrians, and regional peace with all the Arab nations."
Peres continued a familiar refrain of his by saying that modern war is
less about borders than about money: "Wars today are not carried out
with tanks or ships, but rather with rockets and weapons of mass
destruction. War is more ballistic than geographic."
Expanding on the same theme, Peres said, "The value of borders, lands,
and distances has dropped; the importance today is more economic."
Peres said that he told the Special European Union envoy to the Middle
East, ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, that the EU should "stop
supporting the Palestinians financially; they have received a billion
dollars a year that were used for corruption and caused the toppling of
the Fatah in Gaza. Instead, the money should be used to support the
establishment of industrial areas for employment in Judea, Samaria and
Gaza."