Dr. Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israel's Ex-Foreign Minister Confessed:
"Arafat Wants to Destroy Israel"
Arafat does not recognize the idea of two states between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. He does not look to establish his P.L.O.'s state but rather to destroy Israel and the peace process. Arafat and the P.L.O. are not looking for compromise or to build credibility but they are looking for confrontation and war. As to the Oslo Accord or agreements, Arafat only staged a show, a camouflage or a mirage. He planned only to push Israel to a 'civil war' between 'left' and 'right'. Arafat is a liar.
Who expressed these notions or remarks? Dr. Shlomo Ben-Ami, a distinguished historian, a leader in the 'peace camp' and ex-foreign minister in Ehud Barak's government. Dr. Ben-Ami believed in the 'peace process'. Until he came with Barak for the last encounter with Arafat and his people at Camp David. Ex-President Clinton was the sponsor of this meeting. Ben-Ami was recently interviewed by Ari Shavit in Haaretz, the Israeli New York Times.
Indeed, Ben-Ami came, lately, to these conclusions. He should have met Yitzhak Shamir who always argued that the Oslo Accord was a great mistake made by Israel. He stated time and again that Arafat and the P.L.O. are not looking for compromise but rather to destroy Israel. In Camp David when Barak agreed to give the P.L.O. around 3% of Israeli land in the Negev so that Israeli settlements will stay in Israel, Arafat asked to get territories near Natanya or Kfar Saba which will include Kochav Yair, the hometown of Barak himself! "They want to humiliate you," said an American diplomat to the Israelis at Camp David!
Ben-Ami points out that during the negotiations, the P.L.O. never ever introduced its own proposals or maps. Arafat or his advisor, Saib Erikat, only asked for more: more land, more concessions. For example, Barak, who 'killed' many Israeli 'taboos' agreed to discuss the issue of refugees. Arafat argued that "we have to establish the right of return and then discuss the mechanism." Their idea was to send 150,000 refugees each year but for the coming decade, Israel had to absorb 'only' 1.5 million refugees! In Israel, even the most extreme leftist viewed this idea as the destruction of Israel as a Jewish entity. Yossi Beilin suggested: only 40,000 refugees. Some Israelis agreed only to 250,000 refugees. (Muslim fertility rate in Israel is at least double the Jewish rate!)
It is very sad to learn that leaders such as Dr. Ben-Ami could live with wishful thinking when all the barometers expressed the truth: They are looking to eliminate Israel, by all means. Dr. Ben-Ami also revealed that, in Camp David, before the second Intifada (Sept. 28, 2000) was launched by Arafat, Ehud Barak was so depressed that for two days he disappeared from the scene! Years ago Yitzhak Shamir told me: "How a great military leader, 'Mr. Security', the late Yitzhak Rabin, could participate in the Oslo Accords. Oslo was a stupid thing. It was a disaster. It saved Arafat from the abyss. It was a terrible mistake." Today one can ask how leaders such as Ehud Barak and Dr. Ben-Ami could fall into Arafat's trap? How could they, in the name of peace, be manipulated by Arafat? Israel, the people of Israel, were victims of this manipulation.
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