Brownback supports Elon plan
Kansas Senator Sam Brownback (pictured, top left), a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, has come out in favor of a new peace plan for Israel and the 'Palestinians' proposed by National Union - National Religious Party MK Rabbi Benyamin (Benny) Elon. The plan represents a significant change from the 'land for peace' concept that has guided American peacemaking efforts for the past forty years.
"This is a realistic proposal and different way forward… which needs to be looked at broadly in the international community," Senator Sam Brownback (Rep.-Kansas) said.If any of you has the opportunity to pose questions for any of the Presidential debates, I would be very curious to find out whether any of the other candidates agree with Brownback and support Elon's plan.
He called the plan, which proposes recognizing Jordan as the sole representative of the Palestinians instead of the Palestinian Authority, and calls for the dismantling of UNRWA and the Palestinian refugee camps and the rehabilitation of the Palestinian refugees "bold, aggressive, clear and workable."
The conservative American senator noted that while he does not endorse all aspects of the plan - specifically regarding the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority - it could be the basis for a positive discussion for the long-term relations between Israel and the Palestinians.
"Land for peace does not work," Brownback said, citing Israel's 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a case in point.
Elon said that the long-term proposal constituted a "real deep conceptual change," which required time, energy, and funding.
"This is a national and international information campaign," Elon said Wednesday at a Jerusalem press conference which included videotaped remarks of the Republican senator.
"If Israel will not be in Judea and Samaria," Elon said, using the Biblical names for the West Bank, "then Hamas will be there."
...
"We have had enough cocktail parties at the White House with the Nobel prize winner [former PLO head Yasser] Arafat," Elon said.
"Now is the time for a real conceptual change," he concluded.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:18 PM
1 Comments:
unfortunately it is a minor candidate supporting the position of a minor candidate.
Until this becomes Israeli policy it will not become US policy. AIPAC (Israel's loudest voice in the US) supports whatever the "duly" elected government of Israel supports.
What I will say from active involvement with pro-Israel advocacy in US politics is that these things have a momentum.
With Israel and Bush all supporting Abu Mazen as a moderate, it became the conventional wisdom even amongst many of our strongest supporters in Congress. With the exception of some true leaders on the issue like Illena Ros-Lehtenin and Sam Brownback (and formerly Santorum), it is mostly a herd mentality when it comes to pro-Israel support. They mean well, but simply follow the "pro-Israel" current agenda which is often set by the self-avoed pro-Israel administrations and AIPAC.
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