Israel Matzav

Liveblog: Bloggers' conference at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

I'm attending a bloggers' conference (invitation only) at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a think tank headed up by Dr. Dore Gold, Israel's former ambassador to the UN.

The first speaker is Dan Diker, who is giving us an introduction to the JCPA's activities. Their aim is to be a one-stop shop for people who are commenting on Israel. They create the perspective and provide us with materials to describe what underlies the region. They have spent the last seven years looking at the legal foundations of the myth that the 'occupation' is what is preventing peace in the Middle East (I picked up a treasure trove of materials that they put out on the table for us).

34 years ago, Shimon Peres asked David Elazar z"l (of blessed memory) to found this center because Elazar was an expert on Federalism - which is still on the table as a solution to the 'Palestinian' issue today.

Diker and Pinhas Inbari have published a paper analyzing Salam Fayyad's two-year plan for 'Palestinian statehood.' Fayyad himself was handing out the paper to journalists! Why? He felt it was objective enough that he felt it was the Israeli response even though he didn't agree with it (there's a picture of this in the Christian Science Monitor). The 'Palestinian' strategy is to leave Israel as a spectator as it engages in trying to force the 1949 border on Israel. What governs our relations right now? Alan Baker says that if the PA goes unilateral, it would violate international law and destroy the Oslo Accords. Fox News did a blog on this. Baker was one of the people who negotiated Oslo.

Diker says that since Rabin's 1995 speech in the Knesset (defensible borders, united Jerusalem, Jordan Valley would stay with Israel), we've put ourselves in a tornado. Barak unmasked Arafat. Israel got about six minutes of credit. Then Israel ran out of Lebanon, withdrew from Gaza, and then went to Annapolis and offered 96%. We have to withdraw from those offers by recalibrating what Israel's rights are. The roadmap never talks about dividing Jerusalem but you have to know the language to be able to argue that. Israel has some responsibility for what has gone on.

You don't see any reference to UN Security Resolution 242 from the Obama administration. The point is that 242 has to be restored.

I asked about getting the Sharon reservations back into the roadmap discussions. Lenny Ben David (who will be speaking later) says Dov Weisglass has even dropped them from the discussion and he wrote them!

Diker says it's important to stress that 'natural growth' of 'settlements' means growth beyond the current lines. 'Settlement' building inside the 'settlement' lines is agreed to be allowed. Both Olmert and Elliot Abrams have written about this (Abrams twice). The same goes for the Bush 2004 letter. The Bush letter said 'settlement blocs' and 'defensible borders' - the latter means the Jordan Valley and the hilltops. These have to be brought back into the discussion.

Where is the Israeli government in leading the charge? Are we bloggers the reconnaissance unit? Diker sees that the government is under unprecedented attack and scheduling problems. The government doesn't have time to sit back and think through the points of reference. Diker says that bloggers' role is essential as an extension role for the government's position. You can't wait for instructions. You have to fight the war in every direction and angle and not wait for the government to lead the way.

Dore Gold just walked in. One of the JCPA interns who is here is asking about how we push for the world to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capitol. Dore came here in 2000. He notes that Shaul Mofaz, who was then IDF Chief of Staff, said that the Clinton Parameters in December 2000 would be harmful to Israel. It turns out that Mofaz was speaking on behalf of the IDF General Staff (Dore said that he confirmed this, but he could not tell us how). This is important because everyone thinks that the permanent status solution will look like the Clinton Parameters or Taba. But from the standpoint of Israel's security, those parameters are a disaster. In government you deal with the next problem that you're facing 20 minutes from now. So how do you deal with this? One of the things they have done in JCPA is to try to clarify Israel's security needs.

Israel has stopped voicing a mantra for its foreign policy. The 'Palestinians' continue to have theirs: To establish a 'Palestinian state' with Jerusalem as its capitol. Jewish negotiators would say "peace." But the Jewish goal is not concrete - the 'Palestinian' goal is. The defined goal is going to win over the abstract goal. This ties in with the whole notion that Israel should be voicing its view that it's entitled to defensible borders. But Israeli and American leaders have shortened those defensible borders. When Gold negotiated the Christopher letter (January 17, 1997) with Dennis Ross, they made clear that Israel would decide for itself what was a defensible border. This isn't laying out a specific map but it's a lot more than saying "I want peace." Israel's foreign policy is not solely in its own hands nor in the hands of the US government. You need a voice outside government that's thinking long term.

Gold says we have to put back the idea that Jerusalem has to remain united under Israel's sovereignty. These are positions (secure borders and united Jerusalem) that command a majority of Israelis. But if we poll American Jewry and American public opinion, we will also get overwhelming support for these ideas, but we have to put this narrative into the discussions of those who comment on foreign affairs.

Israel has a new threat too - the use of international law against the State of Israel. We can't just hope that threat will go away. JCPA tried to show Iran violated international law by threatening Israel, but neither Israel's foreign ministry nor the Bush administration was interested.

Gold is taking questions. Yisrael Medad says that the foreign ministry should meet with us regularly and Gold agrees. Gold says that there's a recognition in the government about the whole blogging world.

Gold says that he warned Ariel Sharon that the Arabs would view Israel's withdrawal from Gaza as a tangible victory. He said that Sharon had to get tangible concessions from the US if not from the 'Palestinians.' Rabin got that kind of commitment from Ford and Kissinger in 1975 before Israel withdrew from the Mitla and Gidi Passes in Sinai. That's what the Bush April 2004 letter was supposed to be about and Sharon called Gold to tell him about it once he got it.

Gold says that they sent reams of material to the Goldstone Commission and much of what he put on the screen at Brandeis had been sent to Goldstone before the report came out. They treated it as footnote material and not as material for the main analysis. The key factor to examine there is who did the staff work - they filtered what Goldstone saw.

Gold says that Israel has to keep pushing defensible borders and a united Jerusalem as interests that we can defend and that have a buoyancy in public opinion and bring them up front. He points out that Hillary Clinton has positioned the US between us and the 'Palestinians' and not on the 'Palestinian' side. We need to get that view out before the world and we have to get away from Abu Mazen's position of making the 1967 borders sacrosanct. Don't let anyone lock in the 1967 lines as a political border that has to be established.

What does a defensible border look like? We need a presentation to show that. Gold says that they are moving in the direction of preparing one.

Lenny Ben David is next up. You've seen him on this blog before as well. He worked in the Israeli embassy in the US and at AIPAC. You can find him online at http://Lennybendavid.com.

His comments are off the record, so I will stop writing for a while.

JCPA intern Phil Harbor did a Power Point presentation on how to use JCPA's materials.

Here's a good international law game for you all to play.

Mark Amiel talked about some of JCPA's gems on its web site. I'll try to put some of these things up for you later, but for those who want to see them now, click through to the site.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:20 PM