(March 19, 2007) – Israeli government officials last week expressed a mixture of optimism and skepticism for a recently revived Israeli-Palestinian peace plan Saudi Arabia first proposed five years ago. “As an Arab position, it is progress, and we would like to continue negotiations,” said Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, according to the Associated Press (AP). “But it is the opening position, not yet the fallback.”

 

The plan was reintroduced last month when Arab diplomats met with Palestinian leaders in Mecca and brokered the basis for a Palestinian unity government that joins the ruling Hamas Party and the previously popular Fatah—a coalition that is now close to becoming official. “We would be willing to treat [the Saudi initiative] seriously,” said Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, according to Reuters.

 

The Arab League-conceived Saudi plan, which Israel categorically rejected five years ago, requires Israel to give up all land acquired from its Six Day War against several surrounding Arab nations in 1967 in return for full diplomatic recognition by Arab nations.

But Israel still strongly resists such land-for-peace proposals, especially since many in Israel believe Palestinian-based terrorism has for decades helped dash all prospects for peace in the region. 

 

Conservatives in Israel point out more recently the ineffectiveness of its unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. After dismantling all Jewish settlements and forcibly removing Jews from their homes, Palestinian aggression increased in the area, with Hamas using Gaza as a base for more rocket attacks against Israel.

 

In addition, Israelis are nervous about Hamas’ involvement in a Palestinian government. The U.S. has listed Hamas as a terrorist organization that adamantly refuse to recognize the State of Israel. According to its 1988 charter, Hamas is sworn to Israel’s destruction. For many, this makes the group an impossible element within any Palestinian peace process.   

 

While traveling in Canada March 12, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Reuters: “If somebody thinks that Hamas, while not recognizing Israel, while using terror not in order to create a Palestinian state but to demolish the Jewish one, can be partners to something, they are wrong.”

 

Zalman Shoval, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and a member of the conservative Likud Party, agreed. “The Saudi initiative, or the Arab peace initiative, in its present form is a recipe for the destruction of Israel,” he said, according to Voice of America.

 

Meanwhile, Hamas last week rejected criticisms made by al Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, who had accused Hamas of weakness and compromise in its pursuit of political power.

 

Zawahri claimed Hamas has “ditched the movement of martyrdom operations [suicide bombings]…for a government that plays with words in palace halls,” Reuters reported.

 

But in the same report Zawahri’s concerns were allayed in a statement released by Hamas. “We will not betray promises we made to God to continue the path of Jihad and resistance until the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine,” the group stated, referring to Israel and the West Bank.