GAMLA:  NEWS AND VIEWS FROM ISRAEL
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Volume 5 Issue 48                                    Jerusalem, Israel
19 Tevet, 5765 *                                   * December 31, 2004


Inside:

1. GOOD NEWS ISRAEL: Ohio Dentists Bringing Smiles to Israel
2. Olmert unveils 'Disengagement 2' plan to 'Post'
3. Is It Oslo Mania All Over Again?


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NOTICE FROM "GAMLA SHALL NOT FALL AGAIN!"
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================
GOOD NEWS ISRAEL
================


Ohio Dentists Bringing Smiles to Israel
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Jewish Dentists from Ohio have come to Israel to bring smiles to
residents of their "sister-city," Kfar Saba.


The group of professional dental specialists from Columbus, Ohio
treated dozens of Kfar Saba residents.

The group was led by Dr. Moshe Mizrach, a Dental specialist and the
chairman of the health committee in Columbus. They stayed in the Beit
Berl Dorms of the Sharon region college and administered free
treatment to a long list of patients. The treatments were performed
at the Meir Hospital

"Kol Hakavod Kfar Saba for one of the most rewarding experiences of
my life. From the minute I arrived at Ben Gurion airport I realized
what a good decision I had made in coming to Israel," one of the
participants, Dr. Tilson, wrote about the experience.

Dr. Dan Bielski, who lives in Kfar Saba, expressed the sentiments of
many in the Kfar Saba community following the unique show of support.
"I can say that hosting our brother doctors was an experience we
never dreamed could be as meaningful as it was."


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Olmert unveils 'Disengagement 2' plan to 'Post'
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Etgar Lefkovits, THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 30, 2004


[IMRA NOTES:

Step #1 Israel cannot stand still - retreats from Gaza and northern
Samaria to avoid pressure to make additional withdrawals before full
Palestinian compliance and a final agreement.

Step #2 Israel cannot stand still - retreats from most of Judea and
Samaria to avoid pressure to make additional withdrawals before full
Palestinian compliance and a final agreement.

Step #3 Israel cannot stand still - retreats from parts of Jerusalem
to avoid pressure to make additional withdrawals before full
Palestinian compliance and a final agreement.

Step #4 Israel cannot stand still - retreats from most remaining
settlement blocs to avoid pressure to make additional withdrawals
before full Palestinian compliance and a final agreement.

Step #5 The Quartet, within the framework of the Roadmap, announces
that the Palestinians are just as compliant with the Roadmap as
Israel is ("Progress into Phase II will be based upon the consensus
judgment of the Quartet of whether conditions are appropriate to
proceed, taking into account performance of both parties...Progress
into Phase III, based on consensus judgment of Quartet, and taking
into account actions of both parties and Quartet monitoring.") and
that Israel must enter into final status talks.

Israel cannot stand still and begins to negotiate.

And now that the negotiations are starting - the world asks - what
are you offering? ]

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Israel will need to carry out a large-scale withdrawal from the West
Bank after next year's initial disengagement from the Gaza Strip and
northern Samaria, whether or not a viable peace partner emerges on
the Palestinian side, Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Ehud Olmert
said Wednesday.

"There is no option of sitting and doing nothing. Israel's interest
requires a disengagement on a wider scale than what will happen as
part of the current disengagement plan," Olmert told The Jerusalem
Post.

He declined to describe the extent of a second "disengagement plan"
but said that it offers the only clear and realistic alternative to a
massive pullback from all the territories as a result of the
internationally backed road-map peace plan and could become a useful
solution to a future impasse in negotiations with the Palestinian
Authority.

A close ally and confidant of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Olmert has
often been the first in the government to go public with future
policy.

Last year, in what was widely viewed as a trial balloon, he called
for unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West
Bank, just weeks ahead of a similar move by Sharon.

According to Sharon's current plan, which is slated to go to the
cabinet for final approval in February, Israel will withdraw from the
Gaza Strip and four isolated settlements in Samaria starting in July.

In the interview, Olmert said that it was far from certain that PLO
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), who is expected to win the
January 9 election for the PA chairmanship, will become a workable
peace partner.

Even if Abu Mazen does rein in the Palestinian terror groups, Olmert
said, his hard-core stance on major negotiating issues, such as final
borders, Jerusalem and refugees, may make it impossible to reach a
deal with him.

"We could very well have negotiations [with Abbas] and these
negotiations will break down, but Israel will continue to progress,
by carrying out unilateral moves, including the possibility of
further withdrawals that are in the interest of the state," Olmert
said.

The minister dismissed as "premature" both the early optimism over
Abbas's leadership voiced by some and the possibility that the
unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip could become a bilateral
agreement. He noted that Abbas has not yet proved that he has the
ability to struggle effectively against terror or to build a
democratic infrastructure for PA institutions.

"Without this, we don't see much chance for progress with the PA," he
said.

He added that even if Abbas does fulfill his basic obligations - such
as a crackdown on terror organizations - under the road map, there
remains a "danger" that his negotiating positions will be
intransigent.

"A PA crackdown on terror is a prerequisite for restarting
negotiations, but is in no way a basis for agreement on final-status
peace negotiations,"
Olmert said.

He said that while a bilateral agreement with the PA would clearly be
preferable, unilateral moves would give Israel greater freedom and
are "more comfortable" as far as the country's interests are
concerned.

In an interview earlier this year, Olmert had said that he envisioned
ceding at least six outlying Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem to full
PA control as part of a final-status agreement, a dramatic shift in
stance on the status of the capital for the formerly hawkish
Jerusalem mayor.

Public-opinion polls have indicated that about two-thirds of the
public support the disengagement plan.

Olmert said that it is "only natural and human" that the nearly 9,000
settlers slated to be uprooted from their homes as part of the
current unilateral withdrawal plan oppose it vociferously, but he
predicted that, "while painful," the pullout would be "less horrible"
than people might think.




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Is It Oslo Mania All Over Again?
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By Joel Mowbray


HERZLIYA, ISRAEL - "The spirit of peace can arise again," said Terje
Rod-Larsen, the United Nations' top representative for the "Middle
East peace process," evoking the specter of the infamous Oslo peace
accords at Israel's premier security conference recently.

That a UN official would say that is of little surprise. But when
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his deputies sounded a
similar theme, more than a few mouths were agape at the
Interdisciplinary Center's annual Herzliya Conference.

Speculation about what exactly Sharon would say in his widely-covered
speech Thursday night was rampant. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan
Shalom had made news two days earlier with an unmistakably upbeat
speech in which he talked of normalizing relations in the
not-too-distant future with ten Arab and Gulf states.

Topping the headlines, though, was the Foreign Minister's rhetorical
olive branch to Syria. Most remarkably-and most incredulously-Shalom
seemed to accept as sincere Syria's recent overtures. "Any
declaration of the desire for peace by an Arab leader is a positive
declaration," he said.

Given the quasi-independence of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
many believed that Shalom had created a new policy goal at his own
behest. But when Sharon spoke Thursday night, the Prime Minister
echoed Mr. Shalom, though without identifying Syria by name.

Referring to Syria, the Foreign Minister said, "A hand outstretched
for peace is not to be rejected." Near the end of his speech, Sharon
talked of potential cooperation with "moderate Arab states" and said:
"When faced with tranquility and a hand extended in peace, we will
know how to react in tranquility and extend an honest and brave hand
in return."

Though the Sharon government's optimism is decidedly cautious, the
death of Yasser Arafat seems to have softened even the hardest of
hearts. Sharon himself was explicit in explaining his newfound
buoyancy: "The most genuine and greatest opportunity for building a
new and different relationship with the Palestinians was created
following the death of Yasser Arafat, who constituted the primary
obstacle to peace."

Commented one American conference participant over a drink Wednesday
night: "Everybody focused on Arafat for so long that now that he's
gone, the biggest obstacle seems to have been eliminated."
While careful to stress that the first step in any "process" is
cessation of terrorism, even Sharon signaled the impending start of
some form of talks, holding out hopes for eventually achieving
"genuine peace."

The particulars of how Sharon intends to reach "genuine peace" were
not spelled out by any Israeli government leader in Herzliya, though
two Israeli officials did just that for a roundtable of some 30
foreign journalists on the eve of the conference.

As laid out, the blueprint is pretty straightforward: achieve
recognition from the Palestinians, then Arab states will race to
normalize relations with the Jewish state. The rough timetable, then,
is to move fairly quickly after the upcoming Palestinian elections to
reach some sort of accord, then attempt to strike deals with at least
a handful of Arab and Gulf states in the next few years.

But to paraphrase many conference participants not enamored with the
Sharon strategy: This is not an Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but an
Israeli-Arab one.

For years, Arab despots have used Palestinians as pawns to divert the
attention of not just the United States, the European Union, but also
their own people. Even more fundamentally, however, is the simple
fact that the radical Islamists, who enjoy ever-growing power in the
Arab world, want to eliminate the Jewish state.

Reality notwithstanding, a revival of the pre-Oslo mindset-minus the
delusional optimism-appears to be underway.

The Sharon government is resurrecting the most ominous pre-Oslo
ghost: picking a Palestinian "leader" for the sole purpose of having
someone with whom the Jewish state can "negotiate."

In a coronation ceremony masquerading as an election on January 9,
the Palestinians will go to the polls with one real choice on the
ballot: longtime Arafat crony Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen.

To paraphrase a popular leftist catchphrase about America's 2000
presidential race, Mr. Abbas is being selected, not elected. His true
base of support-Israel, the U.S., the E.U.-is essentially the same
bunch that pulled him and Arafat out of Tunis and foisted them upon
the Palestinian people a decade ago.

Just as Arafat delivered an accord as expected at Oslo, all
indications are that Abbas will soon sign on the dotted line. Sharon
s speech hinted at this when saying that he wanted to hand off
security enforcement in the territories to a Palestinian government
"which is ready and able to take responsibility."

To which one conference attendee remarked: "Most likely Abu Mazen
will be ‘able' to stop terrorism, but will Arafat's former partner be
‘ready' to?"



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Hazak V'Amatz!
The GAMLA Staff