URGENT ACTION ALERT - Convergence Plan Threatens U.S. Security

URGENT ACTION ALERT - Convergence Plan Threatens U.S. Security

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Dear President Bush and Members of Congress,

Giving away Judea and Samaria to the Hamas terrorist government will not guarantee the safety of Israel. It would only encourage Radical Islamists who would view the attainment of this land as their victory. Gaza provided proof of that fact; As Israelis moved out, Palestinians destroyed what was left of the communities and new terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Hizbullah moved in and set up terrorist operations. Because Olmert is making no demands on Hamas/PA to recognize Israel and abandon terrorism, the same situation would be repeated in Judea and Samaria.

Ten billion dollars in American taxpayer money should not be used to support and expand terrorist activities. With the increase in oil prices, taxes could be better used to secure alternative oil resources and support the American economy.

Israel has been a key partner to the U.S. and a stabilizing force in the Middle East. By supporting the Hamas government, an organization listed on the State Department?s terrorist list, we are jeopardizing not only the security of Israel, but also the security of Jordan, Lebanon and the emerging democratic Iraq. The funding of Palestinian terror would be counterproductive to our efforts in Iraq. This would surely lead to the spread of Radical Islam throughout the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

Signed




Unity Coalition for Israel - May 16, 2006



Ehud Olmert?s ?Convergence? Plan for the West Bank
and U.S. Middle East Policy

Caroline Glick

Center for Security Policy
www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/Olmerts_Convergence_Plan.pdf

Executive Summary

Israel?s incoming Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has announced his intention to implement what he refers to as ?the convergence plan,? which involves an Israeli pullout from some 90-95 percent of the West Bank and from several neighborhoods in Jerusalem by the end of 2007. Mr. Olmert is scheduled to visit Washington in May 2006 to present his plan to the Bush Administration and Congressional leaders in the hope of securing U.S. monetary and policy support for his plan.

Olmert?s convergence plan entails the expulsion of between 50,000-100,000 Israeli civilians from their homes in the West Bank and the destruction of between 50-100 Israeli towns and villages in the area. It further requires the withdrawal of Israeli military forces to garrisoned locations in proximity to Israel?s security barrier which will encompass the remaining 5-10 percent of the West Bank territory located along the 1949 armistice lines that constituted Israel?s national boundaries until 1967.

Olmert maintains that implementation of his plan will enhance Israeli security and regional stability by lessening the daily contact between Israelis and Palestinians and by safeguarding Israel?s demographic durability as a democratic Jewish state. He further maintains that an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank will enhance U.S. and Israeli interests by improving Israel?s political posture internationally.

Upon scrutiny, however, it is clear that Olmert?s plan will do none of the above. An Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank will effectively cause the area to be transferred to the control of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority. As experience from Israel?s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in September 2005 has shown, the area will likely become a base for global terrorists allied with Iran and other terror-supporting states.

In fact, terrorists operating in the relinquished areas will be capable of conducting missile attacks against Israel?s major cities, its international airport and other strategic locations in Israel. They will constitute a destabilizing force that could lead to the fall of the Hashemite regime in Jordan. Mass expulsions of Israeli civilians will destabilize Israeli society and will manifest a serious blow to the morale and retention levels of the Israeli military?s combat officer corps. Also, an Israeli pullout from the West Bank will likely make it easier for terrorist forces to execute infiltrations of Israel for the purpose of conducting large-scale bombing attacks in Israeli population centers like Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa and mobilizing the Israeli Arab minority in the cause of jihad against the Jewish state.

From a U.S. perspective, the implementation of Olmert?s convergence plan will damage American efforts in the Global War on Terror in the Middle East and throughout the world on several levels. Jordan and Israel are the United States? most stable allies in the region and their likely destabilization in the aftermath of the operation will both motivate and facilitate the operations of those fighting the U.S. in Iraq and other places in the region. The Palestinians are supported by terror supporting states such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria. The destabilization of Israel and Jordan will be perceived as a victory for these supporters of the Palestinians and they will be strengthened at the expense of America, which is perceived as Israel?s sponsor.

Indeed, in a manner even more significant globally than the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which brought Hamas to power in the Palestinian Authority, an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank will be perceived as a strategic victory for Global Jihad. Recruitment efforts by organizations like al Qaeda worldwide and particularly in Europe, Turkey, India and Indonesia will be greatly strengthened.

Moreover, U.S. efforts at mobilizing support against jihadist groups and efforts in these states as well as in Iraq, the Persian Gulf region generally and the greater Middle East will be significantly weakened. Individuals, political leaders and civil society organizations throughout the region and the world that are overtly sympathetic to the U.S. and its goals of defeating global jihadist forces and democratizing the Middle East will be substantially and perhaps irreversibly weakened.

Although an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and the dismantlement of Israeli communities there seems consonant with traditional American policies in the Middle East, in light of the radicalization of Palestinian society, as evidenced by Hamas? electoral victory in January 2006, it is unclear how an Israeli withdrawal today will align with U.S. national security interests and goals. Unfortunately, it seems evident that an Israeli retreat from the West Bank will empower the terror supporting, anti-American de facto Palestinian state and will create a new base for global terrorism.

In light of all this, the Bush Administration and the congressional leadership would be well-advised to refuse Olmert?s requests for U.S. support for his convergence plan while backing alternative policy options that will serve to strengthen U.S. allies in the Global War on Terror, while weakening those opposed to U.S. efforts. Such alternative policies will be the subject of an additional Center for Security Policy report that will be released in the near future.



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Founded in 1991, we are the largest worldwide coalition of Jewish and Christian organizations, with more than 200 groups representing millions of people dedicated to Israel. Though we have many different backgrounds, we have one common goal: A Safe and Secure Israel.

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