A Democratic Jewish State

The Mandate for Israel extends democracy to the entire historic region of Judea and Samaria and ensures that Israel is preserved as a democratic Jewish state.

The Oslo Accords and all other two-state plans have failed. Local, regional and global dynamics have made it clear that the vision of "two states living side by side in peace" is unachievable. Any state established in all or part of Judea and Samaria will not be viable and will quickly become a serious security threat to Israel. All attempts to resolve so-called final status issues including: final borders, division of Jerusalem, compensation of refugees from Israel and Arab countries, Israel as a Jewish state, and Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are destined to fail.

As Prime Minister Sharon stated in May 2003, maintaining the current status of 'administered territories' is unacceptable. Now that Israel has withdrawn entirely from Gaza it is time to seek new alternatives for Judea and Samaria based on global dynamics and realities on the ground. Israel combined with the Judea and Samaria regions has a two-to-one Jewish majority and with proper governmental initiatives that majority will grow. Demographic pressure should no longer drive policy.

Israel must now affirm in its entirety the Mandate for Palestine (Land of Israel) as approved unanimously by the League of Nations on July 24, 1922 and by the United States on December 3, 1924. The Mandate for Palestine established the area west of the Jordan River as the national home of the Jewish people. The Mandate guaranteed civil and religious rights to all inhabitants of the land and political rights were granted to preserve the national home of the Jewish people in perpetuity. Israel can now extend its sovereignty and democracy to the entire Judea and Samaria region.

Highlights of the MANDATE for ISRAEL

• Israel affirms the Mandate for Palestine.
• Israel's democracy and law will be extended to the entire Judea and Samaria region.
• Full civil and religious rights will be granted to all inhabitants of Israel.
• All residents of Judea and Samaria will become permanent residents and elect local municipalities.
• All Israeli political parties and elected and appointed officials must affirm Israel as the national home of the Jewish people.
• Citizenship standards will be created including a pledge of allegiance to Israel as the national home of the Jewish people.
• Electoral reform will divide Israel into districts to insure local representation.

Two-state plans are not viable and will lead to disastrous consequences.

Events in Gaza and Lebanon have demonstrated the dangers inherent in all two state plans. Retired Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Moshe (“Bogey”) Ya’alon dramatically warned, “ In the past decade, the government of Israel and Israeli society decided to divide the land. In the present reality, I see difficulty in producing a stable situation of end-of-conflict within that paradigm.” If a sovereign Palestinian state is created in Judea and Samaria, the recent Gaza and Lebanon experiences and the behavior of the Hamas and Fatah leadership confirm that that state will be used as a stepping stone to further assault the State of Israel.

In April 2004, President Bush acknowledged that: "In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949. And all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion." Even if Israel's security would not thereby be severely endangered (which it would), attempts to resolve final status with respect to such issues as final borders, Jerusalem, return of refugees, and Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are an exercise in futility and are destined to fail.

It is not too late to avoid the tragedies that the current status will bring. Israel must ensure its long-term viability and include the entire Judea and Samaria region in a democratic structure. 

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TWO STATE PLANS

 

Two-state plans such as the Road Map, the Geneva Plan, Oslo Accords, and the Saudi Arabia Proposal seek to end the current status of indeterminacy and limbo. Many believe that two-state plans will prevent a possible demographic catastrophe that would destroy Israel as a democratic Jewish state. The demographic basis for this fear has been disproved in studies presented in the United States and Israel. Ironically, two-state plans that seek to avoid demographic catastrophes, all permit unrestricted Arab immigration west of the Jordan River into the new Palestinian state. This unlimited immigration will quickly lead to an irreversible demographic catastrophe and assure that the Jewish population west of the Jordan River will become a minority and could ultimately endanger the very existence of the State of Israel.

ALL two-state plans are fatally flawed because they propose a sovereign state that would

 

 

·        not be a viable independent entity

·        oppose the existence of a Jewish state

·        be led by terrorists dedicated to the destruction of Israel and become a global center of terrorism

·        not resolve the claims of right of return and refugee issues

·        intensify and compound existing dual-loyalty problems for Israeli-Arabs

·        leave unresolved issues relating to Jerusalem and the "settlements"

·        become allied and cooperate with rogue regimes and terrorists

·        continue to support hate education in schools and mosques

·        support anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist, and anti-Semitic organizations globally

·        arm with conventional and unconventional weapons

·        create endless territorial, water, and resource disputes

·        lead to violence, war of attrition and a major conflict

·        create demographic problems between the sea and the river

·        lead to demoralization and the decisive weakening of the State of Israel

 

Jordan faces serious demographic and other challenges. Far more than half of its population are non-Hashemite Arabs. No one knows when the ruling minority Hashemite Kingdom will be replaced by a hostile fundamentalist regime. It is irresponsible for Israeli leaders to create another state in Judea and Samaria which relies on the long term good will of Jordan. It would also be irresponsible to confuse the identity of Arabs living in Israel by granting them Jordanian citizenship. Jordan was created by the Mandate for Palestine (article 25). The vision of a democratic Jewish State on the entire west bank of the Jordan River and a democratic Arab State on the east bank of the Jordan River should be realized.