Peace for Peace, not Land For Peace

Nearly seventeen years ago, and during the Madrid Conference for Peace, the then-Israeli Prime Ministry, Yitzhak Shamir, responded to the Arab Initiative of Land For Peace, by saying “Peace For Peace”, a small statement which carried huge and dangerous dimensions.

Yithak Shamir

Translated & Edited By Saed Bannoura - IMEMCWith this statement, Shamir told the Arab world, and the Arab leaders, that he rejects the Arab initiative, and that he offers them his own “peace” rather than the peace they are offering.

He was telling them that Israel is now a strong country, not only military-wise, therefore the Arabs “need his peace more than he needs theirs”.

In 1953, only three years after Israel was created, it managed to establish its own nuclear reactor in the Negev, which is a miraculous thing that should enlist Israel in the “Guinness World Records”!

Meanwhile, there is no Arab country that has weapons similar or even close to the weapons Israel obtained, and the United States is leading a campaign against Iran for attempting to obtain nuclear power.

The United States is also attempting to dismantle the nuclear reactors in North Korea, and is also threatening Libya for “thinking about this power”.   

Shamir wanted to tell the Arab world that the power of Israel is not only a military power, but also agricultural, industrial, economical and even on the “spying level”..

He wanted to tell the Arab world that if they even think about “harming Israel” they will be dealt with like the US dealt with Iraq,  the only country which “dared to fire missiles at Israel and its reactor”.

Another sample of the Israeli “peace” is the recent promise of the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, who vowed to released 250 Fateh detainees, and to release 600 million US dollars of Palestinian Tax revenue Israel withheld since the election of Hamas.

But he managed to withdraw his promise without even hearing any demand that he should fulfill it, he will stick to his own “goodwill intension, in his own way”.

Olmert is a “good student of Shamir”, he is telling the Arabs and the Palestinians “You should be thankful that I promised to transfer the money, even if I didn’t actually do it”.

He is ongoing with the assassinations and invasions, and still ongoing with the massive abduction of the Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Yet, Arab leaders and officials are always rushing to meet with him and shake his hands, and they always rate their meeting with him as “Positive” although nothing changes on the ground.

Ehud Olmert