The so-called Elon Peace Plan (also formerly "The Right Road to Peace"; now "The Israeli Initiative") is a plan to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through the principles of rehabilitation of Palestinian refugees, Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories (

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and, at the time, the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

), and strategic cooperation with

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, based on Jordan becoming a Palestinian state.

History

The plan was originally proposed in 2002 by then-Israeli tourism minister Rabbi Binyamin Elon. It advocates the formal annexation of

and Gaza by

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, the Palestinians becoming citizens of

, which would become a

Palestinian state Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, collectively known as th ...

, with their final status to be negotiated. The Palestinian refugee camps would be dismantled, and the Palestinian refugees would be fully absorbed into their host countries. Elon and Moledet (Elon's party and the chief supporter of this plan) proposed that "Israel, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the

international community The international community is a term used in geopolitics and international relations to refer to a broad group of people and governments of the world. Usage Aside from its use as a general descriptor, the term is typically used to imply the ...

will allocate resources for the completion of the exchange of populations that began in 1948 and the full rehabilitation of the refugees and their absorption and naturalization in various countries". Elon continued to advance his plan, including a 2004 visit to Jordan for this purpose, but did not manage to win substantial support for it. General public support for Elon and his plan in Israel can be gleaned from his party's election results: the National Union received 5.5% support on the Israeli legislative election of 2003 (which went up to 7.14% in the 2006 election after the party's merger with the National Religious Party). The changing political climate in Israel following the

2006 Lebanon war The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

and the Hamas takeover of the Gaza strip prompted Elon to resume advancing his plan in 2007, complete with a million-dollar advertising campaign, as "The Israeli Initiative – The Right Road for Peace". Similar in principle to his original proposition, this new formulation gave up on the idea of a Palestinian state being formed in Jordan; while it still has Israel annexing the West Bank, it proposes that the Palestinians would become citizens of Jordan and residents of Israel rather than being re-located (though it also advocates providing them with a financial incentive to leave of their own accord). This idea directly opposes the direction taken by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Kadima- Labor coalition, which aims to negotiate with the Palestinians with the ultimate goal of establishing a Palestinian state.

Pro arguments

The case presented by proponents of the plan is that Israel, the Palestinians, Jordan and other moderate Arab states would all benefit from such a solution. Ideally, Israel could see a sharp drop in terrorist attacks and the dissipation of the demographic threat; Millions of Palestinians would turn from refugees to citizens and would be given new economical opportunities; and the abolition of the Palestinian state would prevent an extremist threat to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, while international financial support and increased co-operation with Israel would provide financial growth and opportunities (which, to a lesser degree, applies to other Arab states as well). Republican US Senator and former presidential candidate

Sam Brownback Samuel Dale Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011 and as the List of governors of Kansas, 46th governor of K ...

has expressed support of the plan.

Counter arguments

In an essay titled "The Yamin ight-wingIsrael Plan", Prof. Paul Eidelberg wrote that "Even if he Palestinianswere made Jordanian citizens, as proposed by the otherwise meritorious Elon Plan, it is wishful thinking to believe they will live in peace with the Jews in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza".Eidelberg, Paul (2006)
The Yamin Israel Peace Plan
Based on a policy paper published by the , October 2001

References

External links

The Israeli Initiative – The Right Road to Peace
web site
Full text of the initiative
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173341/http://www.hayozma.org/Download.ashx?ref=7 , date=3 March 2016 ( PDF file)
Official Site of the Moledet Party of Israel

- Article by Moshe Kohn, published 2001 on The Jerusalem Post
Criticism of Elon's Plan
Middle East peace efforts Israeli–Palestinian peace process Jordan in the Arab–Israeli conflict

History

Pro arguments

Counter arguments

See also

References

External links