Outgoing National Security Council Chief Giora Eiland told
Ha'aretz in an interview the disengagement from the
Gaza Strip was "a missed opportunity of historical
proportions." Gen. (Res.) Eiland is ending his term after two-
and-a-half years, to be replaced by former Mossad Deputy
Chief Ilan Mizrachi.
Eiland also said, "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Convergence
Plan will not bring stability to the Middle East. A solution
of two states between the Jordan and the sea cannot be
implemented in a way that would ensure regional stability."
Eiland believes all of the strategic decisions Israel made
regarding the Palestinians, from the peace treaty with Egypt
through the Disengagement Plan, have been flawed. He proposed
an alternative plan that would include territorial exchanges
with Egypt and Jordan.
MK Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz (UTJ) sent a letter to MK Tzachi
Hanegbi (Kadima) requesting a meeting of the Knesset Foreign
Affairs and Security Committee to discuss Eiland's remarks.
"In the interview Eiland lodges piercing criticism of the
Disengagement Plan, the way strategic security decisions have
been made in recent years in Israel, and even claims the
Convergence Plan as it currently appears would bring about
the collapse of Israeli society and threats such as rocket
fire on Jerusalem, etc.," writes Rabbi Ravitz. "In my opinion
this is a political-security bombshell and I ask that the
issue be raised for discussion in the committee plenum as
soon as possible. I also request that Prime Minister Mr. Ehud
Olmert, Defense Minister Mr. Amir Peretz and Gen. (Res.)
Giora Eiland be summoned to this discussion."
MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) then announced he would contact Foreign
Affairs and Security Committee Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi to
demand he summon Eiland to the committee meeting to assess
the faulty handling of security matters by Israeli
governments. MK Cohen says, "Such significant steps cannot be
taken without a serious debate and without looking at the
alternatives and the anticipated results. Only the Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee can conduct a serious debate on
the subject and dictate to the government how to build a
strategy."
Following Eiland's remarks on the Disengagement and its
inherent dangers Atty. Yossi Fuchs, a leader of the legal
battle against the Disengagement, is weighing the possibility
of turning to the State Comptroller or the High Court to
demand it examine how the legal system concealed Eiland's
critical stances from the High Court judges when the petition
against the Disengagement was pending and avoided submitting
a security declaration based on the pretext the diplomatic
consideration was sufficient basis for the decision.
Yisrael Beiteinu Chairwoman MK Esterina Tratman said, "The
Disengagement was a fundamental mistake. The direct outcome,
the Convergence, is another mistake whose future we can only
speculate on and which appears far graver. No longer Sederot
and southern towns but Jerusalem and Netanya will be under
daily fire."
MK Professor Aryeh Eldad (HaIchud HaLeumi) said, "Olmert is
repeating the mistakes of the Disengagement Plan and is
selling another [plan] to the goyim before the Jews have
thought about it. I have no doubt Ahmadinejad would welcome
the Convergence as well. The National Security Council must
lead an orderly process of debate and conclusions before
Olmert commits to the world to [advance] a disastrous
plan."
