(Los Angeles Times) Dore Gold - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent statement that Israel can't defend itself with borders drawn along pre-1967 lines has been questioned in certain foreign policy circles. These critics have noted that Israel successfully fought two wars, in 1956 and in 1967, while based within those borders. True, Israel won in 1967, but the war also pointed out the country's many vulnerabilities. In the years following the war, the main advocate for creating new boundaries to replace the fragile lines from before 1967 was Yigal Allon, then Israel's deputy prime minister. Allon had commanded the Palmach, the elite strike units of the Jewish forces, in the 1948 war that created Israel. Under the Allon plan, Israel would include much of the Jordan Valley within its border. Because it rises from an area that was roughly 1,200 feet below sea level up a steep incline to mountaintops that are 2,000 to 3,000 feet above sea level, it serves as a formidable line of defense that would enable a small Israeli force to hold off much large conventional armies, giving Israel time to mobilize its reserves. Control of the Jordan Valley also allowed Israel to prevent the smuggling of the same kind of weaponry to the West Bank that has been entering Gaza: rockets, antiaircraft missiles and tons of explosives for terrorist attacks. Israeli vulnerability has regional implications. Should the great Jordan Valley barrier that protected Israel for more than 40 years no longer remain in Israeli hands, then the Kingdom of Jordan will become an increasingly attractive forward position for jihadi groups seeking to link up with Hamas to wage war against Israel. In October 1995, Yitzhak Rabin made clear to the Knesset that Israel would not withdraw to the 1967 line. He insisted on keeping Jerusalem united. And, like his mentor Yigal Allon, Rabin stressed that Israel would hold on to the Jordan Valley "in the widest sense of that term." The writer, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, is president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
2011-06-06 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive