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Dangers Awaiting Israel from the Road Map Process - Interview with Former Mossad Head Ephraim Halevy
(Jerusalem Post) David Horovitz - * If Abu Mazen succeeds, with the help of the Egyptians and others, in bringing down the level of violence over a period of time - a period of several months - it will be very difficult for Israel to say that this is unacceptable. There will be pressure on Israel to begin negotiating within the confines of the road map - even though, technically speaking, the steps that were taken in order to [reduce violence] were not exactly the steps which were outlined in the road map. * I have maintained from the outset that the road map was an aberration. It is based not only on UN Resolutions 242 and 338, it also mentions the Saudi initiative and other resolutions. The road map itself was approved by the Security Council....It is not only accepted by the parties, but is the official document which is the basis for the future. And the fact that Israel has reservations on "14 points" is immaterial. The 14 points were not accepted even by the United States. * The ultimate judgment of whether Stage A or Stage B [of the road map] has been obtained is in the hands of the Quartet, not in the hands of the parties. This is the beginning of an imposed solution. The whole structure of the road map creates an international forum which sort of adjudicates, it doesn't just monitor, the situation. * The concept of the unilateral disengagement as it was presented was that unilateral disengagement would create a new situation which would last for some time, the assumption being that the parties were not ripe for final status negotiations.