June 2, 2011 Former Mossad Head Attacks Netanyahu Government

The news in Israel today was dominated by the speech given by the former head of the Mossad, Meir Degan. The speech had two major elements; the first, a warning against a military attack on Iran, which Degan seemed to indicate is under serious consideration by the government. Degan made clear that while he did not believe in removing the possibility of a military strike from the agenda, it should be used only as the last possible resort. Degan added that Israel might know how to begin a war with Iran, however it did not know how to end it. Furthermore, a military strike could only delay the Iranian program by a few years; not stop it. After the strike, he went on, Iran would certainly consider Israel a legitimate target for a relataliatory attack. Second, Degan criticized the failure of the government to come forth with any realistic peace plan. He compared the government's current position, and its lack of actions, to Israel just prior to the Yom Kippur War. This was a very troubling speech by someone in the know.

Two articles that are worth while, the best one, by Ari Shavit in today's Haaretz, entitled: There Will be No Peace With the Palestinians. This article does an excellent job of "telling it like it is." A friend asked me last week shouldn't Israel be doing more for peace? After all, isn't there a great opportunity for peace now? I answered, and believe as Shavit does, that there is little chance for peace, for there is not chance that an empowered Arab world is going to accept a peace agreement that both Arafat and Abbas walked away from. However, it is for that very reason that the policies of the Israeli government over the past two years (and especially over the past few months) have been so disastrous. This was the time to call the Palestinian bluff; and once again offer them most of what they claim to want, in return for their full accepting of Israel's legitimacy and finding an alternative to the return of the Refugees to Israel. They will never accept that deal. Unfortunately, the world will not remember the Palestinian refusals; they will be too busy remembering the demands Netanyahu made, instead of the accomodations he might have offered.

The other article was today posting by Donniel Hartman A Moment to Breathe and Act