European Transfer Force, by David Bedein (Israel National News)
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A freshman member of the Israeli Knesset, Professor Shlomo Breznitz of the Kadima party, has offered a plan that would hand over the administration of Judea, Samaria and Gaza to a European task force, until the establishment of a Palestinian state. The plan would involve destroying most of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, as Jewish communities were destroyed in the Katif sector of Gaza and in northern Samaria in a matter of less than two weeks during August of 2005.
Breznitz, 70, a professor of psychology who specializes in situations of stress, couches his plan in friendly terms such as “realignment” and “settler relocation” into the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria that will not be demolished – even though there is a freeze on all new housing in all Jewish communities there.
Breznitz is considered a close associate of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The Olmert couple often spends their vacations with the Breznitzes, and the prime minister often consults Prof. Shlomo.
“The only way to get out of the impasse is to transfer the territories, for a limited time, to an international mandate, that will run them until the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Breznitz told Maariv, whose plan was presented at the Herzliya Conference on security matters that is held each year in Israel.
Breznitz’s proposal refers to international involvement like that which led to stability being restored in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where a European task force is in place.
According to Breznitz’s proposal, this step, which he calls an “international greenhouse,” would be led by the European community, not the United States. Because of its involvement in Iraq, the US “has lost its status as an honest broker in the view of the Palestinians and the Arab states.”
He proposes that Israel gradually leave most areas of Judea and Samaria, and that most of the settlements be evacuated based on the format that was proposed on the eve of elections in the Realignment Plan. The Israeli army would be replaced by a European task force numbering tens of thousands of soldiers.
The proposal calls for the presence of a European task force in the territories that is not limited in time, and it would end its role only after its goals were met. He stressed that this is not a solution that would be forced on the Palestinians and that its implementation would be dependent on their consent. He noted, “I have reason to believe, and I don’t want to expand on this, that the Palestinians will support the proposal. Ambassadors and diplomatic representatives from European countries who were shown the proposal also believe that, without international help, it will not be possible to resolve the conflict.”
Background of the European Task Force
On December 1, 2003, this reporter interviewed European Parliamentarian Graham Watson, who made a presentation concerning the future role of a European task force in the Middle East at the Geneva Initiative Conference. This was a gathering that was organized by Israeli opposition leader Yossi Beilin, the former Israeli deputy minister of foreign affairs who also conceptualized Israel’s unilateral surrender of territories during the Oslo process between 1993 and 1995, and Israel’s withdrawal in the year 2000 from southern Lebanon.
MP Watson presented the concept of the European Task Force, relying on the Bosnian model. MP Watson explained that the European Task Force saw its role as the exclusive protector of the Palestinian Arab entity, and that any and all Israeli presence beyond the 1967 lines would be viewed by the European Task Force as illegal and criminal in nature. MP Watson was adamant that no Israeli incursion into Palestinian areas patrolled by the European Task Force would be tolerated, and a European Task Force would play an active role in the dismantlement of Jewish communities established by Israel since 1967 – including in Jerusalem.
MP Watson mentioned the Bosnian experience, where troops of a European task force had dismantled and relocated people who had been living in homes and communities for more than 40 years. This relocation was done by force.
It will be instructive to determine if MK Breznitz knows that the proposed European Task Force may not be an entity that is friendly to Israel.