Two NSC Chairmen: Sharon Makes Decisions Without Proper Preparation
Excerpts:
“As someone who conducted the negotiations with the United Nations ahead of the withdrawal from Lebanon and was involved in talks preceding the Mitchell, Tenet and Zinni reports, [National Security Council (NSC) chairman Giora] Eiland has an interesting perspective on the Israeli leadership. ‘The decision-makers here prefer the bottom line to a proper process of preparation for negotiations – including examining the basic assumptions, defining your interests and mapping out those of the rival parties, formulating minimal objectives and determining the negotiation tactics.’”
:Ephraim Halevy, Eiland’s predecessor at the NSC and the former head of the Mossad espionage agency, has difficulty hiding his regrets over the abandonment of the foundations of Israel’s security policy and strategy, for which he blames people he calls ‘the prime minister’s emissaries,’ hinting at attorney Dov Weissglas. Halevy singles out two far-reaching decisions made during Sharon’s term of office. One is an offhand change made in the historic position that Israel does not place its security in the hands of foreigners – especially not in the hands of Europeans and, more particularly, in those of the Arabs (other than in the framework of peace arrangements and interim accords such as those concerning the multinational force in the Sinai and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.”
“The second topic that raises Halevy’s blood pressure is the road map plan…”