U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt's call for peace that ran in Israel Hayom on Monday was greeted by skepticism from the public and politicians. Many years of failed attempts at peace talks have led to a lack of faith in the process and the reasonable idea that it's all lip service. But anyone who sees how processes can start as feelers being sent out and end in a disaster like the Oslo Accords disaster is worried.
The concern is over temporary envoys who make their short-term mission into their life's work and strive for a deal at any price. Like the Oslo Accords teams, who started with the "Gaza-Jericho first" agreement and even now haven't given up their dream of a two-state solution despite the 1,700 killed and thousands wounded in terrorist attacks that started as soon as the Palestinian Authority took hold in 1993.
It's not certain that Greenblatt is one of these, but his call to the public to support a peace plan, some of whose tenets have been leaked, requires a "travel warning" before we allow his ship of dreams to weigh anchor and sail off with parts of the Land of Israel that have been sold off at bargain prices.
People will say, "It's just talk, what's so bad?" Our predecessors as well as rabbis of the recent generation – including the Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson – warned that even talking about compromises and concessions was, in effect, the beginning of us fleeing the country. Just like what happened with the Oslo Accords 25 years ago. The process couldn't be stopped even though the agreements were repeatedly violated.
Now it's time to up Israel's deterrence power, not nibble away at the country. We've given away more than enough. All the territory we've conceded to the Palestinians has turned into lands of terrorism. No more!
And the new idea, a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation in Judea and Samaria? The attempt to bring the Jordanians into the Palestinian mess will make an enemy of a country that is currently cooperating with us under the radar. If they are brought into Samaria and Judea, we are dragging them into the next round of conflict with the Palestinians, and that would be a completely different kettle of defense fish. Jordan has a well-ordered Western army with 111,000 soldiers, and a Western air force that has already taken action against Israel.
Have no doubt: In a crisis between us and the Palestinians, Jordan (most of whose citizens are Palestinian) will stand by its Palestinian brothers in Judea and Samaria. Do we need Jordan to be another enemy, like it was in the past?
The past shows what will happen in the future: Since Israel was established, our Jordanian neighbor has hosted terrorists who set out to perpetrate attacks in Israel. For years, Jordan allowed Fatah to shoot at the communities around Beit Shean in the Jordan Valley. Even today, Jordan hosts terrorists, both willingly and unwillingly. This is why there is a travel warning about Jordan for Israelis. More proof? Former Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal was living in Jordan until the Mossad tried (and failed) to assassinate him. To free the Mossad agents who fell captive in Jordan after that operation, we were forced to pay Jordan in the form of releasing mass murderer Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who immediately upon being freed from prison started organizing suicide bombings that killed hundreds of Israelis.
We recall King Hussein coming to Beit Shemesh to console the families of the seven girls who were murdered by a Jordanian soldier, who shot them on the Island of Peace at Naharayim. We were all moved. But the killer himself has already been released from prison. Are the Jordanians our allies? We shouldn't test them by forcing them to choose between the Jews and their own people.
