Reserve Major General Amir Eshel, former commander of the Air Force and for the past two years director general of the Ministry of Defense, is without a doubt an officer with a lot of rights and a very serious person. Precisely because of this, the stunning revelation about how he torpedoed one of the most important historical moves of recent years, is surprising and disappointing. Eshel, according to his words to Laban Caspit last week, thwarted a step equivalent to American recognition of Jerusalem.
To understand the serious damage caused, you have to go back almost three years, to January 2020. After two years of preparations, and another year of postponement due to the Israeli elections, the Trump administration decided to launch the "Plan of the Century" to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
It was the most creative, detailed and best political plan ever.
Among other things, it determined that Israel would receive large areas in Judea and Samaria.
And "no person will be uprooted from his home", wrote Jared Kushner, the then ambassador David Friedman and their people.
For the first time an American administration made a proposal that did not endanger Israel's security.
Eshel, by the way, agrees that according to him he told President Trump, "We must have the plan implemented."
An accompanying step to the plan was American agreement to immediately apply Israeli law in those areas of the West Bank, which the Americans believe will in any case be handed over to Israel at the end of the road.
This step was prematurely agreed between Kushner, Friedman and Netanyahu.
It was about half of area C, including the Jordan Valley and all the Jewish settlements.
These areas, in the opinion of most Israelis and most of the senior members of the security establishment in the past and present, are essential to Israel's security.
The second half of Area C was supposed to be discussed in future negotiations between the parties, if the Palestinians meet a series of strict conditions such as the cessation of incitement and corruption, a connection between the West Bank and Gaza, and a transition to democratic norms. "They got a state on the moon," the ambassador summed it up in my ears Friedman.
Berks to Netanyahu
On January 28, 2020, the program was launched at the White House.
Trump said in a speech that the American recognition of what was then called the "annexation" would be "immediate", and that a committee would also be established to draw the exact lines of the areas of application of sovereignty.
Immediately afterwards, Netanyahu informed the journalists who accompanied him that the government would make the decision at its next meeting.
Except then, a blow to the face.
Netanyahu is still talking, and Jared Kushner is saying the exact opposite to the American media.
Contrary to the agreement with Netanyahu, Kushner explained that the step would be taken only after the Israeli elections, which were intended to take place about two months later.
Kushner put Netanyahu in a very difficult situation.
The prime minister's briefing turned out to be a farce.
He was once again exposed as a liar.
The historic trip to Washington failed.
The sovereignty melted in his hands.
Israel's agreement to the plan was intended to allow the Palestinians to say to the Palestinians, "Now it's our turn for normalization."
Eshel and Gantz killed this move.
Only Netanyahu's adherence to sovereignty finally gave birth, almost miraculously, to the "Abraham Accords"
To this day it was not understood why Kushner actually lied to Netanyahu.
In his book, he claims that the move to sovereignty was not part of the plan and was not aimed at it.
But his version does not agree with what all the other actors are saying, nor with the words of Trump, who emphasized in his speech that the American recognition of sovereignty will be "immediate" as stated - and two months, you will agree with me, is not "immediate".
Eshel, in an interview with Caspit, provides the missing link.
According to him, he was the one who told Kushner that the sovereignty move should not be carried out.
Then he convinced Benny Gantz, who served as his advisor, to pressure the Americans to stop the move.
At the time, Gantz faced Netanyahu head-to-head for the prime ministership.
The Americans were careful about his honor, because they feared being portrayed as meddling in Israeli politics.
That is why he was invited, with Eshel, to the White House.
Eshel's claim was that if sovereignty is implemented immediately, "the plan will die... No Arab ruler will agree to Israel immediately collecting its share in cash without giving anything in return. No one will be able to support Israel receiving cash and the Palestinians a credit that will never be repaid." He told "Maariv".
know how to take
When he said these things to Kushner, the latter replied that he had spoken with the Arab rulers and received their consent.
But Eshel stood his ground.
His words permeated and probably caused Kushner to hit the brakes.
And here is the big miss.
Because the unfortunate implication is that the conception and opposition of former senior officials in the Israeli security establishment denied Israel a historic step that they also believed would have been good for it.
Because in retrospect, the one who caused the program to die was a fool himself.
From the moment the sovereignty move was announced, the "vision of the century" followed the path of many previous American programs lying in the archives.
Only this time it is a unique program for the good of Israel.
Second, Eshel's reasoning that "the Arab rulers will resist" is disappointing.
"Give it to you? Take it."
Why do you, honorable general, have to step into the shoes of Arab rulers?
Kushner told you he talked to them and took their word for it.
Why do you, without having talked to them about the issue, have to be smarter than the Prime Minister, the White House peace team and the Arab rulers themselves?
Thirdly, the whole essence of the "Plan of the Century", as explained by both Kushner and the Israeli ambassador at the time in Washington, Ron Dermer, was a ladder to bring the Gulf closer to Israel.
This rapprochement was possible, because the Palestinian issue sank to the bottom of the Arab countries' agenda.
This is how it came out of every conversation, direct or indirect, between them and us.
In 2019, I heard a senior Bahraini cursing the Palestinians with unimaginable words.
If so, he agreed to tell an Israeli journalist, before the Avraham Agreements, think in your mind what he thought about himself.
I mean, when Eshel pretended to say what Arab rulers would say, there's a good chance he missed.
Fourth, contrary to his words, Israel did commit to concessions as part of the Trump plan.
Netanyahu agreed to a Palestinian state and in fact to give up half of Area C. The evidence that even on the right there was opposition to the plan, i.e. the general's claim that "Israel does not give anything in return", is simply not true.
And this was also the plan for the entire move. Israel's agreement to the plan, which is indeed good for it but also involves concessions, was intended to allow the Palestinians and others to say to the Palestinians, "Here we have made sure that you get your share from the Americans and Israel.
Now it's our turn to normalize with it." Eshel and Gantz, unfortunately, killed this move before it was born. Only Netanyahu's adherence to sovereignty finally gave birth, almost miraculously, to the Abraham Accords.
Fifth, Eshel claimed that his position was professional and not political.
But it is clear that he caused heavy political damage to Netanyahu, and it is possible that he did not win the third election in March 2020 because of this. What is certain is that he involved him in a very serious political crisis.
It's a shame that it was a crisis made by a champion in Israel.
Not for the first time it turns out that our generals understand security, but in the political world they break arms and legs.
were we wrong
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