The Spooks Speak: Former Shin Bet Chiefs Talk of Peace

[Classical_Liberal]

The Spooks Speak: Former Shin Bet Chiefs Talk of Peace

Following are excerpts from a round-table discussion among four former directors of Israel's Shin Bet General Security Service, published November 14 by Yediot Aharonot. The participants: Avraham Shalom (director 1980-1986), Yaakov Peri (1988-1995), Carmi Gillon (1995-96) and Ami Ayalon (1996-2000). All rose through the ranks, except Ayalon, a former Navy commander. The meeting was moderated by Yediot reporters Alex Fishman and Sima Kadmon.

In my opinion, said Ayalon, we are marching steadily toward a place in which the State of Israel will not be a democracy and a Jewish national home. All the rest is commentary.

I agree entirely, said Gillon. And that's what brought me here. I am very worried about our future. I look at my daughters, who are still young, and it's clear to me that we are heading toward disintegration....

Up to this point, said Gillon, the only diplomatic plan formally on the table is the road map. The problem is that all the plans in the last 10 years have been staged plans. The stages were intended to build trust between the sides, and it didn't work. The change that Ayalon and Nusseibeh offer, and likewise, Yossi Beilin's Geneva plan, is to say: Okay, this way failed. Ten years we've tried it, and it hasn't built trust. Now, instead of building trust, let's build agreements. This is a different way to deal with the dispute. Instead of trying to build trust and afterward reach agreements, you reach agreements now, and then you roll the rug backward and start to deal with stages toward reaching an accord............

http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.11.21/news5.shinbet.html