Sinai Option – the Road to Permanent Peace!
by Steven Shamrak
Not long ago, most parts of the Middle East, including the area designated later as the British Mandate of Palestine and the entire Sinai Peninsula, were desolate, arid landmasses, not belonging to any country. It was a no man’s land with which Jews had an unbroken spiritual and historical bond for 2000 years!
After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War 1, the League of Nations created a Mandate system, appointing new masters, Britain and France. This laid the foundations of the current Arab-Israel conflict!
Trans-Jordan was the part of the Palestinian Mandate which was allocated for the creation of a Jewish state in 1922, in accordance with the Balfour Declaration. Its separation from the Mandate was an illegal act! Unfortunately, the dominant imperial powers, Britain and France, who controlled the League of Nations, used it to rubber-stamp their shady deals at the time.
As a result of the deal, Britain secured financial interests in the Suez Canal; Sinai was illegally given to Egypt by the British with the permission of King Hussein of Hejaz and Nejd, now Saudi Arabia. In return, Britain transferred control of the land east of the river Jordan to Abdullah, son of Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca. Control of the Golan Heights was ceded to the French-run Syrian Mandate. In exchange, the United Kingdom got control of newly discovered oil fields in Kirkuk.
The creation of a united Arab kingdom, Caliphate, and the Jewish state was proposed and accepted by both Arab and Jewish leaders over 100 years ago! This would bring permanent peace to Jews and Arabs, who could then live with dignity in their own countries.
Britain, France, and the League of Nations have deliberately sabotaged, ignored, and disallowed this. The United Nations has been artificially keeping this ugly status quo!
Since its independence, Israel has fought many wars with its Arab neighbours; signed numerous cease-fires (so-called Hudnas - temporary "calm" or "quiet"), and even peace agreements. All those efforts have not brought about any permanent solution to the endless terror Israeli/Jewish society has been enduring daily.
The Sinai option – the transfer of all the so-called Palestinians from the land that used to be called the “Palestinian Mandate” to the Sinai Peninsula – is the Road to Permanent Peace!
The Sinai option will separate the two entirely incompatible communities, and will create an environment conducive to the development of a new nation totally independent of Israel.
1. The Sinai Peninsula is a contiguous land which is comparable in size to the entire Palestinian Mandate: Israel, Gaza, Judea, Samaria, Golan Heights, and Jordan!
2. It will provide so-called Palestinians with a contiguous landmass. Isn’t that what the PA is demanding?
3. It will give Arabs full territorial, financial, military, political, and religious control over the land and its natural resources, as well as their population. There will be no dependency on Israel!
4. The new entity will be accountable for its actions in accordance with international law.
5. Israel will be able to securely control its border with the new state, and keep it accountable for any terror activity.
6. All anti-Israel terrorist organisations and supporting population will be removed from the Jewish lands.
This plan is also relatively easy to implement.
Several years ago, during the breakout of violence on the Sinai border with Egypt, almost half of Gaza’s population went to Sinai and came back in just two days. This is proof that the Sinai Option can be swiftly implemented by Israel when an opportunity presents itself!
1. There are only around 250,000 people living in the Sinai today, predominantly Bedouins.
2. The SINAI OPTION will resolve the so-called Palestinian refugee question, as they can be easily re-settled in the Sinai. (Note: Over 70% of Jordan’s population is so-called Palestinians - others are decedents of the refuges from Saudi Arabia.)
3. For many decades (over 70 years) the international community has been wasting/spending billions of dollars on the maintenance of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The SINAI OPTION offers the opportunity for investment in the permanent resolution of the conflict. Those billions of dollars can be productively used to establish a homeland for so-called Palestinian refugees and will be available to alleviate the suffering of many real refugees over the world!
4. Population transfers were successfully implemented before and after the adoption of the Fourth Geneva Convention resolution, 1949. In fact, Israel is the only country this resolution is targeting - to prevent the transfer of the fake Palestinian population from Jewish land after the War of Independence!
5. It will create investment opportunities and would be of great benefit to Egypt, as well as a financial bonanza for those Palestinians who are currently living in Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and Jordan.
6. It will improve the lifestyle and living conditions, and bring peace, stability, and prosperity not just to so-called Palestinians, but to the entire Middle East region – including the Arabs states and the people of Israel!
This will be the beginning of the process of ending the occupation of Jewish land by enemies, and establishing true and permanent peace in Israel - free of terror! The new entity can be either part of Egypt or becomes another independent state.
The plan can be implemented humanely and gradually under the supervision of the international community or Israel can execute it unilaterally by force when the Arab enemies of the Jewish state start the next war or commit a hideous act of terror against the Israeli population. Israel must be ready to implement the SINAI OPTION at any time!
This is the only way toward permanent peace in the region and fulfilment of the 2000-year-old commandment and inspiration of Jewish people – the return to the G-d given land of our ancestors!
The International community and Arab and Muslim countries insist that they want peace in the Middle East! Why don’t they even want to hear about this alternative plan?