“This is a secret emergency meeting, and not a word of it is to be leaked. Our function is to prepare the armed forces for war in the event that it becomes necessary to defend Israel against armed attack. For 46 years now we have been depleting our strength by sending our soldiers to preserve the Occupation regime. Instead of preparing soldiers for what they are supposed to do – to defend Israel – we are wasting our forces by running after stone-throwing children, sitting at checkpoints and pulling children out of their beds in the middle of the night. We are producing soldiers who are police, not fighters. We are not fulfilling our role. It was not by chance that we were beaten to one degree or another in our last three wars: the Yom Kippur War and the two Lebanon Wars.
“We have an irresponsible government that is leading us toward the abyss. I do not seek justice for the Palestinians but what is good for Israel. And the best thing for Israel is to get rid of the Occupied Territories and go back to building an army that will be able to fight should the need arise. The money that is invested in holding onto the Territories is money that is not available to us to build a well-equipped professional army. Keeping the territories sets us on a path of confrontation with the entire Arab and Muslim worlds, which will oblige us to use the doomsday weapon, the use of which will boomerang against us and cause the destruction of Israel. In order to save Israel, we need to set up a Government of National Emergency under our leadership.
“Here is the plan I envision, in broad strokes, and I will welcome your comments. On Sunday, when the Government is convening for its weekly meeting, we will secure all the strategic points in the country. A General Staff officer will enter the cabinet room and inform the ministers that from that moment on the Government will be suspended and the ministers will be under house arrest until further notice. The Knesset will be dissolved until new elections can be held. All the communications media will be temporarily nationalized and put under the control of the military censor and the IDF Spokesman. In the West Bank the settlers will be barred from leaving the settlements and they will be confined to their homes until it is decided otherwise. Cells of five soldiers under the command of an officer will collect the settlers’ weapons. To the extent that there are disturbances of the peace or demonstrations, they will be firmly suppressed with riot-control methods (we have accumulated experience in such things, thank God). We will not hesitate to round up inciters and disturbers of the peace and house them in detention camps in the Negev. I have talked to the General Commissioner of the Israel Police and the heads of the Israel Security Agency and the Mossad and they have promised to cooperate.
“After we have stabilized our control, we will address the Palestinian Authority and tell them: we come in peace. We are freezing all construction in the settlements and East Jerusalem. Our differences are well-known and can be bridged. Let us begin intensive negotiations that will continue non-stop until the white smoke is released. A peace agreement that includes compromises on both sides will be based on the following principles: a Palestinian state based on the Green Line borders will be established. There will be small border adjustments with exchanges of territory on a one-to-one basis. Jerusalem will be the shared capital of both states. The settlements that remain within the Palestinian state will be subject to Palestinian law, and the settlers who prefer to remain within the Palestinian state will obey the laws of that state. The thousands of settlers who decide to return to Israel will be housed temporarily in transit camps similar to the ones that housed the masses of immigrants who came to Israel in the 1950s, until a permanent solution is found for them. The Holy Basin [1] will be put under international control which will ensure freedom of access and worship for all religions. All the lands that were confiscated by the Israeli military administration and/or the settlements will be returned to their owners. The Palestinian state will be divested of offensive weapons, and Israel will commit to respecting its independence. No Israeli army will remain within its borders, and in order to guarantee the agreement, an international force will be deployed along the Jordan River and along the border between the two states.

“Israel will be willing to recognize the injustice that was done to the Palestinians, and contribute its share to an international compensation fund that will be established in order to compensate them for their suffering and the loss of their property. As a goodwill gesture Israel will absorb an agreed-upon number of refugees, who will not change the national character of Israel. Bear in mind that we will be reducing the Arab population of Israel by 300,000 when East Jerusalem becomes part of the Palestinian state. In return, the Palestinian Authority will recognize the right of Israel’s citizens to self-determination. It will be agreed that the right of return will not include Israel within the Green Line, and it will be realized within the borders of the Palestinian state.

“The Separation Wall will be taken down as part of the process of dissolving the state of hostility. The border will be open, the two states will encourage and develop tourism on both sides of the border. There will be economic cooperation on a basis of equality. Rail lines will be built between the two states and between them and their neighbours. Israel will turn over the Population Registry to the Palestinian state, and undertake to delete it from its records. All the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons will be freed. Israelis will have to get used to images that will be painful to them, as people who they see as terrorists and murderers are greeted with mass outpourings of joy as heroes of liberation by the other side. The two states will commit to resolving all disagreements through negotiations under the aegis of the Quartet or any other international institution that both sides agree upon.

“I may have omitted one detail or another, but these are the outlines of the agreement as I see them,” added the Chief of Staff. And he continued: “upon the signing of the agreement, it will be submitted as it is for ratification in a referendum. No propaganda, for or against, will be permitted. It will be made available in all the communications media and the people will decide if they agree or not. I assume,” continued the Chief of Staff, “that the majority of the people will understand the meaning of the agreement, the horizons it opens, an end to the wars and peace with the Arab and Muslim worlds. After the agreement is ratified, a provisional civilian government will be established, composed of non-controversial figures who are trusted by the public, and it will prepare the elections. The elections will be free, open to all parties and by secret ballot. The Knesset that is elected will form the Government, and we will submit our resignation.” Thus the Chief of Staff concluded his speech.