The following is IMRA's translation of Sharansky letter to PM Barak detailing Israel's offer:
Minister of the Interior
Jerusalem
30 May 2000
Mr. Ehud Barak
Prime Minister and Minister of Defense
Jerusalem
Mr. Prime Minister,
In the last few days disturbing news has reached me regarding agreements, that you made or were made in your name, within the framework of the negotiations with representatives of the Palestinian Authority, in the current round of negotiations.
It pains me that you do not tend to share the developments in the negotiations with the members of the government or at least the members of the security cabinet and the heads of the parties that are coalition partners. So I am forced to learn about these developments from personal friends.
From my sources I learn the following things:
A. Jerusalem
B. Judea and Samaria
C. Border and border passages
D. Refugees
From the agreement being developed a dangerous reality is being created according to which Israel relinquishes, in advance, all of its assets without insisting on the setting of the final status of Jerusalem, the refugees and the borders.
Honorable Prime Minister, just as the struggle for the independence of Israel, that reached its peak in the Six Day Way, strengthened the people of Israel and deepened the feeling of its identification with its State, so, to my sorrow, the developing agreement, instead of increasing these feelings, will challenge the standing of Israel and turn it into a state that relies on the benevolence of the nations of the world. There is no doubt that this change will effect the standing of the Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora, weaken the people, and reduce their ability to identify with the State.
This is a dangerous process and I believe that the overwhelming majority of the Jewish people living in Zion and outside of it cannot agree to it.
In light of this, I ask for an urgent meeting of the security cabinet to consider the matter. Likewise, I ask to raise the matter at the next cabinet meeting.
Regards, Natan Sharansky
Copy:
Minister David Levy, Foreign Minister
Minister Eli Yishai, Chairman Shas Movement
Minister Yosef Sarid, Chairman Meretz Party
Minister Yitzchak Levy, Chairman NRP
Minister Amnon Lipkin Shahak, Center Party
MK Dan Merridor, Chairman Foreign and Security Committee
Added note:
...Not newsworthy enough to make the Israeli press?!
Thirty U.S. Jewish leaders signed a statement backing Israeli Interior
Minister Natan Sharansky's recent public warning against Israel's making
one- sided concessions to the Palestinians. The signers included two past
chairmen of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish
Organizations, and past or present leaders of such groups as the
Anti-Defamation League, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the
Zionist Organization of America.
Sharansky threatens to resign over concessions to Palestinians -- article from the Jerusalem Post
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