RAMALLAH: The Israeli defense establishment has urged the government to make contingency plans to attack Iran, reach peace with Syria that includes leaving the strategic Golan Heights and prevent new Palestinian elections, at all costs, even at the expense of a row with the US.
The report said that the defense officials will present the paper to the Cabinet next month as part of the National Security Council’s annual situation assessment.
The document warned that in 2009, Israel may find itself facing a nuclear Iran virtually alone, following a rapprochement between the United States, Iran and the Arab world that would also undermine Israel’s military superiority.
“Iran’s threat to Israel’s survival” is at the top of the paper’s list of threats, followed by the “strategic threat” of long-range missiles and rockets owned by various countries in the region.
“Israel faces these threats almost alone,” the paper said. “It is imperative to mobilize the international community and obtain regional cooperation. The new American administration is an opportunity to do this.
The paper said Israel has a limited “window” in which to act before Iran obtains nuclear arms and regional hegemony. Israel must therefore establish a military option against Iran, in case other countries abandon the struggle. The defense establishment advised the Cabinet to “work discreetly on contingency plans to deal with a nuclear Iran.”
It also recommended close cooperation with the US to prevent a deal between Washington and Tehran that would undermine Israel’s interests. The paper warned that after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ term ends on Jan. 9, 2009, he might “disappear” from the political arena. That could cause the PA to disintegrate, which would increase the risk of the two-state solution being taken off the table.
Due to this possibility, coupled with the fear that Hamas might win a new election, the paper recommended “preventing elections in the PA, even at the cost of a confrontation with the US and the international community.”
