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October 17, 2003/Tishri 21 5764, Vol. 56, No. 4
'Road map' alternatives
AMY KLEIN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - While thousands of Christian tourists danced through Jerusalem's streets during the annual Christian Feast of Tabernacles parade, on the holiday of Sukkot, a group of well-funded neoconservatives were gathering on the other side of Israel's capital for the first annual "Jerusalem Summit."
The three-day conference, which ended Oct. 14, united right-wing thinkers, activists and journalists primarily from the United States and Israel. Organizers hope the conference will help launch a new umbrella group aimed at providing an alternative to the "road map" peace plan and supporting a harder line against terrorism in Israel.
"The only way to fight terror is without political restraints," Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the meeting. Dismissing the road map, the former Jerusalem mayor said Israel must "decide on a unilateral process - based on what we want."
The conference was plan-ned to coincide with the Christian celebration of Feast of Tabernacles. Every year, more than 3,000 Christians come to Israel on Sukkot to express their support for the Jewish state and walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
"Jewish people remind the world that they are ac-countable to God," Rev. Malcolm Hedding, executive director of the International Christian Embassy of Jeru-salem, said at the Jerusalem Summit. Hedding's group, which is staunchly pro-Israel, sponsored the Tabernacle celebrations.
The summit conference underscored the growing ties between evangelical Christians and conservative Jews, and the meeting in Jerusalem included multifaceted representation from the right.
There was Middle East analyst Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum and member of the U.S. Institute for Peace, who advocates resuming peace negotiations when the Palestinians halt terrorism. There was one-time presidential candidate and former U.N. ambassador Alan Keyes, who says Israel should secure its victory over Arab terrorists through military means.
Israeli speakers included Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Tourism Min-ister Benny Elon and Cabinet member Uzi Landau. Several foreign government officials also were in attendance.
"President Bush missed a unique opportunity to imple-ment the June 24 doctrine," Pentagon advisor Richard Perle, a member of the National Defense Council, told the audience Oct. 14.
"The point of the June 24 speech was that the demo-cratization of the Palestinian side is a precondition, and the road map confuses that," said Perle.
The ideology of the con-ference, which had been in the planning for a year and a half, could be summed up by its four-point declaration. That declaration said radi- cal Islam is a threat to civilization, the United Nations is a failure, Israel is in need of defense and the war on terrorism is a righteous cause.
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