It would appear the MK (Kadima) Shaul Mofaz’s ideology only runs as deep as his desire to become a prime minister in the future.

To his credit, Mofaz is capable of exhibiting political flexibility, a real right-winger when he served as a member of Likud, yet he made a seamless transition to Kadima, now a centrist-leftist. He also managed to continue portraying himself as a right-winger when he supported the 2005 Disengagement, a move that was facilitated by most other Likudniks and self-proclaimed right-wingers supporting it too.

On Sunday, the premiership hopeful who views himself as the next Kadima leader, announced the need to expedite the declaration of Palestinian statehood, announcing his master plan that calls for negotiations with Hamas towards a goal, the establishment of the State of Palestine in 60% of Yehuda and Shomron, all to be accomplished within a year.

Of course Mofaz, a former defense minister and IDF chief needs to justify such a move, telling the press that Hamas in Gaza was democratically elected, a move that undoubtedly grants the terrorist regime legitimacy, and therefore, if Hamas agrees to sit at the negotiating table with Israel, it has de facto become legitimate and denounced terror, meeting the demands of the Quartet (United States, UN, Russia and EU).

Not wishing to appear as if he has suffered total moral collapse, Mofaz interjected a warning, telling Hamas that despite ongoing efforts to rearm for the next round of warfare with Israel, continuing down this path will result in the terror organization’s fate being sealed, while opting to accept his negotiating offer will open a new and brighter future.

Being the pragmatic politician, he added that in the first phase of the new state, the approximately 70,000 “settlers” would not have to be uprooted, and plans would be made to relocate them in the future to regional settlement blocs and to the Galil region. The small matter of borders and land contiguity would be addressed in the future, as well as the future status of the Jewish capital, adopting the sheer brilliance that was exuded recently by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, also presenting his version of instant Palestinian statehood. Seeking to earn the confidence of his terrorist partner, Mofaz assured Hamas the state would however contain no less than 92% of the “West Bank,” namely all of Yehuda and Shomron.

Being the giving, ideological and pragmatic statesman that he is, Mofaz added that at this early juncture, one cannot rule out the possibility that outlying areas of the capital will also be included in Palestine in the future.

In essence, the Mofaz plan is similar to the 2005 Disengagement in that it ignores the future of the State of Israel, the Jewish families involved and other vital concerns towards advancing his own political agenda, seeking to usurp the authority of party leader Tzipi Livni.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)