Introduction by Ali Abunimah

Israeli General calls for "dictatorship" and restricting Arab birth rate.

Shlomo Gazit is said to be a "liberal" in Israeli terms and was involved in the Oslo negotiations early on, but it appears that he would be quite at home with other fascists.

Ali Abunimah www.abunimah.org

"Establish a Dictatorship and Restrict Birth Rate"
Yedioth Ahronoth, March 26, 2001
by Amir Rappaport

hebrew link: www.ynet.co.il/articles/1,7340,L-623908,FF.html

Former IDF Intelligence Branch director Maj. Gen. (Res.) Shlomo Gazit today recommends establishing a "non-democratic emergency regime" in Israel that would act to limit the birth rate and give back the territories due to the "demographic danger" they pose.

At the Jewish Agency Zionist Council conference, Gazit said that "Israel is a terminal country that needs a dictatorship for a couple of years." The conference was held over the weekend at Kibbutz Ma'aleh Hahamisha near Jerusalem and was attended by senior figures from various sectors all over the country. Minister Matan Vilnai also talked about the school system and his words caused great reverberations. Gazit was IDF Intelligence Branch director after the Yom Kippur War and has served in public capacities since. Yesterday, he detailed his remarks for Yedioth Ahronoth on the "demographic danger" caused by the fact that the Jewish majority in Israel is not expected to be maintained over time, due to the much higher reproduction rate in the Arab sector.

Gazit said "the demographic danger is the most serious danger facing Israel today. If we don't come to our senses on this issue and don't take proper steps immediately, then within one generation, or at most two, the State of Israel will cease to exist as a Jewish Zionist state." Gazit said that the country needs an emergency regime, because "unfortunately, the political system in Israel today, both from an organizational standpoint as well as from the standpoint of political parties, is unable to make decisions on this issue. So, under the prevailing circumstances it seems that only an emergency regime and abandoning the democratic game can perhaps resolve the problem. I don't think this is realistic, but an emergency regime would have to adopt a series of decisions that cannot be made with the present system. In order to save the State of Israel and preserve a Jewish majority, a decision must be made to evacuate the settlements en masse and not by Barak's method, so that the permanent borders of the state contain as few Arabs as possible. We erred in establishing these settlements and now we must make the difficult decision to dismantle them."

As for restricting the birth rate, Gazit said: "I don't think there is a law that can be applied only to Jews or only to Arabs. The birth rate must be limited, instead of making laws increasing allowances for large families such as that passed by the Knesset which in fact encourages birth rates."

Gazit summed up: "I don't want to detail other plans of mine on how to handle the demographic danger. I'm simply sounding a warning."