Robertson: "Road Map" Is Beginning of End for Israel

PAT ROBERTSON: Joining us now from Jerusalem with more is Benny Elon. Mr. Elon is a member of the Sharon cabinet. He served as Israel's tourism minister. And Mr. Minister, you voted against accepting the road map, why?

BENNY ELON: First of all, shalom from Jerusalem. It is a great honor to be with you Dr. Robertson. I will tell you, I voted against because I really believe that this is not a road map, it is a road trap. And I wanted to prevent the state of Israel from falling into this trap. Now we have to continue and we have to go ahead and do our best to save the state of Israel from the danger and from the trap. And we know even though the cabinet did not accept the road map with ease but with reservations, but even though, this is a real crisis, a geological crisis and also a practical risk to the very existence of the state of Israel.

ROBERTSON: What pressure did the Bush administration put on Sharon? Was there a question of money, a question of arms? How was that pressure exerted?

ELON: You know, I'm feeling a little bit embarrassed to go inside the internal American debate. I can tell you that pressures from the State Department and from around came a lot of pressures, a lot of pressures. And I really think that something wrong has been done.

And I really think… you know Dr. Robertson, you are a source of inspiration for me. If outstanding figures like you, I think would make it clear there, in America. What I mean is, it really is President Bush who taught all of the world how not to be afraid and not to be terrified and terrorized and to fight back. And to fight back not only in the battlefield, the fighting back just by the army but also the psychology of fighting, by showing them that they can't force us to change our way of life. And he didn't give in until he brought down the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein. What is going on here?

Yasser Arafat is still the President and can we have double standards? Can Israel be some state that has to stay with the entity of the terror of the Palestinian Authority with a puppet-like so-called Prime Minister Abu Mazen Abbas, when everyone knows that the same murderer, Yasser Arafat is behind him? Why is Israel the only state in the world that doesn't have the [right] to fight not only for her own survival, but also for her own revival? Why does the road map have to go and take Biblical heartland and to treat it as some foreign area [as if we are] foreigners that came there, when everyone that opens the Bible knows the truth? I have to admit that Prime Minister Sharon disappointed me, and he retracted and he said he didn't mean, but when he said "occupied territory" for those places, holy sites, Judea and Samaria, Bethel and Shiloh, Bethlehem, he used the same term that all of our enemies always used. So he said that he didn't mean it, but something wrong is going on here and I think that the key is there in Washington.

ROBERTSON: Let me ask you one last question. I wish we had a longer time. What do you think if this thing is implemented, and it seems like the United States is forcing it, do you think that the Palestinians, Hamas, Hezbollah, for example, up in Lebanon, and Yasser Arafat, will they live in peace with Israel? Or is this the beginning of the end for the state of Israel?

ELON: I think that everyone knows from the history that Oslo Accords, for example, started with high expectations and concluded with deep disappointment and became bloodshed of terror and so many innocent victims we had. Everyone knows that the answer is that Yasser Arafat, and all of those terrorists under him, never, never are going to be with us in a real peace. Maybe a cease-fire for their own interests… like they did in the Oslo Accords. This is exactly the trap, that in order to have some achievement, for a little bit of nice, kind words from President Bush, the Prime Minister was pressured, and I think that this trap is a real danger. And I really believe that it is not too late and we have to do our best in prayers, and in nice and courageous diplomatic acts.

ROBERTSON: Mr. Elon, thank you for those words and thank you being with us. Benny Elon is a member of the cabinet of Prime Minister Sharon.

I'll give you my take on this. I think if it's implemented, it will be the beginning of the end of the state of Israel as we know it. I think that the President of United States is imperiling the nation of Israel. Not only is he going against the clear mandate of the Bible, which is very important, but he's also setting up a situation where Israel will no longer have secure borders, where they will be dependent on the will of the United States State Department, which has not been too gracious in the past. They will not be able to defend themselves against a flood of Palestinians who will be coming in, and there's no guarantee that Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the various other groups, the Fatah and other various groups that are responsible for terror will cease the terror.

For Israel to give up land in exchange for promises is insanity, and that's what we are forcing on them. And the Bible speaks very harshly in they book of Joel about "those who divided My land," and it is interesting that Sharon has said now it is time to quote "divide the land." He uses a term that is condemned by the prophet Joel in the Old Testament. Read it for yourself.