Time For New Thinking About the 'Peace Process'

Notion that Palestinians should get greater sovereignty a recipe for violence, instability.

Yoel Meltzer - Ynet

Roughly 20 years ago Israel made a decision to bring back from exile in faraway Tunisia its most bitter enemy, Yasser Arafat, and deposit him together with his close associates on our own doorstep. Still further, not content with the shock value of such a startling move, the leaders of the day outdid themselves by actually helping to arm and train Arafat’s newly created “police force.”

Underlying this odd yet bold course of action was the assumption that the only way to achieve stability in the region is to boost Arab sovereignty - a kinder way of referring to the minimization of Israeli sovereignty. By now, there is no doubt that this belief has had an enormous influence in shaping the policies of successive Israeli leaders for nearly two decades.

Moreover, although it's true that when the Oslo process was launched many observers believed that the reasoning behind such gamble was sufficiently sound, two decades of experience have demonstrated the fact that the essential assumption was clearly wrong: Reduced Israeli sovereignty does not lead to local or regional stability. It never did and it never will.

In fact, the very opposite is true, as this school of thought exudes a defeatist attitude and projects a message that "we're wrong, the land is not ours." This, in turn, empowers our enemies to act in a more brazen manner. The result is that local and regional instability is perpetuated, not eradicated.

Tit-for-tat reprisals

This flawed line of reasoning, despite some good intentions, is the real driving force behind the many diversified attacks on Israel since the dawn of Oslo. Moreover, it makes no difference whether the attacks are against Israel's legitimacy, such as the international BDS campaign or annual "Apartheid Week," or against Israel's very existence, such as the countless terrorist attacks or missile barrages from Gaza. Ultimately, they're all a result of Israel's indefatigable attempt to grant further Arab sovereignty at the expense of Israeli sovereignty.

What's more, when facing military attacks, Israel is reluctantly drawn into yet another round of tit-for-tat reprisals – you kill, we kill, you kill, we kill – which do little, if anything, in diminishing the constant Arab-Israeli tension.

In order to finally change the seemingly endless cycle of insanity for both Jews and Arabs, Israel needs to take a clear look at reality and change the paradigm. As the only source of real stability in the entire Middle East, it’s a no-brainer that the exact opposite of the Oslo assumption is true. Namely, real stability can be achieved only by increasing Israeli sovereignty, not reducing it, while increasing Arab sovereignty will only lead to Israel's demise.

Although such change in direction at this late stage of the game would not be easy for Israel, it's simply a must, not just for those of us who happen to be alive today but for future generations as well.

The Land-for-Peace Hoax

The rise of the forces of jihadist Islam in Egypt places the US and other Western powers in an uncomfortable position. The US is the guarantor of Egypt's peace treaty with Israel. That treaty is based on the proposition of land for peace. Israel gave Egypt the Sinai in 1982 and in exchange it received a peace treaty with Egypt. Now that the Islamists are poised to take power, the treaty is effectively null and void.

The question naturally arises: Will the US act in accordance with its role as guarantor of the peace and demand that the new Egyptian government give Sinai back to Israel? Because if the Obama administration or whatever administration is in power when Egypt abrogates the treaty does not issue such a demand, and stand behind it, and if the EU does not support the demand, the entire concept of land-for-peace will be exposed as a hoax.

Indeed the land-for-peace formula will be exposed as a twofold fiction. First, it is based on the false proposition that the peace process is a two-way street. Israel gives land, the Arabs give peace. But the inevitable death of the Egyptian-Israeli peace accord under an Egyptian jihadist regime makes clear that the land-for-peace formula is a one-way street. Israeli land giveaways are permanent. Arab commitments to peace can be revoked at any time.

Then there are the supposedly iron-clad US and European security guarantees that accompany signed treaties. All the American and European promises to Israel - that they will stand by the Jewish state when it takes risks for peace - will be exposed as worthless lies. As we are already seeing today, no one will stand up for Israel's rights. No one will insist that the Egyptians honor their bargain.

As it has become more apparent that the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist parties will hold an absolute majority in Egypt's democratically elected parliament, Western governments and media outlets have insistently argued that these anti-Western, and anti-Jewish, movements have become moderate and pragmatic. Leading the charge to make the case has been the Obama administration. Its senior officials have eagerly embraced the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, the spiritual head of the Muslim Brotherhood Yusuf Qaradawi is reportedly mediating negotiations between the US and the Taliban.

Qaradawi, an Egyptian who has been based in Qatar since 1961, when he was forced to flee Egypt due to his jihadist politics, made a triumphant return to his native land last February following the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak. Speaking to a crowd of an estimated two million people in Cairo's Tahrir Square, Qaradawi led them in a chant calling for them to invade Jerusalem.

Over the years, Qaradawi has issued numerous religious ruling permitting, indeed requiring, the massacre of Jews. In 2009, he called for the Muslim world to complete Hitler's goal of eradicating the Jewish people.

As for the US, in 2003, Qaradawi issued a religious ruling calling for the killing of US forces in Iraq.

BOTH THE Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists are happy to cater to the propaganda needs of Western journalists and politicians and pretend that they are willing to continue to uphold the peace treaty with Israel. But even as they make conditional statements to eager Americans and Europeans, they consistently tell their own people that they seek the destruction of Israel and the abrogation of the peace deal between Egypt and Israel.

As the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs' Jonathan D. Halevi documented last week in a report on Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist positions on the future of the peace between Egypt and Israel, while speaking to Westerners in general terms about their willingness to respect the treaty, both groups place numerous conditions on their willingness to maintain it. These conditions make clear that there is no way that they will continue to respect the peace treaty. Indeed, they will use any excuse to justify its abrogation and blame it on Israel. And they will do so at the earliest available opportunity.

It is possible, and perhaps likely, that the US will cut off military aid to Egypt in the wake of Cairo's abrogation of the peace treaty. But it is impossible to imagine that the Obama administration will abide by the US's commitment as the guarantor of the deal and demand that Egypt return Sinai to Israel. Indeed, it is only slightly more likely that a Republican administration would fulfill the US's commitment as guarantor of the peace and demand the return of Sinai to Israel after Egypt's democratically elected Islamist regime finds an excuse to abrogate the peace treaty.

It is important to keep this sorry state of affairs in mind when we assess the prospects for a land-for-peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This week, following months of intense pressure from the US and the EU, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met face to face for the first time in 16 months. According to Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, who hosted the meeting, the Palestinians submitted their proposal on security and border issues to Israel. The sides are supposed to meet again next week and Israel is expected to present its proposals on these issues.

There are several reasons that these talks are doomed to failure. The most important reason they will fail is that even if they lead to an agreement, no agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is sustainable. Assuming for a moment that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas goes against everything he has said for the past three years and signs a peace deal with Israel in which he promises Israel peace in exchange for Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, this agreement will have little impact on the Palestinians' view of Israel. Abbas today represents no one. His term of office ended three years ago. Hamas won the last Palestinian elections in 2006.

And Hamas's leaders - like their counterparts in the Muslim Brotherhood - make no bones about their intention to destroy Israel. Two weeks ago at a speech in Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh proclaimed, "We say today explicitly so it cannot be explained otherwise, that the armed resistance and the armed struggle are the path and the strategic choice for liberating the Palestinian land, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river, and for the expulsion of the invaders and usurpers [Israel]... We won't relinquish one inch of the land of Palestine."

In his visit with his Muslim Brotherhood counterpart, Mohammad Badie, in Cairo this week Haniyeh said, "The Islamic resistance movement of Hamas by definition is a jihadist movement by the Muslim Brotherhood, Palestinian on the surface, Islamic at its core, and its goal is liberation."


WITH HAMAS'S Brotherhood colleagues taking power from Cairo to Casablanca, it is hard to imagine a scenario in which supposedly peaceseeking Fatah will win Palestinian elections. It is in recognition of this fact that Abbas has signed a series of unity agreements with Hamas since May.

So the best case scenario for a peace deal with the Palestinians is that Abbas will sign a deal that Israel will implement by withdrawing from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and expelling up to a half a million Israeli citizens from their homes. Hamas will then take power and abrogate the treaty, just as its brethren in Cairo are planning to do with their country's peace treaty.

This leads us to the question of what the diplomatic forces from the US, the EU, and the UN who have worked so hard to get the present negotiations started are really after. What are they trying to achieve by pressuring Israel to negotiate a deal that they know will not be respected by the Palestinians?

In the case of some of the parties involved it is fairly obvious that they want to weaken Israel. Take the UN for example. In 2005, Israel withdrew all of its military forces and civilians from Gaza. Rather than reward Israel for giving up land with peace, the Palestinians transformed Gaza into a launching pad for missile attacks against Israel. And in June 2007, Hamas took over the territory.

Despite the fact that Israel is wholly absent from Gaza, and indeed is being attacked from Gaza, no one has called for the Palestinians to give the territory back to Israel. The UN doesn't even recognize that Israel left.

Last September, the UN published yet another report labeling Israel as the occupier of Gaza. And in accordance with this fiction, the UN - along with the EU and the US - continues to hold Israel responsible for Gaza's welfare.

Ironically, Hamas itself denies that Gaza is under Israeli occupation. In an interview with the Ma'an news agency on Tuesday, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar openly admitted that Gaza is not under occupation. Speaking of Fatah's plan to launch massive demonstrations against Israel, Zahar said, "Against whom could we demonstrate in the Gaza Strip? When Gaza was occupied, that model was applicable."

Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and Fatah can all freely tell the truth about Israel and their commitment to its destruction without fear of any repercussions. They know that the Western powers will not listen to them. They know that they will never have to pay a price for their actions. Indeed, they know they will be rewarded for them.

Since the inauguration of the land-for-peace process between Israel and the PLO 19 years ago, the Palestinians have repeatedly demonstrated their bad faith. Israeli land giveaways have consistently been met with increased Palestinian terrorism. Since 1996, US- and European- trained Palestinian security forces have repeatedly used their guns to kill Israelis. Since 1994, the PA has made it standard practice to enlist terrorists in its US- and European-funded and trained security forces.

The US and Europe have continued to train and arm them despite their bad faith. Despite their continued commitment to Israel's destruction and involvement in terrorism, the US and the EU have continued to demand that Israel fork over more territory. At no point have either the US or the EU seriously considered ending their support for the Palestinians or the demonstrably fictitious land-for-peace formula.

As Israel bows now to still more US and EU pressure and conducts land-for-peace talks with Fatah, our leadership may be seduced by the faint praise they receive from the likes of The Washington Post or even from the Obama administration. But this praise should not turn their heads.

To understand its feckless emptiness, all they need to do is direct their attention to what happened this week in Cairo, as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists secured their absolute control over Egypt's parliament. Specifically, our leaders should note the absence of any voices demanding that Egypt respect the peace treaty with Israel or return Sinai.

The time has come for Israel to admit the truth. Land-for-peace is a confidence game and we are the mark.

Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.

Peace Now

"Land for Peace"

September 15, 1938: British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain set out for Germany to visit Adolph Hitler. Hitler wasn't asking for too much... just the liberation of the German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia [Sudetenland]. It was a sweet little "Land for Peace" deal that would hopefully appease the Fuhrer. Fifteen days later the Sudetenland was handed over to Hitler. In exchange, Hitler gives his word that he has no other territorial designs on Europe.

October 1, 1938: Before the year ended, Hitler broke his agreement and occupied the remainder of Czechoslovakia. The following year Hitler invaded Poland. He continued to invade most of Europe, Africa, Russia and even bombed Chamberlain's very own Britain. Needless to say, the duped Chamberlain was replaced rather quickly by Winston Churchill. The Brits had THEIR fill of "Land for Peace!"

It would seem that the half-witted, idealist Jews of Peace Now have never heard of Neville Chamberlain, Adolph Hitler... maybe not even of World War II. They are asking Israel to simply hand over land (for peace) to those very enemies who have, since the day Israel came into existence, used that land as invasion routes into Israel. To simply hand over that land would be a treasonous and contemptible obscenity toward all those valiant men and women of the Israeli Defense Forces who fought and died securing it! There are enough Jew-haters in the world who wish to see the destruction of Israel and the outright slaughter of every Jewish man, woman and child. It is not necessary for self-hating, back-stabbing, low-life Jews to lend them a hand.

Famous Last Words...
"If Only Hitler Hadn't Lied"
~Neville Chamberlain~

Peace Now?

Job Opportunities Available Immediately For Psychological Profilers of Those Peaceniks Who Want to Negotiate With Terrorists!

Land For [Rest in] Peace

On October 21, 1985, former Peace Now member, Ron Levi [at left], was strolling through a forest near Jerusalem when he was shot through the head by an Arab... a bit of reality FINALLY piercing his thick Jewish skull. Poor Ron! He "felt their pain," alright... though not his own for he didn't even know what hit him! Yes, indeed! He felt the pain of those who dreamed of the day when every Jew in THEIR "Palestine" would be driven out or murdered just as he was. Because Ron would never stoop to their level, he now finds himself six feet BELOW their level and resting in "Peace Now." When will Ron and others like him ever learn!

No Pride - No Shame - NO MEMORY!

Peaceful Co-Existence?

Peaceful Co-existence.... All the Leftist Dreamers talk about is Peaceful Co-existence. And when asked for examples of Peaceful Co-existence between Palestinians and others.... well, we're all still waiting! Moslems and Arabs have shown time and time again that they are incapable (I repeat, INCAPABLE) of living in peace with anyone in the Middle East.

The PLO tried Peaceful Co-existence in Jordan but the diminutive King Hussein of Jordan realized they were not looking for Peaceful Co-existence at all but rather a violent takeover of his make-believe kingdom. So in September 1970 (so-called "Black September"), the little king did the right thing. He kicked their sorry arses out of Jordan. Oh, the poor displaced Palestinians!

So the PLO went into Lebanon for some more Peaceful Co-existence. Within a short period of time they instigated a 15 year civil war against the Lebanese Christians. After all, why should the Palestinian Moslems be subjected to the humiliation of having to "share" power when they preferred FULL power. So the PLO and Lebanese Moslems joined forces against Lebanese Christians! If THIS is what Arabs do to each other, one can imagine what they'd do to the Jews of Israel!

Peace Now [an off-shoot of Peace Instantly] says that if only the poor Palestinians (represented by the PLO murderers) were given the West Bank, Gaza and half of Jerusalem, there would surely be Peaceful Co-existence. It's just too bad thatNot all Jews are Smart! apparently no one has told Peace Now that the PLO was created in 1964... 3 years before ( I repeat, BEFORE ) the Arabs world would even lose control of the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War (which THEY started)! In other words, the PLO was created to get back the land which they already had??? What silly logic... logic only some self-hating, dreamy-eyed, sniveling, hand-wringing, bone-headed Leftist Liberal egghead could come up with! I think it's about time someone informed the world that not all Jews are smart!

Self-hating Jewish Leftist Groups like Peace Now support the enemies of the Jewish People because THEY TOO are enemies of the Jewish People!

If There's TOO MUCH Land for Peace... There Won't Even Be Enough Room to Give Israel a Decent Burial!

The Oslo Accords were nothing more than WAR against Israel by another means!

Israel had better bury the peace process before the peace process buries Israel!

For over 50 years Israel has tried to live peacefully with the Arab world. For those same 50 years the Arab world has never stopped trying to destroy Israel. This never-ending struggle has eroded the determination of many Jews to continue the battle. It pushes tired men to seek half-baked solutions and foolhardy compromises that are the product of the desire to rest rather that of common sense! Thus, Israel must be prepared to fight another 50 Years!

The year 2000 began with the removal of the psychedelic dreamer, Ehud Barak, and the election of Ariel Sharon. The election of this right wing former general was no fluke. Even stupid, myopic left wingers can see when the coffin lid is being nailed down on them. Ariel Sharon was elected for precisely the OPPOSITE reason that Barak was. Barak was elected to "Give Peace a Chance"... Sharon to "Give Survival a Chance!"

There is only one way that Sharon can restore Israeli military deterrence after a decade of cowardice, appeasement, and self-debasement... and that is to USE the military. Since 1992 Israeli governments have given the Arabs every reason to believe that Israel has lost its will to survive and is perfectly willing to commit national suicide. No amount of talk and gestures now will repair this. Only massive military action will work... NOT a few "symbolic" assassinations and missile strikes on empty buildings! The Oslo Peace Accords and the notion of peace with those sworn to murder you are non-starters. It's time to turn the Palestinians into charcoal.

Fifty-nine percent of Palestinians believe that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad should continue their armed struggle [terrorism] against Israel even if Israel leaves all of the West Bank and Gaza, including East Jerusalem, and a Palestinian state is created, an Oct. 22, 2003 survey shows.



UPDATE: Be prepared for the United States to some day put Israel on the chopping block in order to secure "favors" from the Arab world, it's already started with Barrack Hussein Obama!

There are double factors at work here:
(1) American thirst for Arab oil and other global concerns and...
(2) the traditional Jew-hatred of the State Department that has driven foreign policy from one administration to another. Such appeasement didn't work for Hitler in the case of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and it will NEVER work if Israel is sacrifice to the Arab-Muslim Nazis now. Even Israel's Leftist dreamers will squirm when they feel the knife at their throats!



Masada 2000

Moshe Dayan - What In the World Were You Thinking?

It really DOES take a Jewish brain to come up with THIS brilliant idea. First you must defend your Nation against an attack by the combined armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. After scoring a stunning victory and FINALLY regaining control of the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and its Western (Wailing) Wall... not to mention East Jerusalem, ALL of Judea/Samaria (the so-called "West Bank")... you laid the foundation for a monstrous betrayal of the Jewish People. The defeated Palestinian Arabs were all set to move out across the Jordan River into the make-believe Arab Palestinian country, Jordan. So what did you do? To prove to the world that Jews are a "Light Unto All Nations," you told the fleeing Arabs to stay put! This was the beginning of a humiliating Jewish policy that stunned no one more than the Moslems who could not believe such a manifestation of Jewish madness they had just witnessed! The defeated Arabs correctly understood Jewish concessions not to be a sign of goodness and grace, but of timidity and weakness! Most Arabs thought it was some incredible ploy for if THEY had defeated Israel, all Israel would have been one big pile of Jew meat. Ahhh, the Jew... always merciful, always democratic, always bent on self-destruction. Once again the Jews have proved that they themselves are their own worst enemy!

Those defeated Palestinian Arabs DID stay and, after the double shocks of losing to the infidel Jews yet being allowed to remain in the Land of Israel by those same Jews, they simply picked up where they left off and rekindled their dream of driving these Jews into the sea. Almost daily we see visions of the Jerusalem and Hebron Riots of 1920, 1929 and 1936-9. We see Israeli buses with bullet-proof glass and new roads going AROUND Israeli Arab villages. We see Israeli Arab Knesset Ministers praising Hezbullah, Hamas, al-Aqsa Brigade, Islamic Jihad and all the other Arab terrorist groups and voting for EVERYTHING that is bad for Israel's well-being! And those "grateful" Palestinian Arabs, who so appreciated your generous offer to have them stay put, cheered as Iraqi missiles sailed over them and dropped into Israel... although I imagine their excitement abated somewhat when it was learned that those missiles carried only conventional explosives! What a sight that was indeed, Moshe. The Jews huddled into bomb shelters with gas masks while the appreciative Arabs partied on their rooftops! Allah surely is Great!

Moshe, you became a hero. A hero to them, not to us! On the fourth day of the war, for twelve glorious hours, the Israeli flag waved proudly over the Temple Mount as confirmation of the miracle just experienced by the Jewish People. But you ordered the Israeli flag taken down and you simply and incredibly handed over the administration of the Temple Mount to the Arabs, with the Jews retaining only nominal sovereignty over the site. Extraordinary! In victory, we left our holiest place in the hands of our enemies!

The Temple Mount is in Jewish Hands????

Your typically arrogant Leftist approach might have worked with normal enemies but not with proud Arabs. All the stars and bars on your chest cannot compete with the flames of "liberation" in their hearts. Yes, we Jews have a right to our ancient homeland. Yes, our return and rebuilding of Israel also brought in large numbers of Arabs seeking opportunity and a higher standard of living. Yes, we tried to live peacefully along side them. Yes, we're shown the patience of Saints even after their most heinous crimes took thousands of us. But they don't care a whit about any of that. They really believe that we are thieves. They don't want to share anything. They want us out! THEY WANT US DEAD!

Given this fact, Israel had better stop appeasing this enemy. They have chosen to kill us and drive us from the Land of Israel... if not all at once, at least in stages. They won't play by our rules. It is now time to end this double suicide called "Oslo" and "Wye." It is time to retake the "West Bank" [Judea/Samaria] and retain control over all of Jerusalem. It is time to point them east toward Jordan, north toward Lebanon and Syria, south toward Egypt or straight down into the Hell from which they they came. It is time to tell the world that Jews will no longer "play fairly" with those who come to murder. If it means behaving like normal people, then so be it!



Dayan Was Not the Only Jewish Genius Who Failed to Appreciate the Intentions of His Enemy...

"Stop being afraid. There is no danger that these guns will be used against us. The purpose of this ammunition for the Palestinian police is to be used in their vigilant fight against the Hamas. They won't dream of using it against us, since they know very well that if they use these guns against us once, at that moment the Oslo Accord will be annulled and the IDF will return to all the places that have been given to them. The Oslo Accord, despite what the opposition claims, is not irrevocable." Yitzchak Rabin

"Guns Don't Kill, Only People Kill." Shimon (Shame-On) Peres on CNN when asked if he regretted arming the Arafat's "Palestinian Authority" with Israeli weapons.

Shimon Peres, the man who is more and more likely to go down in history book as as the only human in history who single-handedly destroyed his own country Lieutenant Colonel Shlomo Baum, of blessed memory, once described him... "Shimon Peres doesn't care if the entire state turns into a heap of ashes -- as long as he is standing at the top of the heap."

Masada 2000

The Hudibiyya Agreement

The desert warrior is considered shrewd to invite his enemies as honored guests for dinner only to jump across the table with scythes at the ready to slice up his guests beguiled by his charm.

Mohammed, the 7th century founder of Islam, once signed a 10-year peace treaty with the enemy Arabian tribe of Koreish. However, after only two years into the treaty, Mohammed's military position improved whereupon he tore up this "Hudibiyya" (also spelled Khudaibiya) Agreement" and slaughtered the Koreishites. The Middle East today is littered with inter-Arab peace treaties, alliances and friendship accords, not one of which has ever prevented a war! This Law of Hudibiyya dates back to Muhammad and states clearly that "Muslims are permitted to LIE [click link] and break agreements with non-Muslims." According to this precept, Arabs view an enemy’s readiness for peace as a weakness to be exploited. Violation of any signed accord they sign with infidels (or even fellow Muslims!) is "business as usual" as soon as it becomes advantageous to do so.

If Arafat, a member of the PA (Palestinian Authority), or any Arab on the street were to compare the Oslo Peace Accords between Israel and the Palestinian people to the Hudibiyya Agreement, he would be suggesting that the treaty were only a temporary truce. Not only have cabinet ministers done just that... so has the leader of the Palestinian people! Speaking to a rally of his Fatah movement in Ramallah just Yasser Arafat and his Hudibiyya Peace Treaty with Israel Means Terrorism last November 16, 1998, Yasser Arafat said, "When we chose the peace of the brave [the Oslo and Wye Accords], we chose it with trust in the Prophet who agreed to the Treaty of Hudibiyya..." On numerous previous occasions (and certainly to be continued in the future), both Arafat and other senior PA officials have assured Arab audiences that their treaties with Israel are only "temporary truces" rather than genuine, permanent peace agreements.

And so while Israeli negotiators go to great pains to dot every "i" and cross every "t" and footnote every minute detail [eg. the Camp David Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty and the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Agreement] with the expectation that the document was as meaningful to their Arab negotiators as it was to them, the Arabs knew all along that their non-compliance would be tolerated! After all, it was their tradition to say anything AND sign anything, knowing full well that, by custom, culture and habit, that they could and usually DID walk away from treaties when it suited their purposes.

This "strategy of phases" was first adopted by the PLO's National Council (Cairo, Egypt) in 1974 when it became obvious that an outright military defeat of Israel was unlikely. A policy of destruction of Israel in phases was approved by first establishing a small PLO state and then later completing the total destruction of Israel. This goal may be soon realized as Israel prepares to withdraw from portions of its ancient homeland in the name of "peace."

The Jewish people have experienced 2,000 years of expulsions, massacres, pogroms and deceptions. Their tiny reborn Jewish State has, in its 55+ years of existence, experienced seven wars with the Arabs and continuous terrorism by numerous Palestinian groups, including its peace partner... the PLO! And now Israel is officially begun arranging the terms of its own suicide in the Oslo Accords, Wye Agreement, various Camp David "weekend" retreats and now the so-called Geneva Initiative... with more holes in it than Swiss cheese!

H-E-L-L-o-o-o-o-o... Wake up, Jews! Wake up Israel! Have you still not learned your lessons or will you continue to sit back in the name of "peace," light more candles and await new Holocaust memorials!

Is This What Peace is All About?

The Israelis and Arab "Palestinians" signed the Oslo Peace Accords in September of 1993. All statements by the Palestinian leadership with regards to the destruction of the State of Israel prior to that time were to be disregarded now that they had signed on to what Arafat himself described as the "peace of the brave." So what is one to make of the following statements issued well after 1993!

Jordanian Television (September 13, 1995) "Since we cannot defeat Israel in war we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel." ~Yasser Arafat~

Stockholm, Sweden (Jan 30, 1996)
"We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem. Peres and Beilin have already promised us half of Jerusalem. The Golan Heights have already been given away, subject to just a few details. We will take over everything including all of Jerusalem! We of the P.L.O. will now concentrate all our efforts on splitting Israel psychologically into two camps. ~Yasser Arafat~

Egyptian Magazine (May 2001)
Our agreements with the Israelis are like the Trojan horse. I explain to our people that this is the only way to get into the walls of Jerusalem, like the wooden horse the Greeks used against the Trojans." ~Faisal Husseini, Arafat's representative in Jerusalem~

Palestinian Television Jan. 11, 2001)
"We are discussing the current problems and when we speak about Jerusalem it doesn't mean that we have forgotten about Hebron or about Jaffa or about Acre..we are speaking about the current problems that have priority at a certain time. It doesn't mean that we have given up... We have announced a number of times that from a religious point of view Palestine from the sea to the river is Islamic." [Note: Jaffa and Acre are Israeli cities.] ~Sheikh Ikrima Sabri - The Palestinian Authority appointed Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine~

Palestinian Television Sept. 1, 2000)
"We exaggerate when we say 'peace'... what we are speaking about is 'Hudna', a temporary ceasefire. ~Arab "Palestinian" Knesset Member Abdel Maleh~



Masada 2000

Negotiating for What?

Peace talks can achieve nothing at this time, so why not consider other options?

by Moshe Dann

Insisting that the Palestinian Authority engage in negotiations rather than appeal to the United Nations for recognition is based on the belief that an agreement that will end the conflict is possible. However, both sides know that Israel cannot offer anything that will satisfy Palestinian demands and that the Palestinians refuse to agree to minimal Israeli requests.

Why then pretend they will? If the emperor has no clothes, why call for a fashion designer?

The idea that creating a second Arab Palestinian state will solve the problem not only defies reality, it prevents other options and undermines Israel's legitimate claims.

Why not consider other options? Because anything less than a Palestinian state and full sovereignty negates the Arab resistance movement that has sought Israel's destruction for the last 63 years.

Variations of a "two-state solution" – "land for peace,” which produced the Oslo Accords and fueled Palestinian demands for statehood - assumed the conflict was over territory ("the occupation"), not Israel's existence. And both Israeli and Arab negotiators at the time were careful to avoid core issues, which would have blocked an agreement and since then have remained to haunt and destroy.

After Israel broke the terrorist infrastructure, allowing modest cooperation, despite ongoing terrorism - and with Arafat no longer around - there seemed to be hope. But Hamas’ rise, a massive campaign of de-legitimization financed by Arabs and many European countries, a hostile US Administration, and spreading unrest throughout the Arab world have radically shifted the balance against Israel. Nothing can be taken for granted any more - even solemn peace treaties and international agreements.

The lid is off and the pot is boiling over.

The belief that Palestinian Arabs deserve a state is a powerful idea; if so, why not give it to them? And if negotiations will not lead to that state, why engage in them? For Israel, the illusion of negotiations buys time in the hope for recognition and acceptance; for the Arabs, negotiations only postpone their goal – Palestinian statehood and Israel’s elimination.

Alternative to 2-state plan

The problem is what constitutes that state; what are its permanent borders, can it be stable and will it end claims against Israel and end the conflict? Arab leaders have refused to commit to any answers - leaving the problems open, and the possibility of future violence a clear and present danger.

The only way Israel can rescue itself from this self-defeating position and avoid another policy failure is by offering an alternative to the "two-state" plan for another Palestinian state. This assumes that Israel must act in its self interest, independent of what Palestinian Arabs do, or don't do. It removes decision-making from the prison of false promises and addictive hopes to doing what is necessary to ensure Jewish survival.

Policy makers need to confront what is, not what they would like. That means understanding what Arab and Palestinian leaders really want, and how they try to get it.

For Arabs, it is about recognition and legitimacy for Hamas as a negotiating partner; it is about "the Nakba" of 1948 – the establishment of Israel and "the occupations" of 1949, and 1967. It is about core issues: "the Palestinian Right of Return," "al Quds" (Jerusalem), and complete Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria – for starters.

Since the Oslo Accords, Israeli diplomats, led by Shimon Peres, made a Palestinian state the cornerstone of Israeli policy. That has been a proven mistake. It led directly to the Palestinian bid for international recognition. Instead of reducing Palestinian Arab demands, it inflated them. Instead of moving towards accommodation, it led to conflict. Rather than promote reality, it encouraged the fantasy of Israel's demise.

As visions of a new Middle East sink into quicksand swamps of revolutions and counter revolutions throughout the Arab world, those concerned about Israel's survival must focus not only on the dangers of a Palestinian state, but Israel's needs.

Israeli policy can remain committed to peace without another Palestinian state. This requires a paradigm shift, a bold and imaginative new direction based on Jewish and Israeli – not Palestinian - sovereignty. This policy entails refuting charges of "illegal occupation," "illegitimate settlements," racism, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing. These accusations cannot be avoided by shifting attention to Israeli achievements in technology and science.

Shifting the focus from external form – statehood and symbols – to internal substance – values, purpose and transparency - moves the question to fundamentals: Will a Palestinian state be a force for stability and safety, or a combustible mixture primed to explode?

Advocates for another Palestinian state need to explain why those who are concerned about Israel's survival and regional peace need not be worried. Only then can negotiations become a play instead of a ploy.

The author is a PhD historian, writer and journalist living in Israel



Ynet News