Middle East: Peace with Integrity and Solidarity within Israel?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread

http://www.ou.org/torah/grossman/2000/110400.htm

" Peace with Integrity and Solidarity within Israel "

Arafat's hands are bloodier than ever.  The Palestinian dictator is wholly responsible for the loss of Jewish and Arab lives and the suffering of the wounded.  We now know that the stone-throwing and the use of live ammunition against Israel are done at his "whim and fancy." Hamas, the Islamic fundamentalist, and the Jihad groups are at his command.  

Stones are thrown during daylight hours, when news cameras are present, and shots are fired at night so that the IDF would have difficulty responding
and while newsmen sleep.  Does the loss of life faze Arafat?  It never did. 
Why should it now?  If  the gullible Arab masses really knew the truth, they
would, I believe, tear him and his cohorts to pieces.  The so-called intifada
for Jerusalem is a myth.  It is a war for money and power. . .a disgusting
excuse for the despot's failure to share his money with the poor in Gaza and
the frustrated Arabs on the West Bank.  The billions amassed by Arafat and
company could have built factories and houses.  This money belongs to
Palestinian children who should be in school rather than on the streets
slinging and throwing rocks at Jews they have been taught to hate, but are
probably their only friends.  Israel has given land and hope to these people
while Arafat empties their pockets and denies them hope.  Flashy casinos,
hotels and an airport and hospital constitute less than five percent of the
monies conveyed by the United States, Arab countries and world organizations to the Palestinian Authority.

Where do we go from here?  The many mistakes made by Israel's leaders created a false euphoria and self-induced deception.  Israelis and Jews
around the world allow themselves to believe that Arafat would be a
legitimate partner for peace.  It should have been self-evident that all the
stroking of his ego and the pandering to Ashrawi, Husseini, Erekat, Abbas and the other slaughterers of children are common crooks.  Our stance from day one should have been one of strength, and if negotiate we must, the negotiations should have been done with integrity and not fantasy.

At its beginning in Oslo, Israel's negotiators were much too eager and thus demonstrated vulnerability and weakness.  Israel's left began beating its own breasts.  The post-Zionist baloney and its accusations against the Zionist founders of Israel made Israel a "sitting duck" for exploitation and deception.  And when Israeli governments, both Labor and Likud, allowed
themselves to be intimidated by American officials, they virtually prepared
Barak's cave-in at Camp David.

Netanyahu invented the phrase "peace with security" when he and all of us should have demanded "peace with integrity."  Honest negotiations and proven results would have provided all the security we could possibly want.

Barak's overnight escape from Lebanon sent a clear and powerful message: the new Israel could be intimidated and will flee in the face of terror.  We left thousands of loyal southern Lebanese without homes and lives and gave the arrogant Hizbollah an honored position in the world of international terror.  Israel's retreat from Lebanon sent Arafat a message: Israel's determination has indeed been weakened.  Jews have been too comfortable with the country's recent affluence and will therefore surrender.  Arafat appropriately responded by telling the Israeli Prime Minister, who gave him more than even Rabin and Peres did, "go to hell."

What should Israel do now?

(A.)  Israel should expose Arafat to his people.  A new broadcast authority should be created.  Its language should be Arabic; its message directed around the clock to Gaza, the West Bank and therest of the Arab world.  It should identify Arafat's Swiss accounts.  It should reveal every penny given to the Palestinian Authority and where the money has gone.  It should express Israel's true desire for peace and the benefits which will accrue to both Arab and Jew alike when honesty replaces fraud and extortion.  

(B.)  Sixty percent of the water used by Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza comes from Israel, as does most of their electricity.  Few Arabs are aware of this.   Electricity and water should be cut off with each eruption of violent terror and restored when the perpetrators are apprehended. 

(C.)  Newsmen and photographers who slant their reports must be
exposed.  It will not be difficult to film CNN and other news agencies
waiting for stones to be thrown.  They are timed and scheduled.  Israel
should call on the United Nations Security Council to condemn Arafat's
exploitation of children.  The one-sided Security Council will, of course,
deny this, but we will be obviating both the Council's and the Palestinian
Authority's lack of integrity.

At this time of Arafat's lethal exploitation of violence as a negotiating tool, Israel needs to "hang tough," and it cannot do so as long as its politicians continue to play partisan games.  I applaud the Jewish leaders who have come from all over the world to show solidarity with Israel, but it's time for the Knesset and its warring factions to demonstrate their solidarity.  

Parochialism and internal political and religious conflicts can wait.  We need to put an end to the violence and give ourselves time to reconsider the facts that are no longer deniable.  Only a united Israel could determine the next steps at this critical juncture. 

May You regard our omissions with love, and obscure our willful sins with love.  May You transform all travail and evil to joy and gladness, to life and peace, for us and for all Israel, who love truth and peace. (Machzor)

-- (perry@ofuzzy1.com), October 31, 2000


Moderation questions? read the FAQ