Real
peace ... can only happen through a complete change of mentality,
policies, and historical ambitions in the Muslim block. |
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Peace in the Middle East (1)
Can it be achieved under the present circumstances?
After almost sixty years of the bizarre notion
of not recognizing the “existence” of the State of Israel,
after many years after the Oslo Accord “peace process”,
and after being offered unbelievably generous conditions to bring
an end to the long and bloody conflict, the Palestinians have rejected
those terms and have instead chosen to continue on their path of
violence and confrontation. They have erupted in the bloody Al-Aksa
Intifada, which so far has caused hundreds of dead and thousands
of injured. The question can be raised whether peace with the Palestinians
is possible at all.
What are the facts?
The Root of the Middle East Conflict. Many observers
of the Middle East scene seem to believe that the root of the Middle
East conflict lies in the dispute between the Palestinians and the Israeli
Jews — that peace could come to the area if that conflict could
be resolved. And the way it should be resolved, these observers believe,
is by Israel’s yielding its heartland, Judea/Samaria (the “West
Bank”), in addition to the already yielded Gaza Strip, for the
creation of a Palestinian state and by returning the Golan Heights to
Syria. But after the late Hafez Assad’s brusque refusal to accept
the return of the Golan (because it would not include the shores of the
Sea of Galilee), and after the late and unlamented Arafat’s contemptuous
refusal of Ehud Barak’s generous offer, it is clear that the Arabs
do not want peace — they want confrontation and the destruction
of Israel.
People also overlook that the conflict between Palestinian
Arabs and Jews long predates Israel’s control over the administered
territories, that Arab-Arab wars are endemic in the area, and that Israel
would be defenseless and at the mercy of its implacable enemies if it
were to yield control of these strategic territories without a full peace — not
just with the Palestinians, but with all the Arabs and Muslims.
The Menace of Islamic Fundamentalism. The
clamor for yielding strategic territories to the Arabs is the first step
in the immutable Arab attempt to liquidate Israel altogether. Because,
certainly, Israel, with its fewer than 6 million inhabitants, compared
to almost 300 million Arabs, and with its less than 10,000 square miles,
compared to almost 5 million square miles of the Arab countries, cannot
possibly be a threat to peace or a menace to the Arabs. And reducing
the territory of Israel from 10,000 square miles to 7,000 square miles
would not seem likely to bring peace one step closer. The main reason
that real peace is so difficult to attain is the political and cultural
context of the Middle East, which is dominated by the menace of Islamic
fundamentalism. By the tenets of this fundamentalism, Israel’s
size is not of importance; it is the very existence of Israel that, to
fundamentalist believers, is an intolerable offense, an unacceptable
insult to Islam. The fundamentalist Muslims — Hamas, Hezbollah,
Islamic Jihad, and all the others — do not aim at peace with Israel
or the recovery of some territory. Their publicly declared aim is the
destruction of the Jewish State. On more than one occasion, the Islamic
Jihad has stated: “[This is] irrevocable . . . We will be satisfied
with nothing but the destruction of Israel."
Real Peace Must Be Global. The current
upheavals in Israel, in its administered territories, and in the areas
that Israel has transferred to the Palestinian Authority, may give the
impression that peace would come to the region if Israel would come to
terms with the aspirations of the Palestinians. But that is impossible,
because the destruction of Israel — its disappearance from the
map — is the stated purpose of the Palestinians, as embedded in
their never-revoked Covenant. But even if it were achievable, peace would
not come about, because such a peace would be a non-global one. The most
fervent enemies of Israel — Iran, Syria, and including even Egypt
(with which Israel is technically at peace) — have as their principal
foreign policy goal the destruction of Israel, a goal that would not
be altered even if Israel acceded to every wish of the Palestinians.
Those Arab statesmen who have tried to come to terms with the Jewish
State have invariably found a terrible end. King Abdullah of Transjordan
was assassinated by the rejectionists, so was President Anwar Sadat of
Egypt, and so was President Bashir Gemayel of Lebanon, all of whom envisioned
peaceful cooperation and co-existence with Israel. Every Arab leader
knows that any overt declaration of wishing to make real peace and to
co-exist and to cooperate with Israel is a suicidal death sentence.
We all want peace, of course, especially the Israelis, who,
five wars having been imposed on them, have been almost constantly embattled
since the foundation of their state. But because of Arab-Islamic fundamentalism
that cannot tolerate a Jewish presence on any part of “Arab territory”
and because any peace arrived at would be non-global, such real peace
would seem difficult or impossible to attain at this time. One hopes that
real peace — the Arabs’ acceptance of a Jewish State and peaceful
co-existence and cooperation with it — will come eventually. But
it can only happen through a complete change of mentality, policies and
ambitions in the Muslim block, abandonment of fanatic fundamentalism,
and change in governance from despotism to genuine democracy. And that
may well take a very long time. In the meantime, Israel must keep up its
guard and cannot afford — not even to please its friends, including
the United States — to yield strategic territory, without which
it would be mortally vulnerable.
This ad has been published and paid for by
Facts and Logic About the Middle East
P.O. Box 590359
San Francisco, CA 94159
Gerardo Joffe, President
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