Weeks of terrorist attacks on Israel culminate in massive bus bombing.
Wednesday, June 11th, 2003
Since May, numerous successful terrorist attacks have been perpetrated on Israel. It has been one of the worst outbreaks of violence in the past few years. After the wave of murder, President Bush confirmed the “roadmap to peace” and urged Sharon to make large concessions to the Palestinian Arabs. Though the Arabs refused to implement any part of the roadmap, minimal as their requirements were, Israel was forced by the US to comply with its requirements by releasing terrorist murderers from prison and releasing monies to the Palestinian Authority. Since the summit a few days ago, over 10 Palestinian Arab suicide bombers have been arrested. Recently, several Palestinian Arab terrorist groups staged an unprecedented coordinated attack on the Israeli army, the IDF, killing several. Israel responded with a failed assassination attempt on Rantisi, a leader of the terrorist group Hamas. (*) (†) Hamas then issued a statement that they have declared war on Israel.
Today, a Hamas murderer got on a bus in Jerusalem and blew it up, killing at least 16 and injuring over 90. according to MSNBC. Clearly, the roadmap is dead. Regime change in Iraq was not enough to bring about peace, as I had earlier thought it might. (‡) The next big step will be to address another state sponsor of terrorism, such as Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, or other country, and effect regime change there. The matter at hand, though, is how to defend Israel against the many Palestinian Arab terrorist groups.
Every Palestinian Arab terrorist group refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel. To them, every Jewish Israeli citizen, even a baby, is a legitimate target for military action, because each one is supposedly part of the “occuption,” which refers, in Arab terminology, to Israel herself. The terrorists’ stated goal has always been to drive Israel into the sea. The Palestinian Authority has never recognized Israel’s right to exist, even though such recognition was required of them in the Oslo agreement a decade ago. The terrorist war fought against Israel enjoys wide support among ordinary Palestinian Arabs.
As Louis Rene Beres has noted, the idea that a two-state solution will lead to peace must now be questioned. (§) David Warren also has a firm grasp of reality. (**) Ron Rosenbaum’s column of April 2002 where he concluded that the Jewish people are on the verge of facing a “second Holocaust” is looking more and more prescient. (††)
Israel must recognize the reality that no roadmap is going to work until the enemy is defeated. The conflict is far past the point of solving diplomatically. Whether Israel chooses to fight this war sooner or later should be a strategic decision.
Unfortunately, the world is awash in a fresh wave of anti-Semitism. Notably, the antiglobalist, anticapitalist Left has stated its support for the Palestinian Arab terrorists and attacked world finance as a tool of “Jewish bankers,” dredging up old anti-Semitic stereotypes. The right-wing has their issues, too. Finally, as a result of the madly brilliant propaganda campaign waged by the Arab terrorists and their supporters, Israel is painted as an enemy and terrorist suicide murderers are depicted as romantic heroes.
Thus, no matter how or if Israel defends herself in the current environment, she will be criticized harshly. Terrorists will receive only a light rapping of the knuckles from leaders like George W. Bush, while Israel receives heavy pressure and leaning to act against her interests. Nevertheless, the defense of Israel is just. Those who value justice want Israel to be protected, and will offer to help protect her. Ultimately, it is Israel’s land by right, and no act of violence or hateful propaganda can ever change that.
Regardless of President Bush’s selective condemnation of terrorists—those who attack the US are evil, while those who attack Israel are only harming the “peace process” and are never referred to as “evil”—Israel’s war against terrorism is in fact part of the larger War on Terrorism. This is a war waged by the world’s democracies and free nations against Islamic radicals who resort to terrorism.
In addition to striking Hamas, Israel should focus some of its immediate attention on the Palestinian Authority, which has refused to recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel, and has refused to take any action against Palestinian Arab terrorists.
Israel should publicly and directly give the Palestinian Authority a new ultimatum, and back it up with action. An example would be: within 24 hours, the Palestinian Authority must formally recognize the State of Israel’s right to exist within a rough approximation of its pre–1967 borders, or Israel will withdraw from the roadmap permanently and withdraw its recognition of the Palestinian Authority. This would not prevent a larger war, but it would score Israel a desperately needed PR victory by reminding the world, including the US and Europe, that Israel has recognized the legitimacy of Palestinian Arab institutions, while Palestinian Arab institutions refuse to recognize the legitimacy of Israel. It would put the Palestinian Arabs in a position where they must stop equivocating and publicly support either the peace process or terrorism.
President Bush should either abandon or seriously reform the roadmap. President Bush should not support the creation of another dictatorship, as he is doing in his support of the Palestinian Arab state. The US just fought a war at great cost to our bravest men in order to overturn the dictatorship in Iraq. Now President Bush is in the process of overseeing the installation of a new dictatorship just a few miles to the west. Today, President Bush’s Middle East policy is deeply flawed and hypocritical.
The policy of the United States should be to never negotiate with terrorists, and to never require our friends to negotiate with them either. The only way to deal with terrorists is to kill them. The sad news from today is that another large group of innocent people have been murdered and maimed because of the world’s unwillingness to treat Palestinian Arab terrorism for what it is: an act of evil, an act of war.
Update: 12 June 2003: David Horowitz gets it exactly right. I especially like his point about how the Palestinian Authority is not reformable. (‡‡) Steven Plaut argues strongly against the roadmap, (§§) but he does not say why the Arabs want the roadmap. My reading is that they want it because its effect is to undermine the existence of the State of Israel. Frank Gaffney notes that the roadmap does not fulfill President Bush’s vision of Middle East peace as outlined in June of 2002, and he calls on the president to rework the roadmap. (***) One of President Bush’s greatest assets is his ability evaluate his positions and rethink them when necessary. That is exactly what he should do with the roadmap. Finally, David Warren has another good essay. (†††)