On the very day [Israel's long time ally and Southern Liberation Army leader] Colonel Akl Hashem was killed in Lebanon by Hizbollah, the Prime Minister of Israel, meeting with journalists in Cairo, praised Hafez al-Assad for his "decency" and his "genuine desire for peace." On the very day three of our soldiers were killed in Lebanon and four seriously wounded, and while the attacks by Hizbollah on our positions continued day and night, the Prime Minister of Israel told his people, in absolute contradiction to all that was said to us for twenty years, that Syria is not really responsible for Hizbollah's operations -- Iran is. The Prime Minister says to Assad: "Please, by your grace, restrain these hooligans, if indeed it is at all possible for you. You certainly understand that this disturbs the peace process in which we are partners and without doubt it will hurt us when the time comes for a plebiscite in Israel."
Precisely when the government of Israel announced the withdrawal of its ambassador from Austria because the party of Joerg Haider, with its positive references to Hitler, joined the government, Tishrin, the official newspaper of Syria, published an article whose anti-Semitic, malicious, and vile language was immeasurably worse than anything said by the Austrian politician. It denied the Holocaust. It argued that "the Jews invented it in order to despoil the world," and compared Zionism to Nazism. Government leaders in Israel pass in absolute silence over this anti-Jewish, anti-Israel campaign of slander. They didn't read it; they didn't see it; they haven't heard it. All of this, of course, for the sake of peace.
Israel goes to a conference to negotiate peace with Syria, despite the fact that the Syrian leader merely delegates one of his underlings to it. Barak is ready to forgive that no hand is stretched out; he ignores the frozen face; he overlooks the insults at every meeting -- all for the sake of peace. The Prime Minister begs the Syrian tyrant: "Please say something positive, a nice word, smile at least; tell your emissary to at least say hello when we meet in the men's room so that the people in Israel see you want peace, at least a little bit. Otherwise it won't go, this operation we are partners in."
Pasty-faced Assad remains frozen. He doesn't even bother to respond. He sends secret orders to Lebanon: "Continue with your attacks. Don't you see with whom you are dealing? These are people without honor, the kind when you spit on them, they say, oh, it's raining."
Our Prime Minister humiliates us. He drags our honor in the dust. The Prime Minister of "the strongest military power in the Middle East" as he calls us, says if we do not make peace immediately, right now, with this mighty Syrian power, missiles with chemical and biologi- cal warheads will rain on Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Beersheba. Hence, it is absolutely essential to agree to the conditions which that mighty power lays out. It is necessary to evacuate all the settlements on the Golan. You ask why? Don't you understand? If you do not give in to Syria's demands, Assad won't even deign to talk to us about peace.
Syria, the mighty power, which judging by our behavior, defeated Israel in all its wars, presents its conditions to the defeated one. And hence -- for the sake of peace, of course -- the Prime Minister soothes Hafez al-Assad: "Please do not worry. We don't make the continuation of the peace process dependent on the cessation of attacks by Hizbollah in Lebanon. Just wait calmly."
Since the visit of Sadat to Jerusalem, the slogan "the peace of the brave" is endlessly repeated in this region --we hear that Sadat was brave and so too are Mubarak, Assad, and the King of Jordan. But the
The official newspaper of Syria published an article whose anti-Semitic, malicious, and vile language was immeasurably worse than anything said by the Austrian politician Joerg Hader.
Since the beginning of our modern return to the Land, Israel has not revealed itself to be so faint-hearted, so demoralized, so self-denigrating, crawling before its enemies--all for the sake of peace, of course. Because the Prime Minister of Israel has taken an oath: I shall make peace with Syria, come what may. Come what may? He is like that grotesque Jew of Sholem Aleichem: "I am willing to sell my pants, just so I'll be a Rothschild." [He will lose even his pants in return for nothing].
This article was published in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz on February 6, 2000. Megged is a well known novelist of the Zionist left who has become a sharp critic of the so-called peace process.
March 2000 - 7 - Outpost