[(Continued from p.11)]
decided to abandon Southern Lebanon and the Southern Lebanese, is in the process of granting the PLO control over parts of Jerusalem, and is very close to handing the Golan Heights over to Syria. His government, along with the two previous ones, has labored to promote Palestinian statehood in the territory between the suburbs of Tel Aviv and the Jordan River, and to return Israel to its 1949 borders, more or less.Should it turn out that all these components of "Oslo" produce a lasting and stable peace, then Barak and the rest of the promoters of Oslo will enter history books as moral and intellectual giants, with the eternal gratitude of the Jewish people and the rest of humanity.
On the other hand, should such decisions prove to be among the greatest follies in human history, then it will behoove the nation to follow the lead of Classical Athens and hold all those who promoted such insanity to be personally liable and accountable. Should rockets and shells obliterate northern Israel because Israeli politicians have turned the "security zone" over to the Hizbullah, should the Hizbullah and its Syrian masters annihilate the Shit'ite and Christian populations that "collaborated" with Israel in Southern Lebanon, should Syrian artillery open fire on the Jordan Valley from their "liberated" positions on the Golan Heights, should Syrian tanks once again race down the slopes towards the Sea of Galilee, should Israeli cities come under artillery barrage or katyusha fire from the State of Palestine, should Arafat or his heir invite in Iraqi or Iranian troops to attack Israeli cities from their suburbs, should the Palestinians or the Syrians or anyone else exploit Israel's return to its vulnerable 1949 borders to try--once again --to erase the state from the map, should the Arabs-- any Arabs--use non-conventional weapons against Israel, should any of these disasters take place--then Israel and the Jewish people must follow the lead of the inventors of political democracy, holding all the public promoters of this "peace" personally responsible.
This must include all those leaders who led the public down the primrose Oslo path, all those Shabtai Zvis who spoke of a New Middle East, all those who assured the public that a lasting and stable peace would result from Israel placing its neck back into the hangman's noose.
This must be done because it is the democratic thing to do. It is the Classical thing to do. It is the right thing to do.
Steven Plaut teaches in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Haifa.
Americans For a Safe Israel
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Outpost - 12 - May 2000