[(Continued from p.4)]
To return to Barak's offer as a status quo ante is simply unfair. It reeks of rewarding the PLO instead of holding it to account. How can we legitimize our own war against international terrorism even as we reward an arch terrorist whose resume is as full of evil purpose and deed as Osama bin Laden's?Mr. Secretary, you describe a putative independent Arab state between the Jordan River and Israel's population centers. Such a state cannot bring stability to the area. Furthermore, it is wrong to name it Palestine. Palestine is the historical name for the land mass including present day Israel, Judea-Samaria, and Jordan. Words have consequences and the name "Palestine" can only further incite irredentism. It can only be a brief period before the Palestine Liberation Organization remakes itself into the Palestine Unification Organization, hell bent on taking over all of the land on both sides of the Jordan River.
Mr. Secretary, we are all rightfully insulted by racial profiling. Just see how the Arab media describes and depicts Jews in editorials and cartoons. The dehumanizing viciousness of Arab media is truly reminiscent of Nazi incitements. The Israelis want a real peace, not suicide masquerading as peace. The Arabs want the Jews dead and out of the area. Listen to what they say in their newscasts and editorials and sermons in Arabic. Israel did not seek the hatred and the terrorism. It came to them fomented by all Arab states, including the so-called "moderates" like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
This is what Israel is up against. Some will try to disarm and weaken Israel by false promises and blandishments. Others are waiting for the onslaught. Even total withdrawal by Israel and the dismantling of all the towns of Judea-Samair and Gaza will not satisfy the lust for war by Israel's neighbors. You cannot make a tiger a vegetarian by feeding it all the meat it wants. Special envoys to the Middle East only entrap America in failed and dangerous policies contrary to our national interest. Only patience, deterrence, and unshakable support by America for Israel can discourage Israel's enemies. Our great nation cannot be party to the end of Israel.
Democracies are free to choose loyal friends and allies and reject enemies of freedom and civilization. Our nation is now embarked on a just cause. We cannot abandon real friends for momentary acquiescence from temporary allies. Destiny has rewarded your good works and your perseverance by putting you at the center of our nation's policy decisions during an historic era. May wisdom, fairness, and devotion to justice guide your hand.
Ruth King is a member of the executive committee of Americans For a Safe Israel.
"From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime." So spoke President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attack on the United States. Two months later, the President has made a 180 degree turn. Calling for a state of Palestine, he is prepared to reward terror as long as the terror is directed against Israel. And that means even if the campaign against Bin Laden and the Taliban proves entirely successful, this country's war against terror has failed at the outset.
The Taliban government of Afghanistan harbored terrorists. The Palestinian Authority goes beyond this. As journalist Michael Gove has trenchantly observed in the Times of London, "it is not just that Arafat's territory harbours terrorists. [His regime] is terrorist. Militarily, culturally, spiritually. Just as much as any totalitarian regime from our dark continent's 20th century." It is militarily terrorist because Arafat's own presidential guard and its allied forces engage in terror against Israeli targets. The Palestinian Authority's summer camps train children to become terrorists. Terror is Arafat's chief negotiating tactic. The Palestinian Authority is culturally terrorist: it produces endless streams of anti-Jewish invective, on radio, television, in newspapers, in schoolbooks. And it is spiritually terrorist: its "spiritual leaders," their speeches broadcast on official Palestinian radio, inveigh against Israelis as "sons of monkeys and pigs," and worse.
Arafat is the father of modern terror, with bin Laden having merely bettered his instruction. It was Arafat who fathered plane hijacking, when he arranged for an El Al plane to be hijacked to Algeria in 1968. Two years later, Arafat was responsible for the hijacking of four planes. He was responsible for the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He has directed terror against the U.S. as well as Israel, and was responsible for the murder of the U.S. Ambassador and Charge d'Affairs in the Sudan in 1973. As Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor recently pointed out, the State Department (courtesy of Israeli intelligence) even has the audiotape of Arafat giving the order to have the American diplomats killed. There is no statute of limitations on murder.
While U.S. policy on Arafat may seem inconsistent, it is easy to see the considerations that drive policy. In its global war on terror, the United States wants to maintain the backing of a coalition of Moslem states, especially "moderate" Arab states, and what it hears from them is that they need a quid pro quo for their support, namely pressure on Israel to achieve "justice for the Palestinians" in order to mollify their volatile "street." No doubt they also whisper a siren message that many in the administration are eager to believe: if you provide "justice for the Palestinians," the hatred for the U.S. in the Islamic
[(Continued on p.6)]
December 2001 - 5 - Outpost