From the Editor

We Are War Criminals

It is hard to outdo the residents of Chelm, but the Israeli cabinet's lunatic moral posturing could well leave the Chelmites aghast. For some time, Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami and Justice Minister Yossi Beilin have been pressing for a cabinet vote to make Israel a signatory to the UN convention for the establishment of an International War Crimes Court. Israel, they have argued, "must be part of the family of nations that support the punishment of war criminals." There was a slight difficulty. When the convention to establish the court was approved at a conference in Rome in 1998, Israel's settlements were included in the list of war crimes to be punished by the Court.

Evincing an astonishing glimmer of rationality, Barak insisted Israel would not sign. The army brass had put pressure on him, protesting that the Arabs will have IDF officers defending Israeli communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza charged with war crimes. Even Israel's Attorney General, Elyakim Rubinstein, spoke up, arguing that Israel could not sign a document that turned its settlement activity into a war crime.

And so....the cabinet, including Barak, voted to sign the convention. It is now official. By decision of its own cabinet, the state is pronounced guilty of Crimes against Humanity.

The Lemon

Israel Radio correspondent Yoni Ben Menachem reports that Palestinian officials have nicknamed Prime Minister Ehud Barak "the lemon" because Arafat has squeezed so many concessions out of him. According to Ben Menachem, it is expected Arafat will continue to squeeze the lemon right up to the Israeli elections to obtain the maximum number of concessions "for the record."

Symbols and Foreshadowings

What can be expected from Ariel Sharon, should he be elected Prime Minister? He recently declared that he had never and would never shake Arafat's hand. A good omen. A symbol perhaps, but symbols are vital, nowhere more so than in the Middle East. (Netanyahu set the tone for his disastrous years at the helm by running to shake Arafat's hand.)

But now it turns out Sharon has sent a greeting card to Yasser Arafat in honor of the Id al-Fitr holiday. In it, he wishes "Arafat and his family" a happy holiday and expresses hope that the year will bring full peace for Israel and the Palestinians. A terrible omen. While Arafat organizes mayhem and murder against Israeli citizens, Sharon wishes him a happy holiday and bubbles about peace?

Worst omen of all: Sharon's campaign slogan is "Only Sharon Can Bring Peace." Rabin, Peres, Netanyahu, and Barak have all brought Israel "peace." To all but the terminally mad (a sizable proportion of the Israeli populace), it is now obvious this is the "peace" of extinction. Sharon's slogan should be "Only Sharon Can Deter Our Enemies." That would foreshadow hope.

When the Cow Stumbles

When the cow stumbles, the knives come out, is a well-known Arab saying. As Israel stumbles, the Arab knives glisten for all to see -- except the Israeli government, which stumbles more blindly with every slash to its hide. When Arafat launched his mini-war after Camp David II, Barak first declared there must be a total cessation of violence before negotiations could resume. A couple of bloody weeks later, he lowered his demand to "a substantial reduction in Palestinian violence." Then on December 16, Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami announced on Israel television that Israel had dropped all preconditions and was ready to negotiate under fire.

Nor are the only knives Arab knives and the only wounds those that draw physical blood. As Israel gives up its historic claims and religious rights, the international media adopts the Arab frame of reference. The New York Times of December 16, next to a photo of rioting Arabs on Jerusalem, refers to "Haram al Sharif, known to Jews as Temple Mount." This is a truly incredible identification: the site of both great Temples of the Jewish people, central to the story of Jesus as well, is now the "Haram al Sharif" for the "newspaper of record," the New York Times. It shouldn't be long now before the New York Times refers to the Western Wall as the PLO now ostentiously does, as "the Burak Wall." Palestinian Authority officials, Arafat among them, have already de-

(Continued on p.9)

Outpost               - 2 -               January 2001