[(Continued from p.10)]
peace in Israel. They want their own peace of mind among their friends, in their country clubs, at dinner parties. They don't want to defend unpopular causes no matter how just. They don't want to be perceived as "right wing" or conservative. They are comfortable with any secular and trendy left wing cause, even those which are directly inimical to Jewish security within our own borders. They are only comfortable when they are morally preening, singing in tune with the BBC News and ABC's Peter Jennings.Now that the Oslo process is unraveling, they are no longer useful to any cause. They remain just idiots.
More and more, we see confessions by long-time Jewish proponents of the "peace process" that they were "mistaken" in putting their trust in Arafat. That is as far as they go--it is Arafat, not the fundamental premise of the "peace process" that was at fault. To our mind, the best comment on this misreading of the situation comes from the Connecticut Jewish Ledger editorial of June 15, 2001.
"Blaming Arafat while ignoring the dynamic of the Arab culture and mind-set puts our judgments at risk. When Arafat leaves the scene, his successor will be accepted with renewed enthusiasm even when he makes the same promises that the West was just disabused of. The same people will buy the same rotten 'peace process' all over again because it's presented by a new face and persona packaged by the same media. Only the price--Jewish blood and land--will be higher. Now is the time for caution and care. Those of the left now moving right because Arafat can't be trusted are themselves suspect. That includes the Thomas Friedmans of the New York Times or Tommy Lapids in Israel and Eric Yoffies of the Reform. As long as they focus on Arafat himself and not the animosity and intransigence of the Arab world, they'll continue to put Israel and her people at risk."
Sharon's attempt to buy "sympathy" and "understanding" for Israel by failing to act in defense of her citizens has had the predictable result. The U.S. is solidly back in moral equivalency mode and moves are afoot in Brussels to try Sharon as a war criminal for failing to prevent the Sabra and Shatilla massacre in Lebanon 20 years ago. In connection with the latter, excerpts from a statement by Nagi N. Najjar, director of the Lebanon Foundation for Peace, are worth quoting.
Najjar writes: "Yes, a massacre took place in 1982, and it is a matter of public record who were the instigators and perpetrators. This was not the first massacre in Lebanon and probably not the last.
"That same Palestinian side that filed a complaint against Ariel Sharon in a Belgium Court is to blame for murders, distortion, and massacres, in Lebanon....
"It is the PLO, and all the Palestinian armed gangs that started the killings in Lebanon, establishing roadblocks, killing Christians during confession in Beirut, raping young girls in the fallen Christian town of Damour, Beirut, and Mount Lebanon....Why was the BBC not covering Arafat and his murderers slaughtering Lebanese Christians, women and children?....The Christian Lebanese are not murderers, they reacted to extreme violence perpetrated upon them by the Palestinians, supposedly peaceful guests in a country that welcomed them in 1948. This was a time when the Christian militias acted independently of the Lebanese State in order to protect the existence of the Christian community in Lebanon. Why did the Belgian Court not defend the Christian community in Lebanon from Palestinian gangsterism?
"Publicizing the name of Ariel Sharon in such an affair is nothing more than political blackmail from a respected country in Europe....Ariel Sharon is no terrorist nor evil. He is not Yasser Arafat who ordered the slaughter of the American diplomats in Khartoum, or the shootings at Italy's Airport, or the Achille Lauro affair, to the various bombings in Paris, and the assassination policies in London....
"Sabra and Shatilla was instigated and perpetrated by Elias Hobeika, a ruthless murderer working for Syrian Intelligence. Today his profession is giving Scuba lessons in a little seaport called Dbayeh 20 miles north of Beirut. If the Palestinians really want to see justice, the road within Lebanon is a much shorter road than the one of Brussels. Hobeika is responsible for a long list of massacres and murders against the Christians in Lebanon, the Muslims, the Druze and the Palestinians included. Yet, he does not fear justice as he is under the protection of his Syrian friends. The Kahan Commission report details his involvement....
"Taking issue with one massacre that took place in Lebanon at the expense of another is a dishonest action and is a dangerous political stand for Belgium, with dangerous consequences and repercussions that might precipitate unpredictable, negative reactions.
"Before indicting a brave General defending the only democracy in the Middle East, facing a fundamentalist Islamic enemy striking out at the West with no mercy, indict the ruthless Islamic despots that are using terrorism as an effective diplomatic action against the West and America. These Islamists use the same traits of Yasser Arafat that made him a famous man of "peace" by torching Embassies in the world, targeting U.S., Israeli, and foreign diplomats, destroying and hijacking airplanes, and planting terrorism as a daily seed of life. These are de facto policies today in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority."
Ruth King is a member of the executive committee of Americans For a Safe Israel.
June-July 2001 - 11 - Outpost