From the Editor

Reverse Transfer

In this Outpost, we confront a problem of great importance that most Jews both in Israel and the Diaspora have ignored or denied: the unwillingness of both the Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria and of the Arab minority in Israel to accept Jewish sovereignty in any part of the Land of Israel. As Israeli analyst Michael Widlanski points out, extremist Islamic values are being imposed on Arab Israeli towns; there is a significant push by Israeli Arabs for political and geographic autonomy; and there is direct involvement in terrorism by Hebrew-speaking Israeli Arabs.

In view of all this, we use the word that few dare speak -- transfer. (To be sure when it comes to transferring Jews from "settlements," it is a word that trips from almost every tongue.)

Yet what is actually going on now is a reverse transfer, as large numbers of Arabs are illegally settling within Israel in its 1949 borders. In other words, even as the government announces that accepting a "right to return" of Arab refugees to Israel in its pre-1967 borders is out of the question, it is turning a blind eye to the fact that "the right to return" is being illicitly implemented on the ground.

In an article in Ha'aretz (August 31) entitled "A Scandalous Security Failure," journalist Ze'ev Schiff reports that it is estimated that there are now in Israel 150,000 shabahim (this is the Hebrew acronym for "those who are illegally present in Israel," the phenomenon being so obvious Israelis have a term for it). He reports, for example, estimates of up to 14,000 shabahim in the city of Umm al-Fahm alone.

Schiff describes how the shabahim serve the P.A.'s terror operations: "Through the shabahim, they are able to penetrate various social classes among the Arab citizens of Israel. The shabahim pick up some Hebrew, get to know the terrain...they are targeted for the needs of Palestinian terrorism, beginning with intelligence missions and extending to the storage and transfer of weapons and explosives. This has become clear from a number of suicide bombings and other terrorist operations. Many shabahim take advantage of their presence in Israel to enter into what the police call a 'blue' marriagein other words, to obtain a blue Israeli ID card and Israeli citizenship."

Liberal Fundamentalism

Our thanks to the Rev. George Massay for the term "liberal fundamentalism," which perfectly describes the mindset of many liberals who despise religious fundamentalists but cling to their own secular orthodoxies with passionate fervor. Indeed, liberal fundamentalists are apt to grow even more fanatical when their dogmas are shown to be false.

Shimon Peres offers a splendid example of a liberal fundamentalist. Nothing shakes his faith, certainly not ten years of murder and mayhem stemming from the Oslo accords. Speaking to the United Nations on September 18, Peres announced his vision of a New Middle East was still intact. He praised Fatah for calling for a democratic political system (never mind that Fatah calls -- and acts -- for Israel's elimination). And he performed his familiar sleight of hand, turning terror into an abstraction that can be fought without reference to terrorists: "While fighting terror, let's not fight people."

To be sure, Peres gives even liberal fundamentalists a bad name, for he is a fool with few equals in the annals of politics. Last month, we provided quotes from The Federalist Papers and Peres. This month, here is Pulitzer prize-winning author David McCullough: "History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are."

And here is Shimon Peres: "It is a great mistake to learn from history. There is nothing to learn from history." (Ma'ariv, May 23, 1996)

Dishonorable Honors

As our universities (especially elite ones) increasingly become centers for the repression of thought, it can scarcely come as a surprise that they bestow honors upon those who represent all the liberal arts should shun. Nonetheless, a couple of particularly egregious examples are worth noting.

The University of Pennsylvania (which has a large Jewish student body) gave an honorary degree this year to Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawn. Here are excerpts from a letter by a rightly indignant alumnus, Venlow J. Wolfsohn. Remarkably, the University of Pennsylvania alumni journal published it:

"Obviously very little research was done covering the thought processes of Eric Hobsbawn before the

(Continued on p.11)

Outpost               - 2 -               October 2002