From the Editor BACK TO KISHINEV On the op-ed page of the New York Times on March 1, following the first Jerusalem bus bombing, Ori Nir, Palestinian Affairs correspondent of the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, wrote that Israel should not have assassinated Yahya Ayyash, the "Engineer" responsible for several bus bombings. Nir said that "a six month lull in suicide bombings" was broken because Ayyash's death "gave Hamas's military leaders a pretext to strike back." Therefore, he reasoned, Israel must not take revenge for the latest suicide bombings. "Israel must not sacrifice the peace process in its efforts to fight the militants. Mr. Peres should back off from his demand that Mr. Arafat crush Hamas." The implications of Nir's arguments are far-reaching. Following Nir's model, Israel cannot react against those who murder its citizens. What then sets the limits for further terror? Presumably, Israel must wait until the murderers grow tired of murdering--a situation remarkably similar to that of the Jews in many parts of the world prior to the establishment of Israel. There is nothing more debasing than this. Chaim Bialik's famous and scathing poem, "City of Slaughter," told of the shameful behavior of Kishinev's Jews during the 1903 pogrom as they watched their wives and daughters raped and murdered. They did not move nor stir nor did they go out of their minds... Great is the pain and great is the shame Say, oh Son of Man, which is the greater. One of the great achievements of the state was to save the Jews from this profound degradation. Jews would now have the ability to defend themselves and their families and lead lives of dignity and honor. Nir prefers Kishinev. Wives and children murdered and the Jews avert their eyes, clean the blood, scrape away the flesh and crawl into their holes. Reminiscent of the ghettoes of old, the Jews of Israel have even begun building fences and walls. It is sickening to think that Israel transforms itself into a cross between a ghetto and a concentration camp, with the novel twist that the Jews own the grounds. THE TERRORISM SUMMIT The summit of world-leaders-to-reward-terrorism met in Sharm el-Sheikh on March 13. Admittedly, that was not the intention of the summit convenors, but it is certain to be the consequence. Arafat has learned that terror not only pays but brings a bonus. As a direct result of the last wave of atrocities, Arafat is not only to receive more American aid, but to obtain U.S. intelligence,

DANIEL O. GRAHAM LT. GENERAL U.S.A. (Ret.) d. 31 December 1995 Americans For a Safe Israel mourns the death of the founder of High Frontier, who did his best in promoting novel science and technology for the defense of all against sudden attack. supposedly to help him suppress Hamas. We already know the consequences for Israel of sharing its intelligence with the PLO. It uses the information provided by Israel's General Security Service to eliminate collaborators, warn Hamas, and preempt Israeli strikes. Transmitting American intelligence to Arafat, as the Center for Security Policy's Frank Gaffney points out, will "acquaint the terrorists with the nature and capability of U.S. intelligence, allowing them to tighten up operational security and to liquidate possibly irreplaceable American sources of information." It is an understatement to say the summit was counterproductive. In any event, the purpose of the conference was not to combat terror but, in Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's words, "to save the peace process." Saving the "peace process" at this point means reelecting Shimon Peres, the terminal dreamer (to use David Bar-Illan's apt phrase), who has turned Israel's daily life into a nightmare. Outpost is published by Americans for A Safe Israel 147 East 76 St. - New York, NY 10021 tel (212) 628-9400 / fax (212) 988-4065 Editor: David Isaac Editorial Board: Ruth King, George Rubin, Herbert Zweibon. Outpost is distributed free to members of Americans for A Safe Israel. Annual membership: $50.

Outpost               - 2 -               March 1996