From the EditorTHE FIRST ACTThe first act of the tragic drama (for Israel) entitled "The Peace Process" has come to a close as the Palestinian Authority under Arafat mounted its mini-war, using the opening of the Hasmonean tunnel as its pretext. This is of course just a foretaste of what is to come, an inevitable outgrowth of the policies pursued by Rabin-Peres. In this issue of Outpost, the article by Elyakim Haetzni provides an excellent summary of how the former Israeli government managed to turn the state from victor into victim by its own suicidal hand. Since Prime Minister Netanyahu is unwilling to state publicly what he knows privately, that the "peace" emperor has no clothes, he will be forced by the logic of his own rhetoric to continue the charade, producing more bloody denouements in the second and third acts. The U.S. government, media, and the "world community" have blamed Israel for being attacked. Israel should quietly continue on the Peres-path of throwing slices of territory to the wolves until, like Czechoslovakia in 1938, only the vitals are left. Hitler was quite prepared to sign peace agreements as long as the territory kept coming. It is also worth remembering that even after September 1939, when Hitler's invasion of Poland unleashed World War II, there was an eerie period of many months in which there was virtually no fighting, lulling many people in Europe and the U.S. alike into thinking there was no war. There was a term for this period -- the phony war. Since the infamous handshake, Israel has been in a parallel situation, except that the lull in fighting (confined to murders of Jews in buses, cars etc.) was called peace, rather than war. In other words, there has been a phony peace instead of a phony war. Arafat's target is not a tunnel but Hebron, Jerusalem, and ultimately the rump of Israel. It may seem good public relations to keep reiterating Israel's commitment to peace.
But until Israel's leaders are willing to face the fact that they are engaged in a real war--and take that position publicly -- they will be forced to continue on the path of territorial concessions. The consequence is that each phase of the war will be conducted under more unfavorable military conditions, for it is only a matter of time before neighboring Arab states enter the fray.
Equally serious, future phases of the war will occur under worse political conditions. The feeding frenzy among Western media and political leaders, whose attitudes toward Israel had supposedly softened as a result of the "peace process," is a sobering sign of things to come.
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SLEEPLESS IN GAZAThe Jewish residents of the Gush Katif bloc, in the Gaza Strip, have suffered through many a sleepless night in recent weeks, thanks to two troubling decisions by the Netanyahu government that have jeopardized the security of their communities. According to Yesha Report, the newsletter of the settlement movement, the Israeli Army --evidently with the approval of the government-- recently decided to permit Palestinian Arab motorists to travel on a road that passes directly between the Gush Katif bloc communities of Neve Dekalim and Ganei Tal. Two years ago, following the surrender of most of Gaza to the PLO, the Army prohibited all Arab traffic on the road--a logical step to prevent terrorists from having easy access to Israeli civilian targets. When the Army recently began allowing Arab traffic, Army officials promised settlement leaders that only a small number of Arabs would use the road, and none would be permitted during times when Jewish children are being bussed to school. Instead, however, large numbers of Arabs have been using the road, and they have been doing so at all times, including school hours. At the same time, the Army recently began allowing the PLO police to use the road connecting the Netzarim community to the Mediterranean Sea, which passes within very close proximity to homes in the town. This reverses the ban that the Army had imposed on Arab traffic on the road since the booby-trapped bicycle bomb attack there 18 months ago. Instead of simply doing what is necessary for the security of Israel's citizens--that is, banning Arab traffic from those sensitive roads--the Army has been gently asking the PLO to use an alternate road. Not surprisingly, the PLO has shown no interest in the Israeli request. Now that PLO policemen have shown that they are entirely capable of using their guns to murder Israelis, the policy of granting them access to a road that adjoins Jewish homes in Gaza makes less sense than it ever did.
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Outpost - 2 - October 1996
