OSLO, THREE
YEARS LATER
Elyakim Ha'etzni
Editor's note: The following essay was published in Yesha Report of September-October 1996 by a former member of the Knesset and resident of Kiryat Arba, who has been one of the most incisive critics of the so-called peace process.
While this essay was written before the mini-war between Israel and the Palestinian Authority at the end of September, the recent violent eruption underscores the madness of the previous Israeli government, which made this conflict -- and much worse ones in the future --inevitable. To add to the surreal quality of these events, Shimon Peres,
on the first day of battle, announced on Israel TV that the last four years were the best in Jewish history! In fact, the policies of the past four years are likely to go down in world history -- not just Jewish history -- as unique. Has there ever been a government so suicidal, so arrogant, so stupid, as that of Israel, 1992-1996?
The third memorial day of the Oslo accords fell not far from the Day of Atonement, a perfect time for heshbon nefesh -- self-examination.
First, a short recapitulation of Israel's position one day before Oslo. Ehud Barak, then IDF Chief of Staff, and "Boogy" Ya'alon, then military commander of Judea-Samaria, had the intifada almost totally subdued. There were but few wanted terrorists and weapons still at large. The PLO was bankrupt and,
following Arafat's miscalculated alliance with Saddam Hussein, ostracized by most Arab states. Arafat's influence inside Israel, too, was on the decline, for lack of means to finance his followers. Hamas was as yet of no real significance. The Soviet military and logistical mainstay of most Arab states and terror organizations was no more.
Thanks to a huge wave of aliya from the former Soviet Union, the "demographic demon" was on the wane. The economy was on the upswing. Oil prices were low and the Arab oil weapon dead. In the U.S., a new president was elected, who "owed" the Jews and whose interest was focused on the economy and other domestic problems, rather than on Middle East adventures.
Never had Israel had it as good as in 1992. But if we take stock of what has transpired over the last three years, a very different picture emerges.
* The number of terror victims has doubled. We have completely lost control over weapons in Arab Yesha,* which as a result has turned into one huge arsenal. Our Arab intelligence network with whose help we reaped successes without parallel in the Western world, has been utterly destroyed. For the first time since the foundation of our first self-defense organization,
* Yesha = a contraction of the Hebrew initials of Yehuda (Judea), Shomron (Samaria), Aza (Gaza).
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Hashomer, almost one hundred years ago, Israel is dependent on a foreign intelligence service, the "security" arm of the PLO.
* Iran and Hamas turned belligerently active -- reacting to the "Peace Process."
* Courtesy of Israel, the PLO has been totally rehabilitated and granted an entree into the Arab and Western worlds. Billions of dollars have been collected for its regeneration; its entire apparatus has been brought over from Tunis.
* A foreign army, the PLO "police," soon 50,000 strong, has been introduced into the Land of Israel, armed by Israel with assault rifles. In addition, it is arming itself with heavy arms clandestinely, as has been recently discovered.
* The entire Tunis apparatus, as well as the army personnel, complete with their families, together with a huge influx of Arabs from the outside have poured in through the porous Oslo entrance arrangements. Later on, the 1967 "displaced" Palestinians, estimated at over a million, are to drastically and irrevocably change the demographic balance in all western Eretz Israel -- even before the start of the "Final Status" talks concerning the 1948 refugees.
* Internal security has been undermined by the transformation of eight Arab cities in Yesha into training and refugee bases for Arab gangs committing murder and theft in Israel. These cities of refuge are closed to Israel, but Israel is wide open to them.
* Economic exploitation: massive dumping of produce which is destroying Israel's agriculture; supply, almost gratis, of electricity, water and telecommunication services; losses of foreign aid in favor of the Palestinian Authority (for instance, the annual 140 million Mark remittance by the German Federal Republic); loss of
Never did Israel have it as good as in 1992. But if we take stock of what has transpired over the last three years a very different picture emerges.
custom dues in the amount of tens of millions of dollars from the smuggling into Israel of goods destined for the autonomy areas; the transfer of income tax derived from work in Israel to the PA, a grant hitherto unknown in the world; a hidden subsidy of billions of shekels, in the form of 40,000 car thefts annually, as well as stolen livestock, computers and agricultural equipment.
* The Palestinization of the Israeli Arabs, casting doubt on their loyalty to the state, especially in time of war.
* The depletion of the country's water reserves by wildcat drillings in Gaza, which have already salinated the wells in the area. Illegal drilling in Jenin also
(Continued on p.6)
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