He has declared war on us By Yoel Marcus
Brains are not enough, you also need a little bit of luck in everything. Only last week, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared, with a visible measure of self-satisfaction, that Israel’s security situation today was very good.
“We have found a way that enables us to deal with terrorism effectively and without any need for escalation.” From now on, promised Sharon, “I will focus on economic matters.”
He had barely finished congratulating himself on his achievements when deadly terrorist attacks began to hit Israel’s civilian population in swift succession. Apparently, the Palestinian suicide-bombers had not heard over the radio that Sharon had found out how to deal with terrorism once and for all.
Ironically, the sticker on the rear window of the stolen car used to convey the suicide-bombers to the site of their lethal attack in Afula read “Sharon will bring us peace.”
As his election campaign promises steadily collapse, doubts are increasing regarding both his capacity to carry out his prime ministerial functions and his sense of judgment. What could have led him to assume that Israel’s security situation was “in very good shape” or that his “effective” war on terrorism would not generate any escalation? If this week’s terror attacks are not escalation, then what is?
In the nine months he has been in office, Sharon has taken not even one creative step – has not even made any “peace noises” – that could provide any hope whatsoever to either Israel or the Palestinians. The saddest fact of all is that, even as a general who has nostalgic memories of his glorious military past, he has failed to attain the very goal for which he was elected in the first place: to bring peace.
The media reports on the quarantine that the director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office, Uri Shani, has imposed in order to keep all access to Sharon to the barest minimum could end up feeding suspicions and rumors about the prime minister’s impaired ability to function or about a reduction in the quality of his performance. In any event, actions speak louder than words and, at this particular moment, Sharon is showing clear signs of leadership powerlessness.
In principle, Sharon has the potential as well as the power to make peace moves. Even if Sharon’s creativity is impaired and even if he has not come up with the initiatives and openness that Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has dreamt about, it must be admitted that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has given Sharon sufficient reason – in terms of violence, in terms of the number of dead Israelis, and in terms of incitement – to make the prime minister act like a zombie in any matter pertaining to peace.
However, it must also be noted that, throughout his career, Arafat has always been the good cow that fills the pail with milk and then kicks it over. Throughout his career, he has brought disaster down upon his own head. Black September, his banishment from Lebanon, his support for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and, in the past year, the violence and terror directed against Israel have one common characteristic: They all represent the same road to self-destruction.
What has led Arafat to allow such a cruel wave of terror to be unleashed while an American peace envoy is visiting here and while Sharon was visiting American President George W. Bush? What has Arafat gained except for the fact that, instead of Bush pressuring Sharon, the American president has issued Arafat a stern warning? Israel at least has proved that it is capable of giving up territory and demolishing settlements when it is facing a stable partner who honors a commitment to “lay down my weapons.”
The whole picture might have looked very different if Arafat had decided to follow in the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s steps and to buy Israelis with smiles and with a large quantity of goodwill. Instead of taking that path, Arafat has opted for the strategy of an armed struggle.
Arafat was the first to break the promise without which the Oslo accord would never have been signed – namely, his commitment that every dispute would be settled at the negotiating table. From late 1994 to this very day, there has been no real letup in Palestinian acts of terrorism and violence against Israel and within Israel. It is an undeniable fact that the Palestinian people is suffering; however, that suffering can to a large extent be traced to the terrorism that Arafat himself is orchestrating.
In any event, the waves of terror and the unending firing of mortar shells can be considered a declaration of war on Israel. Arafat can “express my sorrow” until he is blue in the face; however, his hands are soaked with blood. He has initiated a campaign of incitement. He has given extremist organizations and their members the green light, the permission, and the encouragement to participate in terror attacks and has displayed a sympathetic understanding for their actions.
Arafat has brought the Palestinian-Israeli dispute to a crossroads that could lead “Sharon’s Israel” to try to engineer the PA’s collapse or, alternatively, to carry out a frontal attack on the terrorist organizations in the very heart of the areas under the PA’s jurisdiction. This is Arafat’s moment of truth in which he can pull himself up by his own bootstraps and can do the things that must be done – without any false detours or fancy tricks – because, if he fails to follow this course of action, Sharon might just decide to do those things himself, and then may God have mercy on us all.
This is no way to arrive at a peace treaty, and this is no way to get an independent state.
The source: Haaretz (www.haaretzdaily.com).