Posted on 10/16/2006 5:29:55 PM PDT by SJackson
Israel is led by people who are incapable of resisting unreasonable demands from our American friends.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his successor Ehud Olmert justified unilateral disengagement on the grounds that we were obliged to take initiatives to break the impasse in the absence of a Palestinian peace partner.
In order to implement this, 7,500 Israelis were uprooted from their homes and even now, a year later, most have yet to be permanently resettled. Subsequent events, climaxing with the Lebanon war, demonstrated the disastrous repercussions arising from this policy.
Today our enemies are emboldened. Some even believe their dream of destroying the Jewish state may now be realized.
Yet worse is in the offing. Facing enormous pressure from allies whose support they seek for the impending confrontation with the Iranians, Washington - which had hitherto steadfastly endorsed our refusal to negotiate with terrorists - has tilted its policy to appear more "evenhanded."
Once again it is urging us to bolster the "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.
THE REALITY is that despite wearing a suit and tie and talking to Westerners like a moderate, Abbas is simply paying lip service to a two-state policy - with the caveat that it must incorporate the "right of return" of Arab refugees; a prescription for our demise.
More importantly, before Hamas won the election Abbas reigned over a regime whose central pillars - cultural, religious and educational - were based on sanctifying the murder of Jews as a supreme religious and national objective.
Mothers of suicide bombers appeared on official PA TV exulting the martyrdom of their sons; PA broadcasts of sermons in mosques called on congregants to kill Jews; schools, kindergartens and summer camps brainwashed children into accepting suicide bombers as ultimate role models.
While occasionally condemning violence in remarks to the Western media, Abbas hailed families of suicide bombers as heroes and personally authorized them to receive a $250 monthly stipend. A recent PA Ministry of Culture book of the month honored Hanadi Jaradat, the suicide bomber who blew up 21 people at a Haifa restaurant. Wafa Idris, the first woman suicide bomber, has become a Palestinian role model for feminism. Football teams are named after "martyrs."
At least Hamas is honest about its evil intent to destroy Israel. But the reality is that Abbas's Fatah movement's armed wings are responsible for murdering far more Israelis than Hamas has.
TO MAKE matters worse, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is now actually urging Abbas to form a unity government with Hamas. The only obstacle is that Hamas insists on retaining its weapons and adamantly refuses - even insincerely - to express an incantation implying that it could ever accept the existence of the "Zionist entity."
Rice had previously coerced Sharon and his defense minister Shaul Mofaz into handing over control of the Philadelphi route between Sinai and Gaza to the Egyptians. Not surprisingly, the Egyptians reneged on their undertakings and a massive flow of armaments and terrorists have been pouring into Gaza along that route.
Yet today the Americans are pressing Israel to ease security requirements at all checkpoints for "humanitarian reasons," in order to bolster Abbas.
Rice had previously insisted that Israel endorse the transfer of weapons to Palestinian security forces to strengthen the PA. Although reluctant, Olmert agreed to do so in May on the grounds that "we need to help Abu Mazen." Rice has announced that the US will also fund the expansion of the Abbas Presidential Guard from 2,500 to 6,000 troops.
Nobody, including our own government, seemed concerned that since Oslo weapons provided to Palestinian security personnel had been used to murder Israelis. Nor has the government drawn attention to the fact that Abbas is still trying desperately to persuade Hamas killers to merge with the PA security, which already incorporates Fatah murderers.
ONE GAINS the impression that all the lessons of the Oslo disaster, including the pledge not to provide concessions without reciprocity, are being placed in cold storage.
Like a sick parody, we are once again operating on the premise that the PA - even as Kassams rain down on the south - is once again going to become our peace partner. And, worst of all, our government is trying to spin this sad reversal into a victory!
All this, of course, raises the oft-quoted analogies to the pre-WWII appeasement. In fact, the current situation may be worse.
In the 1930s, the Nazis had yet to demonstrate the full extent of their intent to implement mass murder. Today, however, the Islamic fundamentalists have already displayed a track record of murder and make no secret of their intentions.
The Iranian threat to wipe Israel off the map with a nuclear weapon, now emboldened by North Korea, creates a scenario for the next potential Tisha Be'av. Israel may soon be pressured to assume the role of Czechoslovakia in 1935, which was sacrificed on the altar of appeasement to enable the cowardly Europeans to achieve an illusory peace with the Nazis.
That betrayal gave birth to the Hitler of the Holocaust. Appeasing the Islamo-fascists now could also lead to untold consequences.
We have just ended a war in Lebanon which was ignited by the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by Hizbullah shortly after an earlier kidnap of a soldier by Hamas. All three soldiers still remain in captivity - yet we are being urged to negotiate with those seeking to form a coalition with all the kidnappers. According to reports, we have already conveyed a willingness to exchange 1,000 terrorists for one soldier; but Hamas rebuffed us.
We are currently being led by people who seem to have forsaken any vestige of common sense. Lacking the confidence of the nation they are incapable of resisting unreasonable demands from our American friends because, as lame ducks, they desperately need to cling to the coattails of the American administration.
IF REALPOLITIK obliges us to take steps that may weaken our security, we should at least do so under protest and inform our supporters of the dangers that such demands will impose on our future. By implicitly endorsing the nonsense being promoted about our moderate Palestinian "peace partners" we are paving the way for more demands and concessions that will undoubtedly cost us dearly in the future.
At the very least, we should be launching information campaigns to expose the hypocrisy and deceit of our fraudulent peace partners and reminding the world that appeasement emboldens and encourages terrorists everywhere.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.
also Keywords 2006israelwar or WOT [War on Terror]
----------------------------
Well, Rice is looking out for what is best for America .. not what is best for Israel. What did they expect?
Israel should expect nothing more, as the author notes.
The question Americans should ask is how supporting terrorist groups helps America. They're the same fellows killing our soldiers in Iraq.
Do you think support to Hamas strengthens America?
Hizbollah?
In fairness, the US should publically withdraw from it's role in Oslo, the Road Map, and the Egyptian treaty.
Well stated! The enemies of Israel are America's enemies as well.
Mayhaps it is time to "un-embolden" thy enemies.
Rice also knows Hamas will never recognize Israel's right to exist the issue is moot. What Israel needs now is not to pick a fight with the US, but to form a goverment that decisively
wins its wars as they used to.
Well, in fairness, having large hostile minorities [be they called Tamils, Albanians, Palestinians, Chechens, Abkhazians, or by any other name and in any place on this planet] is a losing proposition. Keeping them under permanent control can never be cost effective, for it means an open ended resource commitment. Expulsions or genocides, which could solve the problem, are out of fashion, and assimilation is out of question too. So what is left to do, besides keeping the status quo or the partition in some form? Sharon looked at the costs and chose partition.
Good point, however Israel should ask, "will America abandon one of her best allies in the world, Israel"?
I think not.
Israel will have the support of the U.S. that Israel has had since her conception as a sovereign nation and the respect the U.S. has for Israel will not fade. EVER!
That would be detrimental to the U.S. and Israel and a most formidable gain for terror groups world wide.
Sure, Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert blamed Rice for their actions. Politicians love to put the blame on someone else. But I seriously doubt whether Bush and Rice would have compelled them to uproot the settler if they had not assured Bush privately that that was what they wanted to do.
Sharon went around the bend and somehow got the idea that he wanted a "legacy" of being known as the man who made peace with the Palestinians. And Olmert is a leftist who is never happier than when he sics the IDS on the settlers.
This was Sharon's legacy: betrayal of the party that put him in office, betrayal of his country, and betrayal of his own earlier greatness as a military leader.
The only way this situation can be fixed is for the people of Israel to rise up, throw the bums out of office, and start anew with a decent leader.
Judging from Achmedinajad's and Nasrallah's comments (Nasrallah bragged that it was great for Jews to move to Israel so they be in a concentrated place to kill them), genocide is not out of style. This being the case, explusion of the Arabs should not be out of style either. Maybe we don't want to sink to the level of the Islamists, but throwing the Arabs out -- as Rabbi Kahane repeatedly called for -- is an excellent idea. He warned what would happen if we didn't throw them out and events have proved him right.
That's almost funny.
You will know if/when Israel ever again has such a Government when it tells an appeasing incompetent hypocrite who believes in spite of all reality and logic- especially post 9/11 while the US is itself fighting Islamic terror- that the creation of a "Palestinian" state would be "America's greatest legacy"--- to go to Hell.
REID MUST RESIGN!!!!!!!
And what's best for America is best for Israel.
It makes for a great bonding of nations IMO.
Our country's leaders seem incapable of decisive action. Many, many, many people predicted that giving up land for peace as they did in Gaza would not work because it does not work. It did not work in Israel. It did not work in Great Britain in 1939. Why would it work now? Has it ever worked? Why are we catering to the enemy? Why does the United States keep supporting totalitarian regimes, especially when the regimes are against close allies? Arafat lied over and over again as to his real intentions. We are plain nuts! That is, our leaders are nothing more than empty suits and skirts! We are just like the Democrats in the sense that, instead of taking action, instead of taking the time to understand the situation, we seem to want to hand over the decisions to the UN or anyone other that us.
What hostile minority does Israel have under control? Israel tried to give away the West Bank and Gaza in 2000. The palestinians wouldn't take it, they wanted Israel too. The attacks are external. What good does it do the US to arm and support the terrorists? To the tune of $240 million this year through USAID plus our UNWRA contribution, about 30% of their budget. The US and the Euros support palestinian terror just as the Chinese support North Korea. What do we get back?
Of course in this case all that might be required is inaction. With us or the terrorists, call us when you've made up your mind.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.