Posted on 06/22/2002 12:36:19 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
It's nearly impossible to write a column on the Middle East these days with original points and analysis. The same doublespeak, the same lying, the same violence is constantly cycling. The Middle East situation is like a nightmare playing over and over again, as if it were a broken record.
While you would think the situation would be clear to most, the Mideast is anything but clear. Near the beginning of the launch of "Operation Enduring Freedom," President Bush stated that you can't negotiate with terrorists. However, Israel and the United States are attempting to negotiate with terrorists – they don't call Yasser Arafat the "father" of modern-day terrorism for nothing.
There are two main reasons that the Mideast is in chaos: first, an endless stream of print and broadcast propaganda that is spread throughout the region; second, the so-called "Palestinian leader," Yasser Arafat, who continues to stir up and incite violence with no consequence.
One of the greatest problems affecting the Middle East situation is the constant propaganda that is spewed from the Arab world. Mideast terrorists and leaders are constantly coming into public view to morally equalize terrorism with Israeli attacks and retaliation. In the Saudi state-funded Arab News, for example, the deputy editor-in-chief wrote concerning terrorism, "What [Bush] wants the Arab world to 'condemn and act against' is resistance, in all its forms, to the Israeli occupation."
However, this is one of the few times one is able to read such propaganda in English, because the majority of such propaganda is televised over "Palestinian" and Israeli airwaves in Arabic. The Israeli military destroys Arab television stations not because they are against the free press, but to dismantle 24/7 propaganda outlets.
The single greatest problem facing the Middle East today has a name: Yasser Arafat. Arafat does nothing but speak for peace plans in English one day and cry for war and bloodshed in Arabic the next. It has become obvious to nearly everyone that the Palestinian Authority chairman is nothing but a dictator with no real plans for peace.
When full peace plans are ready and set to be negotiated, Israel gets nothing in return but terrorism. Late last year, the Israeli government was moving forward and willing to work toward a Palestinian state, but, days later, an Israeli cabinet member was assassinated.
With the endless cycle of attacks, retaliation, attacks, more retaliation, and so on, the situation has caused gridlock and is almost impossible to resolve. However, the only viable solution that will stop the gridlock and start peace is the destruction and surrender of either side.
The destruction and surrender of either side would be a difficult thing to do, but possible.
Israel has the chance to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, but the repercussions of such an action would be too difficult to bear. Those consequences are what have kept the United States from taking action and supporting a strong Israeli attack against Palestine.
Those repercussions could include all-out war in the Middle East, with even nuclear and biological weapons. Earlier this month, at a dinner in Spain honoring European Union Middle East envoy Miguel Moratinos, Yasser Arafat hinted that those certain capabilities were available.
Furthermore, the consequences of sponsoring an all-out Israel attack against and destruction of Palestine could include an Arab oil embargo against the United States. While our "friends," the Saudis, and other Arab countries continually assure us that they will not use oil as a weapon, it leads most to believe that they don't mean what they say.
Although these scenarios are extremely difficult for any leader to bear, they are inevitable if the United States continues our alliance with Israel. Therefore, the road we are going down now is merely putting off what will come.
Still, both countries will manage through it, because action must be taken. While the consequences will result in a great spike in oil prices, lives taken and economies turned upside down, no one ever said peace would be easy.
Instead, Israel should announce the following policy:
After each new terror attack, the IDF will take and hold a 1K wide strip on the PA side of the Green Line. It may be wider or narrower in specific locations as suits the terrain, or the land may be taken in chunks where it will best suit the Israeli tactical advantage. (There are 6,000 square kilometers in the West Bank, annex a total of 100 to 200 square kilometers after each attack.) Push all the muslims eastward out of this 1K strip into the rest of the PA, let Arafat feed and house them.
Turn the 1K strip into a cordon sanitaire, a free fire zone which is as good as the billion dollar mega wall at preventing infiltration, and has the benefit of being moveable eastward as needed. Any non IDF seen in the 1K strip are to be fired upon immediately.
Bulldoze every structure in the 1K strip and truck away the rubble. Leave not one house for the Palestineans to demand to return to. Tell them "you have no house here, this land is lost to you forever. Thank Hamas, Hizbollah and Islamic Jihad for the loss of your land."
After each new attack, move the cordon sanitaire strip 1K eastward, and permit Israelis to settle the now fallow land previously taken.
Eventually the Palestineans will either revolt against their terrorist organizations for causing the loss of their land, or they will find themselves all in refugee camps in a few tiny patches right against the Jordan River.
(The giant billion dollar wall now being built is a mistake: it grants permanent control over the land on the other side to the Palestineans, no matter what future atrocities they may commit, or what heavy weapons they smuggle in.)
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