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Posted on 07/04/2002 3:31:17 PM PDT by xvb
Israel's best friend in the White House
By JONATHAN ROSENBLUM
Who says there are no miracles today? President George W. Bush's long-awaited speech on the Middle East, in which he upset the applecart of cherished assumptions on which Middle East diplomacy has been based for more than a decade, certainly qualifies. At least if you believe the pundits, not one of whom came close to predicting what the president would say.
If a speech can be judged by those it ticks off, then Bush's was a smasheroo. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was reportedly so revolted that he could not bear to listen to the end. No doubt he was indignant at the snub administered to his erstwhile "peace partner" and co-Nobel Laureate. In calling for a new Palestinian leadership, Bush did not even deign to mention Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat by name.
Peres was not the only one thrown into a tizzy. The other architects of Oslo correctly saw the speech as a rebuff to their cherished dreams. Former justice minister Yossi Beilin claims that making peace is "easy." And that's true, if by making peace one means only drawing a line on a map and getting the parties to mumble suitable formulas.
If peace, however, means real personal security for Israelis and Palestinians, it requires hard work. From now on actions count, not words - not even words enshrined in written agreements. Such agreements have no meaning where the parties have no credibility, and as the president made clear, Arafat has no credibility.
No longer will it be sufficient for Secretary of State Colin Powell to twist Arafat's arm into condemning suicide bombing. If the Palestinians want anything in return, they will have stop the terrorism directed at Israeli civilians.
Since the end of Operation Defensive Shield, Israel has intercepted nearly 30 suicide bombers and destroyed more than 80 explosives labs. The comparable figures for the Palestinian Authority are zero and zero, despite the far greater ease with which it can obtain intelligence about its fellow Palestinians.
Such Palestinian inaction will no longer be tolerated. Rather, it will be seen for what it is - clear proof that the PA is "encouraging, not opposing, terrorism."
No longer will American diplomacy focus on producing new symbols of life for the "peace process" - e.g., written agreements, international conferences - but on substance. The peace process, which has claimed more than 800 Israeli sacrifices over the past nine years, has become too hungry a Moloch to continue feeding.
Meretz leader Yossi Sarid and former foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami dismissed Bush's speech as "unrealistic" in its call for a Palestinian democracy. Perhaps they are right that there will never be a Palestinian democracy. But if so, there will never be peaceful coexistence between Israel and a Palestinian state either, and we should immediately stop pretending otherwise. Oslo, after all, was not just a recipe for achieving a Palestinian state, but for peace and security for Israelis as well.
In refusing to consign the Palestinian people forever to the rule of a thugocracy, the president vindicated the central insight promoted by Housing and Construction Minister Natan Sharansky, almost alone, for nearly a decade: Without a Palestinian democracy, peace is impossible. Totalitarian regimes like the PA exist for the benefit of the rulers, not the governed. (Think of the 20% of Palestinian VAT receipts deposited directly into Arafat's personal bank account.)
Dictators depend on controlling the minds and bodies of their citizens in order to retain their hold on power. Nothing serves their need to distract their subjects from their own suffering like continual warfare and fomenting hatred of an external demon. The ongoing incitement against Jews and Israel in the Palestinian educational system and media is thus an inevitable consequence of Arafat's desire to retain power.
ISRAELI DOVES were not the only ones outraged by the most pro-Israel speech ever delivered by an American president. Former State Department Middle East hand Richard Murphy whined that Bush is demanding too much from the Palestinians and not enough from Israel.
Murphy conveniently ignored the fact that for nearly a decade the only concrete concessions have been Israel's. During the life of Oslo, 98% of Palestinians came under Palestinian self-rule, while Israelis gained neither peace nor security.
Even more dramatic were the changes in Israeli public opinion, which today accepts by large margins the idea of a Palestinian state and of evacuating isolated settlements. In the meantime, the Palestinians remain unbudging in the same positions as 1993.
Now, said the president, it is finally the Palestinians' turn to go first. The basic Oslo formula of land for peace was predicated on Israeli territorial concessions in return for Palestinian promises to renounce terrorism, recognize Israel, and stop incitement. Those promises proved infinitely recyclable, and neither the Americans nor successive Israeli governments paid much attention to Palestinian compliance.
When former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu tried to do so, he was labeled by the Clinton administration an obstacle to peace. Today President Bush echoes Netanyahu's refrain: If they give, they'll receive; if they don't give, they won't receive.
The prestigious American press - Oslo's longtime cheerleaders - weighed in with their own predictable criticism of Bush. As if in unison, the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times all took him to task for failing to provide a timetable for the Palestinians to receive their state.
That criticism completely misses the president's central point: a Palestinian state is not inevitable; it must be earned. Thus there can be no timetable.
Today the Palestinian street is in the throes of a euphoric belief that terror has advanced the Palestinian cause. Two-thirds of Palestinians, according to a recent poll, think the past 21 months of violence have brought them closer to their goals. And those goals are ever escalating. A majority of Palestinians now admit that their goal is the destruction of Israel.
Bush sought to pour cold water on the Palestinians' manic expectations by telling them bluntly, "A Palestinian state will never be created by terror."
While his speech caught everyone by surprise, it should not have. As Jeff Ballabon, a leading Jewish Republican activist, points out, Bush has been remarkable in his consistency. He has never met with Arafat. While sympathizing with Palestinian suffering, he has never used that suffering to "explain" Palestinian terrorism. And in the face of repeated calls to become more involved in Middle East peacemaking, he has remained ever mindful that the years of intense American involvement resulted only in unprecedented carnage. Those who missed these essential lines were simply too busy listening to State Department officials trying to force the president into the traditional patterns of thought.
Finally we have a man in the White House who really does believe in something other than triangulating according to the latest polls. Bush is no moral relativist nor a student of realpolitik. The most striking thing about his speech was his insistence on seeing the Middle East through the lens of his own deepest values. For Bush, terrorism cannot be evil when directed at Americans, but justifiable when directed against Israelis. Democracy cannot be good for Americans but not for Palestinians.
The clarity of vision President Bush displayed last week makes him truly Israel's best friend ever in the White House.
“President Bush has been a tremendous friend to Israel. In fact, I don’t think we’ve had a better friend.”Benjamin Netanyahu. Meet the Press. Sunday, April 28, 2002, 14:43 a.m.“There is no substitute for moral and strategic clarity.”--Benjamin Netanyahu. Address to the United States Congress, September 20, 2001. National Public Radio, September 20, 2001
Do not forget that George W. Bush is the quintessence of the American Heartland and that it is in the Heartland that the American spirit and genius are strong, healthy, and florishing. The Heartland, unlike the decadent "Liberal" enclaves of America, is still in ascendancy.
The American Heartland is the greatest hope of the world, and George W. Bush is its representative.
They're all busy leading the "America is the most hated nation on earth" crowd.
Anyone notice the huge upswing in anti-America stories in the european and American press?
Including, for about two straight weeks, an agonized Rush Limbaugh who could speak no good of whatever of Dubya on his program. Rush did a 180 degree about face after Bush's speech.
"Ultimately, Israelis and Palestinians must address the core issues that divide them if there is to be a real peace, resolving all claims and ending the conflict between them. This means that the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 will be ended through a settlement negotiated between the parties, based on U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338, with Israeli withdrawal to secure and recognize borders."
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The clarity of vision President Bush displayed last week makes him truly Israel's best friend ever in the White House.
If that's not a ringing endorsement I don't know what is.
Click here for English translation.
Tim Snodgrass had a vision of the Lord dividing the U.S. along the New Madrid fault because Bush chose to divide Israel by forming a Palestinian state. Then he saw a 9+ quake on the West Coast. Jehoshaphat incurred the wrath of God by forming an alliance with evil Ahab, and Bush could do the same.
Tim Snodgrass' vision of New Madrid dividing the U.S. and a 9.0 West Coast quake
NEW MADRID--WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Wednesday Was a Very Unusual 'News Day' in Washington
Bill Koenig: 10 Major U.S. Events Since the Madrid Conference
Super Volcano In **Yellowstone** National Park
Series of Earthquakes Shake **Mount Hood**
Seismicity in the last two weeks in U.S. - Map
NEIC: Near Real Time Earthquake List
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