Oslo Comes Home to Roost

When Israel´s Labor Party is routed in the January 28 general elections - as most polls indicate it will be - what was once the nation´s most powerful political force will have arrived at the destination it clearly set out for back in 1993, but refused to believe it would reach.

It´s been a long time coming, and has caught few people by surprise. After 26 months of unrelenting violence against Israel´s citizens, Labor is finally reaping the bitter political fruits of the "peace" process it planted nine years ago. The lacklustre party primaries for Labor´s Knesset list was in many ways a repeat of the half-hearted effort that went into choosing party leader Amram Mitzna last month. Only around half of those elegible to vote in the party primaries bothered to do so. With all the votes now in, it is apparent that Israel´s socialist democratic party is on the way out. "Gently into Labor´s dark night" was how left-wing Israeli journalist Daniel Ben Simon headlined his commentary on the affair.

As his own party plodded dismally on with its voting process, Mitzna lashed out at the Likud, whose Central Committee had turned out in full and eager force to fill its top slots with candidates strongly opposed to the Palestinian state the Labor leader longs for. The Likud was "a rightist movement [that lacked] any true ability to extricate us from the gloomy reality into which we have entered," Mitzna raved.

"Entered?" It sounded surreal, almost like a confession. But Israel never "entered" the dark and painfilled reality it finds itself in today. Rather, Mitzna´s Labor Party steered the country headlong into this mess.

Conceived in sin - when official meetings between Israelis and members of the terrorist PLO were illegal under Israeli law - "Oslo" was the brainchild of then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres who, together with midwives Yossi Beilin and Uri Savir, brought the illegitimate baby into the world on that sunny September day. Applauded globally, the recipient of billions of dollars in money, time and political capital, validated by a Nobel Peace Prize and pushed forward by powerful governmental bodies like the United Nations and the European Union, Oslo was nonetheless never destined for maturity. For what all its architects and supporters simply would not see through their visions and dreams of a ´New Middle East´ was that the Arab side never entertained any intention of living in peace with a Jewish state.

Despite the mounting evidence of its abject failure - much of it in dead Jewish bodies and ravaged Israeli families - Labor has refused even to consider that the policies it spawned and incubated are in any way to blame for the current "gloomy reality." But those who voted Labor into power and who have supported them since 1991, are now voting with their feet, abandoning the party in droves. And while elder statesman Shimon Peres had a secured position as number three in Labor´s new list, his Oslo co-architect Yossi Beilin has been pushed way to the end of the line and out of the party.

Thousands of years ago, God spoke strong words to Israel´s leaders who had betrayed their people by entering into a false peace agreement with their enemies, an agreement flawed with holes, bankrupt in every sphere of its existence. The prophet Ezekiel compared that agreement to a wall that designated the boundaries of the land, but which was built with untempered mortar, and whose collapse the Holy One would Himself bring about:

"So I will break down the wall you have plastered with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered; it will fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst of it. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. Thus will I accomplish My wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it with untempered mortar; and I will say to you, ´The wall is no more, nor those who plastered it, ´that is, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace,´ says the Lord God." (Ezekiel 13:14-16)

For Israel´s sake, may all those who use their power in this land to delude their people with false visions of peace that weaken Israel´s security and foment the hatred of its enemies be swept away with the remains of the Oslo process - into the trash bin of history.

Oslo was nothing more than a self-inflicted wound. It put Israel in an impossible situation since the whole thrust was that Israel could bring peace to the region by giving land. It puts the whole peace process squarely on Israel's shoulder. Yet, Israel doesn't have control of the peace process. Only the Arabs, who started the war, can make peace. There is nothing in their rhetoric, their actions, or their past that should have made Rabin or Peres believe they meant they would recognize Israel and settle quietly on the West Bank.

Oslo also failed because Israel capitulated their stand on Resolution 242. Resolution 242 left the final disposition of the land to Israel. Even though the Arabs have been shouting "illegally occupied" since 1967, the Resolution clearly shows that the UN said that Israel did not have to withdraw back to the 1967 lines, that Israel could set up borders that guaranteed secure borders, and in the end, Israel could trade land for peace as she did with Egypt with the Camp David Accords.

Yet, Israel, in principal, gave the land back to the Palestinians without asking the Palestinians anything in return. And even today, after 10 years of failure, after 10 years of lies, after a 2 year intifada that has claimed 611 Jewish lives, Israel still works to return to the Palestinians the land.

If I was a Palestinian, why would I need to change my behavior. I am getting everything I want through PR, Terror, and Fear.

Israel's inability to bring peace to a region plays right into Europe's anti-semitism. Europe does not hold the Palestinians guilty of any breech of contract/treaty. It is Israel's fault because Israel has the means to bring peace. Just give them what they want. It takes a severe case of self-imposed deception for Europe to believe that the Palestinians are the victims and not the instigators, yet Europe and our own State Department has developed such a case of blindness.

The other thing Oslo did was allow the Arabs to see how any other democracy might behave when faced with terror. They will back-down, guarantee, pay, do anything for the terror to stop. As Great Britain showed us in the 1940's, France in the 1960's, and Reagan in Lebanon... when faced with terror, the West will run away. Why should Arafat ever back down?

"Just give them what they want"

I am under the impression that Barak pretty much offered them what they asked for. So, maybe what they really want is not what they asked for.

"when faced with terror, the West will run away"

I have heard that this is not true of W. I don't believe W sees running as a viable choice, since running is likely to leave the U.S. still in danger.

Yes, Israel did that... but, the point I was making was that to Europe now the burden of peace making has moved to Israel. And if there is not peace, then obviously Israel is doing something that the Arabs are upset about. So to Europe, "just give the Arabs what they want..." Which of course, is all the territory of Palestine. From the Jordan to the Sea.

And for the last 100 years, the West has repeatedly backed up in the face of terror. W has stood his ground, but even when dealing with Israel and Palestine, his "you are either for the terrorists or against them" seems to be shaky. He is pushing for a Palestinian state which is the rewarding of terror. So far, I agree with W's stand on terror, but not the stand he takes when dealing with the Palestinians. He is double-minded here, and in this scramble to give these terrorists a state will be at Israel's expense.

I believe you are right... so far, that seems to be his goal. But we should also neutralize the Palestinian terror organizations also... not reward them with a state.

In my estimation, the thinking seems to be if you give the Palestinians a state, then the main reason for terror will leave since most terror organizations list Palestinian oppression at the hands of Israel the reason why there has to be terror in the first place.

To me, this stand is very very flawed. The Palestinians and the Arabs have made it clear that they have one goal in Palestinian terror-the destruction of Israel. They make no secret of it and 50 years of history confirms it. Yet... the world is tone-deaf and refuses to accept this reality.

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.