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Jewish World Review June 16, 2003 / 16 Sivan, 5763 Hunting season By David Warren
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
"Roadmap to peace" is one of those sayings, like "the cycle of violence", so
fatuous that it blocks thought entirely, let alone clear thought. Such
expressions deny the very reality they pretend to describe. If a cliché is
to be insisted upon, I would choose "fight to the death" to describe the
present tussle between Israel and Palestinian terrorism. Both cannot
survive.
The cliché would also describe the current U.S. tussle with the survivors of
Iraq's Baath regime, and the Syrian and other terrorists who have leached
into Iraq to join them. Or, the tussle between the U.S.-protected Karzai
regime in Afghanistan, and the remnants of Al Qaeda, Taliban, Hezb-e-Islami,
and other "deadenders". These fights may not be very equal -- for in Iraq
and Afghanistan U.S. power is locally overwhelming, and the U.S. heartland
is far away. But they have the same absolute quality as Israel's much more
hand-to-hand struggle.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government seems to have reached the
conclusion it had to reach, eventually. It spent a considerable portion of
last year, destroying the bomb-making and other facilities of the
Fatah-associated militias of the West Bank, but left the worse problem of
Hamas-controlled Gaza largely alone. Now it has decided to "do Gaza".
President George W. Bush by fax: (202) 456-2461, (Andrew Card, Chief of Staff)
or by e-mail.
Dr. Condoleeza Rice, National Security Advisor, FAX (202) 456-2883, PHONE (202) 456-9491
Mr. Elliot Abrams, the Director for Near East and North African Affairs, at FAX (202) 456-9120, and by phone through his secretary Joanna, (202) 456-9121
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, 1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000 or by e-mail form:
http://www.defenselink.mil/
Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1010 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1010 or by e-mail form
http://www.defenselink.mil
Hamas is not dedicated to killing every Jew it can in response to Israeli
attacks on the Hamas leadership. Hamas is dedicated to killing every Jew it
can, period.
The targeted assassinations seem to be part of a larger mission of
annihilation, against Hamas. Western readers, unacquainted with the Arab
culture, too easily confuse rhetorical with physical responses. For sure,
the Hamas rhetoric increased considerably in volume, and broadened in
imagery, after the missiles slammed down around Rantisi's car. And Israel's
semi-public announcement, yesterday, that the Hamas "spiritual" leader,
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, is on the new list of targets, will crank the rhetoric
higher still. But this will not be the first time in modern Arab history
that an antagonist makes wild threats, while actually scuttling under the
nearest rock. (Remember Saddam?)
Everything else you've read in the papers is wrong. Israel has hardly
undermined the effort of Mahmoud Abbas to rein in the terror masters, since
the Palestinian premier has publicly announced he has no such intention. He
only asked for a "hudna" (temporary ceasefire) from Hamas, and Hamas
responded by spitting in his face. Mr. Sharon is thus doing Mr. Abbas a
favor, which the exigencies of Palestinian politics prevent Mr. Abbas from
acknowledging. The Israelis are removing on his behalf a domestic political
competitor that he could not possibly remove himself. Mr. Sharon may even be
increasing Mr. Abbas's life expectancy, by means of this favor.
Nor is Israel creating an impediment to negotiations with the Palestinian
Authority, but rather removing a major impediment -- the organization that
has vowed to sabotage them. The Sharon government is meanwhile proceeding
with the dismantling of the first 14 "illegal" Jewish settlements, as per
"roadmap" agreements. Far from choosing military over diplomatic tactics,
Israel continues to use both, and in complementary ways.
Israel is not even increasing the prospect of terror hits against Israel,
beyond the very short term. For if the IDF can succeed in damaging Hamas, or
even driving it entirely underground, the organization's prospects for
mounting terror raids will be reduced. And as we saw last year in the West
Bank, one of the best methods of reducing terrorism is to put the terrorists
on the defensive.
This is also the lesson of the American international campaign against Al
Qaeda -- the more you kill, the fewer there are left to kill you, and the
more the survivors are ducking for cover.
This is what the "war on terror" is about: war on terror. Every punch pulled
prolongs it.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. JWR contributor David Warren is a Columnist for the Ottawa Citizen. Click here to comment on this column. © 2003, David Warren | |||||||||||||
