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February 13, 2012
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Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
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Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
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Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
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Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
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Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
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January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
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January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
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Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Dec. 23, 2003
/ 28 Kislev, 5764
Reading Sharon's mind
By
Daniel Pipes
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
In a much-noted speech last week, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ostensibly made a dramatic reversal in course. But I
am wondering whether to take his shift at face value.
Sharon announced that the "road map," a U.S. plan that envisions Israel and the Palestinians negotiating a settlement between
them, has only a "few months" left to live. If "the Palestinians still continue to disregard their part in implementing the road
map," he warned, "Israel will initiate the unilateral security step of disengagement from the Palestinians."
This "Disengagement Plan," he explained, will include "the redeployment of [Israeli] forces along new security lines and a
change in the deployment of settlements" to reduce the number of Israelis living among Palestinians. Security will be provided
by "[Israel Defense Forces] deployment, the security fence and other physical obstacles."
Perhaps the most startling element of this speech — because it is most at odds with Sharon's long-time views — was this
statement about the Israeli civilians living in the West Bank and Gaza: "There will be no construction beyond the existing
construction line, no expropriation of land for construction, no special economic incentives and no construction of new
settlements."
Though presented in a take-charge, active, and even somewhat bellicose manner, the Disengagement Plan sent three defeatist
messages:
- Palestinian terrorism works. Even as violence and attempted violence against Israelis continues (24 suicide attacks have
been thwarted just since Oct. 4, 2003), it grants several key Palestinian demands: more land under Palestinian Authority
control, removal of roadblocks in place to protect Israeli lives, and dismantling some Jewish habitations in the West Bank and
Gaza. Sharon appears to be hoping that concessions will appease the beast.
- Israel is in retreat. Sharon presented his plan as an ultimatum to the Palestinians, but, however aggressively wrapped, its
substance constitutes a capitulation. In the words of Ziad Abu Amr, a Palestinian academic and politician, as radical
Palestinians watch the debate in Israel unfold and note concessions being offered, "they don't think of it as a favor from
Sharon's government, they see it as an outcome of their struggle."
- Israelis are fearful. Passive obstacles — walls, road blocks, demilitarized zones, and the like — have the tactical utility of
reducing casualties and defining territory. But they are useless on the strategic level; they cannot solve the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict. No fence, however high, however deeply dug, however electrified and monitored, can win a war. To the contrary,
building a wall implies cowering behind it, hoping the enemy will not strike. And cowering signals to the Palestinians that they
enjoy the initiative and that Israel has gone into a defensive mode.
Taken at face value, then, the Sharon speech amounts to a major blunder; were its defeatist policies put into effect, they would
spur Palestinians to engage in more violence, and so delay a resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
But that's taking this speech at face value. Count this observer as skeptical that Sharon actually means what he says, for it too
starkly contradicts his known views, for example on the need for Israelis to control the West Bank. (In 1998, as foreign
minister, he urged Israelis there to "grab more hills, expand the territory. Everything that's grabbed, will be in our hands.
Everything we don't grab will be in their hands.")
Last week's speech appears to reflect momentary imperatives, not long-term goals.
This reflects the fact that as prime minister, Sharon has two different audiences. Palestinians he wants to convince that violence
against Israelis is counterproductive, and this he achieves by retaliating hard against terrorism. The Israeli public and President
George W. Bush he wants to stay on good terms with by demonstrably engaging in diplomacy.
Maintaining these two more-or-less contradictory policies at the same time has not been easy; Sharon has done so through a
virtuoso performance of quietly tough actions mixed with voluble concessions.
I don't pretend to know what is on the prime minister's mind — he does not confide in me — but I do suspect that his speech
last week amounted to yet another such concession, this time addressed to an Israeli public demanding something more activist
and immediate than the achingly long-term policy of deterrence. Sharon, a shrewd politician who knows when he must bend,
has outlined a plan that I believe he has little wish to fulfill.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and the media consider "must reading."
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JWR contributor Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum. He is the author of several books, most recently Miniatures: Views of Islamic and Middle Eastern Politics. (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.)
Comment by clicking here.
© 2003, Daniel Pipes
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