ISRAFAX
EDITORIAL
Israel, Pearl Harbor, and Sept. 11
Frederick Krantz
Like all fascists, the terrorists cannot be appeased. They must be defeated.
This struggle will not end in a truce or a treaty...[The terrorists] celebrate death,
making a mission of murder and suicide...
--George W. Bush, Dec. 7, 2001
President George W. Bush, commemorating Pearl Harbor on the deck of the aircraft carrier Enterprise, just returned from the Arabian Sea and action against Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban, put his finger on a rarely noted aspect of the terrorism problem facing not only America, but Israel. The terrorists are, as he noted, not "idealists", but fascists, people in love with death and power and committed to a radical politics of nihilistic violence against the innocent.
They cannot and will not "compromise". They may mouth various left-wing ideologies and use humanistic-sounding "socialist" vocabulary (see the Ba'ath parties in Iraq and Syria, the various PLO factions, including Arafat's Fatah, and recall Nasser's "Arab socialism"). But they are really fascists, little different, in fact, in their vicious antisemitism and vision of the annihilation of "the Jews" and the "Zionist entity", from the Nazis and neo-Nazis, whose hateful Der Stuermer propaganda and Holocaust revisionism are parroted daily in the state-supported Arab media and schools.
This truth has direct bearing on Israel's current situation, and on the unending agony of violence, murder and suicide bombings Israelis have suffered since the inception not only of the current intifada in September, 2000, but of the Oslo Accords eight years ago.
Despite his support from the social-democratic Left in Europe (itself a sad tale of political and moral hypocrisy), Arafat too is a fascist. This is evident not only in his own terrorist career (his PLO literally invented modern terrorism in the 1960Õs) and current winking at Hamas and Islamic Jihad murder, but also in his ruthless suppression of democracy and dissent in his own "Palestinian Authority". Various human rights organizations, including courageous Palestinian groups, have clearly chronicled Arafat's use of arbitrary imprisonment and torture, and numerous unexplained deaths in his prisons.
The Palestinian Authority has already demonstrated--politically, economically, humanly--that "Palestine" would be a disaster for the Palestinians. It is not the much-trumpeted and hoped-for anomaly in the Arab world, a basically democratic state with individual rights grounded in a real civil society. "Arafatistan", a thugocracy repressing its own people, and concerned only with protecting its corrupt, self-aggrandizing leadership, is just another tawdry Arab dictatorship.
Arafat rejected Israel's radically-generous Camp David and Taba peace offers over a year ago, without making a counter-proposal. To respond in kind would have meant that he would, truly and finally, have had to recognize Israel's permanent legitimacy. He would have had to give up the old PLO dream of destroying the Jewish state, either by sparking a pan-Arab war of annihilation, or by erasing it through forced acceptance of the so-called "right of return", overwhelming Israel with millions of hostile Palestinian Arab refugees and their descendants.
Instead, Arafat's campaign of murder and violence sparked a war which has cost almost a thousand lives. All these victims, including the children, would be alive today if Arafat, instead of supporting a new, armed "intifada", had not spurned Israel's peace plan as the basis for a conclusive negotiation.
Oslo's "land for peace" accords have already already given Arafat--this despite his complete lack of compliance with its provisions--direct control over almost 50% of the disputed territory and over 90% of the area's population. Yet Israel today is, clearly, further from peace than she was in 1993. Hence it should by now be abundantly clear that an Arafat-led sovereign state along Israel's borders would not only not ensure peace, but would be a de-stabilizing dagger aimed at the Jewish state's exposed heart.
It is time, then, to recognize that there is nothing "inevitable' about a Palestinian state. Real peace, as George W. Bush said, cannot be made with fascists, with death-enthralled fanatical Jew-haters whose "politics" embrace only one goal: Israel's ultimate destruction. Such thugs have to be defeated, not rewarded, and replaced--when, and if, they emerge--with more suitable, and truly moderate, interlocutors.
(Prof. Krantz, Editor of ISRAFAX, is Director
of the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research)
Baruch Cohen
The first Hannukah was celebrated in Jerusalem on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev, in the year 164 B.C.E. The circumstances surrounding it have as many ramifications for us today as they had for the original celebrants. Hannukah is the only Jewish holiday whose historic origins are fully clear. To understand the meaning of the original Hannukah and why the holiday is growing in importance today, it is necessary to look into the ancient world, and to see some of the parallels that exist between it and our life today.
Hannukah, which literally means "dedication," tells the story of the Maccabeans, who fought for Jewish beliefs, traditions and values, as well as for Jewish commitment, vitality, and dynamism. Bravery and unflinching adherence to Torah law characterizes the heroes and heroines of the Hannukah story.
We know what Jews have accomplished under oppression and persecution. Hannukah recalls some of the most shining experiences of bravery and resoluteness in the face of oppression. If Jewish ideals--the spirit of the Maccabees--and values have any meaning for us today, they must influence us and our lives.
The message and the lesson of Hannukah are clear to anyone who reads the books of the Maccabees. Only by following the lessons of our history can we re-kindle the Hannukiah in the spirit of our tradition, and give the Jewish people the strength to be a light unto the nations. We have a long history of surviving--and so we defy the current murderers and haters, as we defied, and survived, all our enemies before them.
With one age following another, we go on today, and we remember. Our roots in our ancient Israel, our old-new homeland, grow stronger and stronger. Hod Avinu Chai, Am Israel Chai!
CIJR wishes all friends, supporters, and the entire house of Israel a peaceful and Happy Hannukah.
Joyce Rappaport
"They [Yasser Arafat and Osama bin Laden] are both terrorists...There's no question that the terrorism that America has suffered at the hands of bin Laden is very similar to the terror in Israel."--New York Mayor-Elect Michael Bloomberg, during a solidarity mission to Israel [accompanying him were Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Governor George Pataki] (Jer. Post, Dec. 10)
"These rulings [fatwas issued by Muslim religious leaders in Egypt and Saudi Arabia against suicide attacks] came as a result of international pressure...Resistance is legitimate and those who give up their lives do not require permission from anyone."--Yasser Arafat-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Akrameh Sabri (Ha'aretz, Dec. 10)
"I, like all mothers, am satisfied and pleased with my son, and pray to God to guide him to the right path and save him."--Mother of Osama bin Laden, Hamida bin Laden (New York Post, Dec. 10)
"During my telephone conversation...with P.M. Sharon, it became very clear that Israel was inclined toward war. In fact, Mr. Sharon openly expressed [his] desire to be rid of Mr. Arafat."--P.M. Bulent Ecevit (Int'l Her. Trib., Dec. 8-9)
"You [Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel] who stood alongside your brothers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in their struggle for independence...at the time when we have lost over 1900 martyrs and over 39,000 wounded...assures and strengthens us...I here do reaffirm our commitment to peace...[On the other hand] every occupied nation has the legitimate right to resist and fight back the occupation until it is removed....."--P.A. Chairman Yasser Arafat addressing the "Palestinian Solidarity Rally" organized by Israeli Arab MK Ahmed Tibi (WAFA [the official Palestinian news service], Dec. 8)
"...In the 1993 Oslo Accords, Yasser Arafat undertook to forsake terrorism, but he has not strategically changed his approach and continues to see terrorism as a means of gaining diplomatic achievements...Arafat...does not value human life, and instead of leading the Palestinian people to additional achievements, he is leading them to catastrophe...He is responsible for the bloodshed, therefore he can't be a partner in the peace process..."--President of the State of Israel Moshe Katsav (Jer. Post, Dec. 3)
"I think [Yasser Arafat] is still relevant insofar as through him, it is possibleÑnot only possible, it is essentialÑthat we can push the state that we are living in toward a state of peace. He is a necessary condition..."--Prominent Palestinian and Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Sari Nusseibeh (N.Y.T., Dec. 3)
"...Israel has the unenviable task of convincing its enemies that their dreams of its destruction will fail...This will not be pleasant; Israel will incur both foreign condemnation and domestic discontent, but it has no choice. Understanding the conflict this new way has profound implications for the West. It means Europe and the U.S...seeing the Israeli predicament, tolerating its need to be tough, and pressing the Arabs to make a drastic change in course...."--Director of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, Daniel Pipes (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 3)
ISRAEL CONDEMNS FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION MEETING--(Jerusalem) Israel has termed the meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention on December 5 an abuse of a humanitarian instrument. Convening the meeting just days after 28 Israeli civilians were massacred in Jerusalem and Haifa by Palestinian terrorists, without any reference to these horrendous terrorist acts, renders it meaningless. The declaration that came out of the conference condemns Israel's "occupation" of Judea and Samaria and ignores Palestinian terrorism and incitement against Israel in the Palestinian media and in school textbooks (Israeli Foreign Ministry, Dec. 5)
ARAFAT DOES LITTLE TO STOP TERRORISM--(Jerusalem) P.A. Chairman Yasser Arafat claims he has arrested over 20 terrorists from the list given to him by U.S. Envoy General Anthony Zinni. Arafat, however, is not arresting terrorists but hosting them in guest houses. He has not conducted serious interrogations nor begun judicial proceedings against a single terrorist. In order to prevent terrorism, Israel will allow free passage of P.A. security forces from one area to another, but Israel will continue to act against strategic locations from which terrorism is operating. (Israeli Foreign Ministry, Dec. 9)
U.S. AND CANADA FREEZE ASSETS OF HAMAS-AFFILIATED ORGANIZATION--(Washington; Ottawa) The Bush administration has frozen the assets of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The Islamic foundation bills itself as a charity, but the U.S. charges that it raises millions of dollars for Hamas. In Canada, the Liberal government added the foundation to its list of terrorist organizations. Earlier, Canada had listed the military wing of Hamas but made a distinction between it and members of its "political" wing. (Globe and Mail, Dec. 5)
LABOR TO REMAIN IN GOVERNMENT--(Jerusalem) The Labor Party is set to remain in P.M. Ariel Sharon's national unity government for the forseeable future, after former justice minister Yossi Beilin agreed to delay discussion about leaving the coalition until January 17. On December 5, F.M. Shimon Peres had met with the party's Knesset faction to decide whether to leave. Sources close to Peres said he was angry at Sharon for allowing the government to designate the P.A. a "terror-supporting entity." (Ha'aretz, Dec. 5; Jer. Post, Dec. 10)
Karen Lazar
From
the Arab Media
From the Israeli Press
_______________________________
PALESTINIAN--West Bank Security Chief Jabril Rajoub stressed that the recent arrests of Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives by the P.A. were not connected in any way to Israeli security demands, but
"would serve Palestinian interests"; what counts was "Arafat's policy and not a diktat from Israel".
(Voice of Palestine Radio, Dec. 9)
Secretary of the Executive Council, Abdel Rahman, denounced the latest Palestinian terrorist bombing in Haifa [on December 9 a suicide bomber who did not succeed in activating a second round of explosives, nevertheless injured 40 while failing to cause any Israeli fatalities], and claimed that
"Israel was responsible for the Haifa attack". (A'Sharq Radio, Dec. 9)
EGYPT--During the second half of Ramadan, a number of Arab television stations will be screening the thirty-part series "Horseman without a Horse" [a drama series "exposing" the Protocols of the Elders of Zion], starring the well-known Egyptian actor Muhammad Subhi. The series, whose budget ran six to eight million Egyptian pounds, was produced by Arab Radio and Television (ART), established in 1993, which broadcasts to the Middle East, North America, Latin America, Australia and Africa. Following are excerpts from a report on the series from the Egyptian weekly Roz al-Youssuf: "For the first time, the series' writer courageously tackles the 24 Protocols of the Elders of Zion, revealing them and clarifying that they are the central line that still, to this very day, dominates Israel's policy, political aspirations and racism...The series' first scene is set in 1948 after the retreat of the four Arab armies and the Zionist invasion of the land of Palestine...". (MEMRI, Special Dispatch, No. 309, Dec. 6)
LEBANON--Hizbullah leader Hassan Nassrallah praised the Palestinian terrorist attacks in Israel and called on the Palestinians to solidify behind the "intifada". Pointing to Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon, Nassrallah called it the "first stage" of several in the conflict; the battle was not over, he added, as long as the Palestinian land and Jerusalem were occupied. (Radio Nur, Dec. 4)
SAUDI ARABIA--A leading Saudi Islamic cleric, Imam of the Mecca Mosque Ben Abdullah, said the Islamic religious code banned harming "people under protection" [a reference to Jews or Christians], whether in Muslim lands or in their own. He implied that the Palestinian terrorist attacks were not permitted under Islamic law. (Al-Hayat, Dec. 5)
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ISRAEL TELEVISION (CHANNEL ONE)--In an interview broadcast on Israeli television, Yasser Arafat lashed out at the Bush administration as tilting heavily toward Israel. "Dear God, who cares about the Americans?" Mr. Arafat said, when asked about American pressure on Palestinians. "The Americans are on your side, and they give you everything," he said, addressing Israelis. "Who gave you the airplanes? The Americans. Who gave you the tanks? The Americans." (Dec. 7)
YEDIOT AHARONOT--The European Union General Affairs Council called on P.A. Chairman
Yasser Arafat to make a statement in Arabic to the Palestinian people, telling them that the current uprising must be brought to a complete halt. EU Foreign Policy Chief
Javier Solana will deliver the message to Yasser Arafat in person that he must dismantle the weaponry of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and immediately arrest and put on trial all known terrorists.
(Dec. 10)
Correspondent Limor Shmuel reported that fragments of a suicide bomb detonated at a busy Jerusalem mall December 1st contained traces of a pesticide used to poison rats. The discovery of chemically tainted fragments suggests that Palestinian terrorists may be trying to develop a crude kind of chemical weapon.
(Dec. 9)
JERUSALEM POST--"Whether Arafat can fully control Hamas--or has the will to do so--is irrelevant. So long as Hamas exists as an organization, with an institutional and paramilitary structure, with an ability to bring thousands of people into the streets, any agraeement reached with Arafat will be undermined by the next Hamas-sponsored act of mass terrorism. This is a lesson Arab regimes have learned: Egypt suppressed, and continues to suppress, Egyptian Jihad quite brutally; Hafez al-Assad did the same in Syria, by his own bloody methods, to the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria; the Jordanians know that Hamas has to be contained.
"The only Arab leader who found it convenient to coexist with an extremist Islamist organization has been Arafat...But riding this tiger has now ensnared Arafat in an insoluble dilemma. As Jibril Rajoub has said, the radical Islamists have to be eliminatedÑbut Arafat obviously cannot contain them. The Faustian deal with Hamas has now undermined Arafat's own position and legitimacy and that of the P.A...
"The lesson is clear: anyone, in Israel or the United States, who would like to see the peace process continue will have to agree to an elimination of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The methods will not be pleasant, nor are U.S. methods in Afghanistan...If Arafat cannot do this, it will have to be done by others. And if Arafat's regime will itself collapse in the process--so be it."
(Shlomo Avineri, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C., Dec. 5)
"Arafat--Too Little, Too Late"
Cynthia Yacowar-Sweeney
Israel has been hit by a wave of suicide bombings and shooting attacks over a week ago, the most horrific being in Jerusalem and Haifa. Over 30 Israelis were killed and scores wounded. Yet, according to Saab Erekat, a leading Palestinian spokesman, Arafat is fully committed to the peace process. "We are trying our best to sustain the ceasefire." Nothing could be further from the truth.
Arafat has failed to live up to his foremost obligation, the core bargain of the Oslo agreement: to take all necessary measures to prevent terror attacks against Israelis. His "willingness", therefore, to support peace is the height of hypocrisy.
Arafat won't change. He promises peace to the West, but among Moslems, he calls for jihad. He condemns suicide bombings to the media in English, but urges his people to ongoing violence in Arabic. Since 1993's Oslo Accords, Arafat has suckered Israel and its allies down a road to nowhere.
Israel faces a dilemma. It can either blindly place all hope in Arafat to remain fully committed to the peace process, as he claims he is--despite his Fatah organization claiming joint responsibility for one the recent attacks. Or Israel can overthrow Arafat's corrupt terrorist regime. Chances are, if the latter approach is taken, Sharon may face a far more fragmented and implacable enemy, like Hamas or Islamic Jihad, which is gaining more public support than Fatah.
Let's go back six months to the suicide bombing attack in Tel Aviv which killed 22 young Israelis. Arafat condemned the attack in English, but at the same time, wrote a letter of congratulations and condolences, in Arabic, to the family of the suicide bomber, calling the bomber "heroic" and a "model of manhood". Back in August Arafat was considering forming a national unity government with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Sharon explains that "they are all together now (including Hezbollah, the Palestinian police, and Arafat's own presidential guard), acting to carry out the strategy of terror."
But whether or not Arafat has control over these groups is irrelevant. The bottom line is that he has failed to live up to his side of the bargain in not preventing terror. His condemnations are hollow, because they are not backed by any action, like pushing the stop button on the assembly line mass producing suicide bombers. He has brainwashed a new generation of children to hate, indoctrinated daily by the PA's terrorist tentacles and the Arab-language media to "put down their toys and pick up weapons".
Option one, giving Arafat another chance, is a waste of time. Arafat will continue deceiving us. So all efforts must be concentrated on option two, a new strategy. If Arafat does not reign in the terrorists and bring them to justice, then Israel would be fully justified in expelling Arafat and his terrorist regime, just as the U.S. did to the Taliban when they refused to hand over bin Laden and his al-Quaeda terrorists.
Israel faces a dilemma. Exiling Arafat, as was done in 1982, may not work, and executing a Nobel Peace Prize winner is not an option, for that would incur the wrath of the international community.
Israel is left with the option of employing scare tactics, launching a wave of strikes on police stations and government buildings throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, destroying Arafat's helicopters near his headquarters in Gaza. But limiting his ability to come and go from the region does not scare Arafat. Sharon has been doing this all along. Yet the bloodletting continues.
Should Israel simply let the more radical Palestinian groups remove Arafat? What does Israel do? It's time for Israel to fight terror its own way, to take care of itself, because no one else will. And Israel did just that, in 1967 and 1973, and when it got rid of Saddam's nuclear reactors in Osirak, Iraq in 1981. We don't hear many complaints about that now. And we won't hear many complaints once Arafat is gone too, if that's the road Israel is forced to take.
(Cynthia Yacowar-Sweeney, a PR professional who monitors
Middle East media, is a contributing editor of ISRAFAX)
FOCUS: ISRAEL AFTER ARAFAT?
P.M. Ariel Sharon Addresses The Nation Following Jerusalem, Haifa Bombings (Jerusalem, December 3, 2001)
"...A war has been forced upon us...A war that claims innocent victims daily. A war of terror being conducted systematically...and with methodical direction...The aim of this war of terror, the aim of the terrorists, their aids and dispatchers, the aim of those who enable them to perpetrate their acts quietly without disturbance, is to expel us from here...
"I tell you from here, from Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the State of Israel--united Jerusalem. I tell you this...the blood of those who will rise up to kill us will be on their hands. Just as the U.S. is conducting its war against international terror, using all its might against terror, so will we too. With all the strength, determination and resources... at our disposal...This struggle is not an easy one, this struggle will not be short. But we will be victorious...
"Arafat is responsible for everything that happens here...Arafat has chosen the path of terrorism. For a long time the world has not seen Arafat for what he is, but recently there has been a significant shift...[E]veryone is discovering the real Arafat. Arafat is the greatest obstacle to peace and stability in the Middle East...The Palestinian people must know: They are the primary victims of the current situation brought about by Arafat...".
F.M. Shimon Peres: "Arafat must establish his authority"
(Jerusalem, December 6, 2001)
"We are calling upon Chairman Arafat to establish himself as the sole authority over all guns and rifles and bombs. This is not in order to serve Israel, but in order to serve the Palestinians themselves. If the Palestinians will be divided by armed groups, they will hardly be able to reach their own destinies. You cannot have a country and you cannot have an authority that has more than one authorized armed force, whether army or police...."