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July 31, 2006
The End of Illusions
We're at the point now where an serious person must realize that the "land for peace" formula that was the backbone of the "roadmap to peace" is dead and buried.
We have been told for over 30 years now that peace can be achieved if Israel would only give up this or that piece of land. And it seemed to work, once. In 1978, Anwar Sadat, the President of Egypt, concluded a deal with Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel, the essential part of which was that Israel would return the Sinai to Egypt in return for various security guarantees.
This same formula, it was believed, could also be made to apply with regard to the people who became known as "Palestinians". If Israel would give them the West Bank as their own country then they would have no reason to attack Israel. Ditto with Gaza.
President Clinton tried to make this work with the Oslo Accords. In 2000, he even invited PLO leader Yassir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to Camp David for an all-out push to resolve the matter. Despite numerous Israeli concessions, Arafat refused to accept the offers made to him. Nevertheless, people still felt that the "land for peace" had merit.
But with what has happened in the past few years should put an end to the illusion once and for all.
Israel accepted the Palestinian Authority government on the West Bank, almost a de facto country. All the Palestinians had to do is behave and in short order they'd have the rest of the West Bank and become a full-fledged county. But no, they launched another Intifada, this time with suicide bombers. Israel pulled out of Gaza earlier this year, and far from be grateful and try to live peacefully, it is now simply a new base for the terrorists. Israel has dismantled many or most of their settlements on the West Bank, and all they have received for their trouble is more terrorism.
Now we've got Hezbollah firing rockets into Israel, turning it's cities into ghost towns. What can Israel do? Jonah Goldberg nails it
It seems to me the inescapable lesson of the current conflict is a depressing one for Israel and the United States. It ain't about land. In the 1990s, we were repeatedly told that Israel's problems could be solved via a geopolitical swap-meet. Everyone get together in back-slapping fellowship and trade land and, abracadabra, we'd have peace. It turns out, in Israel's case, this is nonsense. Hezbollah doesn't want land-for-peace, it wants genocide for peace. (Note: if someone brings up Shebaa Farms as "proof" Hezbollah only wants land, they will have annointed themselves "Sucker for the Day" in my diary). Of course, this generalization doesn't apply to every Arab talking head and potentate. But as far as the militants with the guns and the hearts and minds go, that's the reality. Perhaps there are deal-makers even among the Iranians, but the fact is Hezbollah means what it says and it's stock is going up, not down. That means all of the 1990s illusions about how the Arab-Israeli (now more of a Muslim-Israeli) conflict could be solved through negotiations have been exploded.
A similar lesson applies to America. Al-Qaeda is our Hezbollah (and, in a sense, Hezbollah was our al Qaeda before al Qaeda showed up on the scene). Immediately after 9/11, the argument was made repeatedly that al Qaeda should be treated like a bunch of militant Palestinians. It was our support for Israel, our military presence in Saudi Arabia, etc, etc, which "created" al Qaeda and sustained them. Stop doing what bothers them and they will go away. True or not, the fact is the question of what created al Qaeda in particular or Jihadism in general is irrelevant at this pont. Hezbollah was created by Israel's occupation of Lebabon. But until three weeks ago Israel no longer occupied Lebanon. This didn't make Hezbollah disappear. It made Hezbollah stronger. America could pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq tomorrow. This would not make al Qaeda weaker. It would make al Qaeda stronger. And not long thereafter we'd hear how if "we" only gave them Spain, we could have peace.
So what do we do? The moonbat left believes that our problems with al-Qaeda are caused by our presence in the Middle East. But it is increasingly clear that if we left, the terrorists would simply follow us. Europe already has a huge problem with it's Muslim immigrants, and the problem will not go away. If we do not defeat the Islamic radicals in their homelands, they will only send forth more propagandists and terrorists to our countries. And then they will be asking for Spain back.
What does Israel do? There seems general consensus that the military campaign is not destroying Hezbollah as hoped. Mario Loyola, writing on NRO, believes that the only hope for Israel is, get ready, a "robust Security Council resolution" . If the situation is that dire, then we are in trouble indeed, for the UN is not an institution that any freedom-loving person has reason to trust.
No doubt that ending the threat from Hezbollah or any other terrorist group requires more than military action. A simple "cease fire" would only postpone the current conflict. Hezbollah would simply use the time to rearm, and I don't share Loyola's faith in the UN.
But the bottom line here is that "land for peace" is dead and buried. And it was killed by the failure of so many Arabs to take advantage of a gift horse when it was staring them in the face. Rather than follow the example that Anwar Sadat set, they have followed the example of Yassir Arafat. And the result has only been war and misery.
Posted by Tom at July 31, 2006 9:49 PM
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