| No More Appeasement! Guy Setton (17 August 2001) On Tuesday, 14 August 2001, the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Gilo came under a 6-hour long shooting offensive from Palestinian forces in Bethlehem and the surrounding villages. This was the longest battle in Jerusalem during the eleven month old Intifada Al-Quds. As night fell Israeli forces were on their way to re-occupy Beit Jallah to create a buffer zone for preventing the Palestinians from firing directly into Gilo. The occupation would remain for as long as the conflict continued sending a clear message to Arafat and his gang that violence would not lead them to success. Instead, it would result in the slow but sure demise of their autonomy taking the Palestinians farther and farther away from their dream of independent state for his people. This operation was long time overdue and was really the minimum the Israeli government should have done as the violence continues. Jerusalem should not be allowed to become another Beirut or Sarajevo at whatever the cost will be on the neighbouring Palestinians. If they have chosen the path of violence then we have to treat them as an enemy, with all our force just like we fought the Arabs every time they tried to push us into the ocean. I have no pity or respect for the Palestinian people or their leadership. If they opt for suicide bombers then why should we restrain our forces? Did the Americans negotiate with the Japanese when they faced the Kamikaze suicide attacks? Did Roosevelt or Truman call the Emperor to try and reach a cease-fire? No, they took their war effort to the heart of Japan and taught them a lesson, which to this date guarantees that the Rising Sun will never strike Uncle Sam again. Unfortunately, minutes into the mobilisation our forces were halted. I am sure this change in plans surprised officers and soldiers on the field and at the headquarters. More important, it did little to improve the deterrence of the Israeli Defence Forces, the fighting spirit of its soldiers and the whole morale of a nation at war. There is no doubt in my mind that this change of plans was the result of negative influence by Peres on Sharon. Our Foreign Minister continues to pursue his dream of peace with the statesman Arafat. For us Israelis, it is a nightmare about a pact with a terrorist and we are the victims. Today with hindsight I understand the meaning behind the phrase we had in the army that "a good terrorist is a dead terrorist". With terrorists there is no peace process. The fight against them is a long and hard one. Only through persistence do we stand a chance of achieving ultimate victory. Peres belongs to the appeasement camp. Every generation has its appeasers and every generation suffers the consequences from following these idealistic, but weak, leaders. The fanatic race for peace by Peres is threatening the security of the State of Israel and the safety of its citizens. The hands of Peres are full of Israeli blood and his continuing interference in daily politics will only increase the death toll amongst us for which he is directly responsible. He should be mature enough to admit his failure and retire. For those who say he is an important asset for our international image then you should think again. He brings us no benefit whatsoever. His failure as Foreign Minister is reflected in the total collapse of our public relations effort around the world, which yields one failure after another. Thanks to our public relations fiasco, the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Gilo is seen by the world as an illegal Jewish settlement, making attacks on it all the more legitimate. It is a shame that Prime Minister Rabin fell victim to the manoeuvres of Peres, but it is all the more depressing to see Sharon, our "strongest" leader, collapse as well. Why does no Israeli leader have the courage to send Peres home for once and for all? It is the Israeli people who have sent him packing his bags in five general elections! This man does not pose a political threat to anyone, but instead he is a nuisance. It is sad to think that Sharon can cross the Suez Canal and bring the Egyptian army to a complete and humiliating surrender or advance and take Beirut after destroying the Syrian army along the way, but he cannot tell Peres never to show up again for a Cabinet meeting! Peres' days as a leader have to come to an end. He may have done a lot for Israel in the past, but we live in the present where the future is at stake. I am not discounting his contributions to our country over the years, but one does not get accepted into Harvard based on Primary School grades. In a few hours, days, or at most weeks, the fighting will start again around Gilo. What will happen then? As long as Peres is around, then we should not expect much, but another setback. One only needs to ask a doctor what must be done to save a patient with cancer. We do not need a sophisticated scanner to find out where our tumour lies. Sharon needs to regain control and fill the role of Prime Minister. We need a Prime Minister who has the courage to speak to the nation and tell the people that we are in a state of war. We need a leader who does not fear ordering our troops into battle. We need a head of government who does not put political interests first. Who are we afraid of? Is it the terrorist who leads a people who cannot get their act together for over fifty years now? Is it the pharaoh from Cairo who cannot survive without the United States? Is it the dentist from Damascus who has an army which to survive has to cannibalise its own weapons for spare parts? Is it the puppet from Amman who depends on Israel for his survival? Is it the beast from Baghdad who makes the slightest move and faces a shower of Tomahawks? Or is it the Ayatollahs from Teheran who cannot even win a war against their Arab neighbour? For heaven sake, the Israeli Defence Forces are stronger than ever. We are a nuclear power. Our fighter planes can strike any target from Morocco to Iran. Our missiles can hit even further and harder. Our tanks can roll through all the obstacles our enemies have in place. Our soldiers, when pushed, have a fighting spirit second to none. We have always been willing to live in peace with our neighbours and this will not change. But peace does not have to come at any price. It is time we stand firm and reverse this process, which has nothing to do with peace. It is time we recognise the reality, that the Middle East will not be Western Europe in the coming years, maybe decades and possibly generations. Yet, if we want to be around for the long-run we certainly cannot continue with appeasement or any hint of it. We need to lower our expectations to minimise our disappointments. In conclusion, there will be no peace with the Palestinian Authority under its current leadership. It needs to be destroyed and this is the main task ahead of us. One day in the future the time may be ripe for a new peace effort. For now, we have more to lose with Arafat and Peres around than without them. God Bless Israel. Guy Setton. Guy Setton |
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