Amram Mitzna, more than any other candidate in this week’s race, has vowed to continue this sell-out of Israel. And Labor Party voters remain blind to the reality that the policies of their successive leaders bear primary responsibility for the current situation. They voted this week to continue the diplomatic and security suicide that is represented by any association with the Palestinian Authority. And they voted for the re-implementation of policies that are proven to kill more Israelis than they protect.
Mitzna, like all Labor leaders before him, framed this policy in his opposition to the “settlers” residents of front-line communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip. But this morning’s attack in Jerusalem only adds to the majority of dead and wounded that have come from areas within Israel’s pre-1967 borders. What Mitzna and Labor’s voters have done in effect is condemned every Israeli to continued terrorism due to Labor’s opposition of the Judea, Samaria, and Gaza residents – many of whom were sent there by earlier Labor governments.
Likud leadership candidate Binyamin Netanyahu made a lot of noise yesterday comparing Mitzna to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Netanyahu said that two of the current Prime Ministerial candidates, Mitzna and Sharon, “declare that they will establish a Palestinian state. Only the third candidate aggressively opposes this.”
In making such comments, Netanyahu joins Mitzna and the Labor voters in failing to accept responsibility for Oslo. Netanyahu was prime minister between 1996 and 1999, and signed two agreements with Yasser Arafat. The Hevron Agreement gave 80% of that city over to Palestinian control, territory that was used to murder 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass last year, and more recently to murder 12 Israeli security personnel last Friday night.
Netanyahu also signed the Wye River Accord in 1998 granting the Palestinian Authority control over 13% more land in Judea and Samaria. This land has been used countless times to launch attacks against Israelis in all parts of the country, and as a refuge once those attacks are complete. Netanyahu made sure to enshrine in that accord strong measures to ensure Palestinian accountability and fulfillment of the agreement. Alas, that section has gone the way of all the rest of the Oslo Accords – destroyed in the continuing violence that has resulted.
Netanyahu showed such promise in the early 1990s. He claimed then that the Oslo Accords were the jumping off point for the Palestinian “Staged Plan” were they would take whatever benefits they could get from successive na?ve Israeli governments and use them to launch an even greater war against Israel. But Netanyahu did not heed his own words while he was prime minister, and his nation is now paying the bloody price for that mistake.
Last week, Netanyahu stated that while Sharon openly supports the creation of a Palestinian state, Netanyahu would only support limited autonomy along the lines laid out in the Camp David Accords. But given that there already was such autonomy in the guise of the Palestinian Authority, given that it already ruled over 98% of the Palestinian population, and given that Ehud Barak offered Arafat the rest of the territory at Camp David II only to be rewarded with two years plus of violence, 680 dead and over 15,000 attacks (about one an hour) since then, limited autonomy is no longer an option.
Netanyahu has pledged that any Palestinian entity will be disarmed. Would that include the Palestinian “police force” of 20,000 provided for in the Oslo Accords that now numbers some 48,000 paramilitary personnel with heavy weaponry that he did nothing to disarm during his tenure?
Ariel Sharon’s policy of claiming, as he did last week, that a Palestinian State is “inevitable”, is probably the most irresponsible of all his policies as Prime Minister. It guides his thinking in not ordering the army to attack Palestinian towns and villages, clean them out and end the violence once and for all. Sharon has allowed a far higher amount of military activity in the past six months than he did before the end of March. It took 125 dead in March and the Seder Night Massacre to get him to do this.
But all the military activities to date are aimed only at ending the violence so that negotiations can begin on the “inevitable” state. And while Sharon has rejected all forms of negotiations with the Palestinians while the violence continues, and has finally started acting to stem the violence, a leader must be elected on his long-term vision rather than on short-term gains or marginal rhetoric. Mitzna’s vision is obvious suicide. Netanyahu’s vision is to allow the murderer to remain in his home but call him a bandit. And Sharon’s vision will eventually lead to a Palestinian State, though likely not during his term.
Even Amram Mitzna knows that such a state will never be at peace with Israel, which is why he has accepted the policy of unilateral withdrawal. But Sharon’s stated support for a future Palestinian State, combined with his apparent unwillingness to end the war in an Israeli victory, will set the stage for Mitzna to win the next election, after Sharon’s retirement, and implement his policies then. Netanyahu has stated that he will crush the uprising, but his lack of a coherent long-term vision may mean a short lifespan for his government.
What none of the candidates realize is that a Palestinian State is not inevitable. It is national suicide for Israel and must be prevented in all its forms. As long as the Palestinians continue to delight in the deaths of their own children as well as Israelis, they must be opposed to the point of destroying them outright. Golda Meir was the last Israeli Prime Minister to understand this fully. “Peace with the Palestinians will be possible only when they love their children more than they hate us.” That hasn’t happened yet, and none of the current Israeli prime ministerial candidates will ensure that it does.
Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Yehuda Poch is a journalist living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission of the author only.
