Since Sharon’s re-election, the top diplomatic issue has been the so-called Road Map, the international plan for achieving “President Bush’s vision”. That vision is really nothing more than the rehashing of old ideas for the settlement of a conflict that has so far proven immune to such plans. That vision calls for the creation of a Palestinian state – one that will prove the ultimate reward for decades of anti-Semitic and anti-Western terrorism, should it come into existence.
The “Vision Thing” that Bush has held forth flies in the face of his so-called War on Terror – a war that has so far done nothing to reduce the threat of terrorism nor to increase the safety of peace-loving people in the world, including those in Israel. Certainly the removal of Saddam Hussein is one small ingredient in this grand plan, and certainly a total defeat of al-Qaeda – something that looks like it is not about to take place – would prove an even more beneficial development. But to create a full state run by the people who introduced the world to terrorism would be to lose the war on terror and to guarantee future generations that they too will live under the increased threat of terrorist masters.
Sharon has made it quite plain that he is married to Bush’s vision. He has stated, time and again with increasing clarity, that he accepts the creation of a Palestinian state. As such, he has conceded the war on terrorism. This week, we continue to see the results.
Last Tuesday, two days of summitry began on the shores of the Red Sea. Bush met with Arab leaders and was not able to extract a single word of condemnation of terrorism or acceptance of Israel or support for the war on terror. The next day, he convened Sharon and Abu Mazen and heard each one make statements about their acceptance of his vision.
Abu Mazen might mean well. But he has no power. He was not elected to his position, so enjoys no public support. He was put in place by a man who has no confidence in him, under pressure from outside forces. Those outside forces, Israel and the US, hope that he can take over Palestinian society and end the terrorism. But their very sponsorship of his candidacy makes such control impossible. His statements during the summits are thus entirely meaningless. They do not reflect the opinion of his society, nor of the government he purports to head. They are what his real patrons want to hear, but they do not translate into a change of attitude on the street.
Sharon’s statements meant the final nail in the coffin of his mythological persona as the champion of the Land of Israel and the chief protector of Israel’s security. In the same breath, he spoke of peace and security while also revisiting the “need for painful concessions”.
Over the weekend, seven Israelis, including five soldiers, were killed in three separate terrorist attacks in different parts of the country. And last night, Sharon stood before the Likud Convention and again spoke of the need for “painful concessions”.
Ariel Sharon, like Rabin before him, feels no pain at abandoning the Land of Israel. That pain, if it ever existed, was numbed at Yamit. Since then, he supported the Hevron and Wye agreements, without much pain. He could abandon the rest of Judea and Samaria tomorrow, and then go home and get a good night’s sleep, to be ready for the next day’s intrigue.
I would like to remind Ariel Sharon that Israel is on the front line of a world war – the war against terrorism. That war has been waged in Israel throughout its existence, and has grown more fierce over the past 15 years. Since the beginning of the Intifada in 1987, almost 1600 Israelis have been killed in that war. Since Oslo, that number has increased. Since Camp David, it has increased again, with fully half the total having been killed in just the last 32 months.
At Camp David, Ehud Barak proved that Israel is willing to abandon everything if peace is the return. In response, the Arabs proved that they are not interested in peace, and that the entire Oslo process was a sham. Whereas Barak showed the logical end of the Oslo process, Sharon was elected by two consecutive landslides as a rejection of that process. Sharon would provide strength and increased security, and actually fight the war we are in. It took him a full year to begin fighting, and still the terrorism did not end.
Now Ariel Sharon has the nerve to speak of painful concessions, as if land is the dearest thing to Israelis. At the same time, we close in on 800 killed since Camp David. Those are the painful concessions. 800 families who cannot sleep peacefully at night. 5200-plus people who have been injured. 6000 families whose lives will never be the same. They have conceded their blood, their families, their lives, their futures, their very existence.
Ariel Sharon cannot tell these 6000 families about painful concessions. He knows nothing of their pain or the concessions they have made. Yet he looks them in the eye and tells them that painful concessions are necessary to achieve peace, when it is those very concessions that prove how lacking peace is.
There is only one way to bring peace to Israel. Terrorism, and all those who sponsor it, coddle it, support it, tolerate it, and treat its leaders and practitioners as confederates, must be eradicated. As long as this does not happen, the war will continue, and Israel will continue to bury its “painful concessions”.
Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. Yehuda Poch is a journalist living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission of the author only.
