This is indeed all that can be found to compliment about the dialogue and its effects. The Arab economic boycott of Israel, which cost Israel US$ 49 billion between 1948 and 1992, has not been lifted, nor has it been amended in any way. Arab airspace is still restricted to any flights originating in or departing from Israel. Six Israeli soldiers are still missing, with no effort being made on their behalf by Israel's dialogue partners. Yasser Arafat recently called for a new Jihad, or holy war, to conquer Jerusalem and establish it as an Arab capital. And most importantly, as of May 19, 54 Jews have been killed since the Oslo accords were announced. And yet, the Arab League didn't attempt to insult the world's intelligence by libelling Israel, so people like Mr. Rusonik automatically think that peace and better times are at hand for Israel.
This is not peace, dear readers. This is worse violence, worse hatred, and worse vitriol, than we were seeing from the Palestinians and the Arabs before Oslo. This is less security and less safety, than Israelis have had at any time before. This is more embarrassment and more humiliation for the Jews of the Diaspora than at any other time since the Holocaust.
The Arab League didn't brand Israel as the common enemy because they have more important things to do like strengthen the boycott, build up their arsenals, and cement alliances such as those emerging between Iraq, Iran, and Syria. So instead of their vitriol, Arafat -- Rabin's partner in peace and war -- has started calling for a war of liberation in Jerusalem.
Arafat's war is not all that improbable. Thanks to Rabin's stupidity, he now has land from which to base such an attack, he now has an army with which to carry it out, and he now has money with which to supply weapons and ammunition not already supplied by Israel itself.
I ask you to imagine what you would do in the following circumstance. For forty years, bandits attempt every night to break into your house, murder your children, and destroy all that belongs to you. You spend that time building iron bars around the windows, re-enforcing the locks on your doors, and complaining to the police about their inaction in the affair. Suddenly, the bandits offer peace and quiet, if you only give them the keys to your house. Would you?
This is what Israel was asked to do, and to confound any sane friend of Israel, they did it. Now, Arafat has done what the right wing has predicted he would do all along. He made a fool of Rabin at the Cairo signing ceremony and laughed his way to South Africa, where he let the other shoe fall. There, he called -- not for the last time -- for a holy war of liberation for Jerusalem.
The Arab League didn't brand Israel as the "common enemy" because they were laughing too hard. Israel is no longer their common enemy. Instead Israel gives them what no other country in the world has been able to provide -- the Land of Israel itself on a silver platter stained with the blood of its own Jewish citizens.
This is not a hopeful development of peace, as Mr. Rusonik so innocently claims. It is a recipe for national disaster for the Jews. The sooner Rabin is stopped, the safer all Jews will be, and the more peaceful the region will become.
Copyright 1994. Reproduction in electronic or print formats by permission only.
