So said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during a condolence visit to the home of Asaf Hershkowitz in Ofra. Asaf was shot and killed in an ambush on his way to work in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, the 76th fatality in the Arab war of aggression against Israel that has been waging since the end of September.
Asaf's father, Arye, was shot and killed in a similar ambush in January. Since that time, Asaf had become a father figure to his younger siblings, some as much as twenty years his junior. In addition, he had two small children of his own, a wife, and a mother. The Hershkowits family has been dealt two death blows in a little over three months, two tragic incidents that have left yet more orphans, yet more widows, yet more grieving family among the Jewish nation.
When Arye, the father, was murdered, Ehud Barak was in his final days as prime minister, and barely bothered to react as he pursued his mad rush to reach some sort of deal with Arafat as a blood payment to end the violence. The Israeli electorate responded loudly a few days later, booting him from office and making him the shortest-serving prime minister in Israeli history.
Sharon was elected on a mandate to deal a severe blow to Arafat and his band of terrorists, one that would end the violence and make it clear that war does not mean peace, that murder does not mean security, and that Israelis have a right to live, work, and travel in Israel.
Yet three months later, Sharon is heard uttering strong words -- words sounding eerily familiar, uttered not all that long ago by the departed-but-not-missed Ehud Barak. In Barak's version, the phrase was "we shall know how to respond". In a moment of folly, I wonder whether Barak has yet figured it out. Sharon's version is "we will deal with terror". And in all seriousness, I ask when.
Ariel Sharon paid a condolence visit to the Hershkowitz family. That is something Barak never deigned to do during his term. But Sharon had the gall, during the visit, to admit that "we have not yet exhausted all the possibilities for stopping terror". While the Hershkowitz's are in mourning yet again, we must ask what exactly Sharon is waiting for?
In the two months since Sharon took office, a baby has been murdered, another has been brain-damaged by mortar fragments, Israeli cities have been shelled, and families are now being revisited by the horrors of this war. One would think that it is high time to finally exhaust all the possibilities for stopping terror.
At the time of the election, it was the hope of the vast majority of Israelis that Sharon had a plan to end the violence, that he had an idea of how to stop the terror. People pointed to his sterling military career, where he made a reputation for himself by doing just that. Now, Sharon the politician must put this plan, this idea, and this experience to work for him. He must initiate a policy of pro-active military actions aimed at ending the violence.
Unfortunately, his statement yesterday indicates otherwise. "If Arafat won't deal with terror, we will deal with terror, and this will be done while preventing escalation."
This attitude, so painfully reminiscent of his recent predecessor, allows Arafat to continue setting the tone of the war. He sets the time and place for attacks, and even the time and place for Israeli reprisals. Sharon is not interested in escalation, he says, so Arafat escalates the violence instead, leaving more Israelis dead and wounded, and resulting in more bland statements from the mouths of our leaders.
Sharon the general must now take over from Sharon the politician. Israel must take the initiative. If Israel has really not exhausted all the possibilities for ending the violence, then real action is necessary in place of reaction. Israel's military is perfectly capable of ending this war in a matter of days. Sharon knows this all too well, considering he is the person who gave it that capability.
The only thing left to figure out is just what Sharon is waiting for. How many more deaths must the Israel suffer? How many more orphans must we gain? How many more families must be shattered before Sharon will finally get the idea that the time is now to exhaust those possibilities and bring an end, once and for all, to Arab aggression against Israel?
Copyright 2001. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
