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Hollis Armstrong
Bad Foreign Policy is Precursor to Disaster
September 2, 2010
Since the idea of a 'Middle East peace process' was first raised in the
international community, its ostensible purpose was based on the concept of
achieving peace between Israel and her neighbors in exchange for a two state
solution - one for Israel and one for the 'Palestinians'.
This concept was officially established in 1977 when then-President Jimmy Carter
took up the banner for Yassir Arafat and publicly called for the creation of a
"Palestinian homeland". Two intifadas, two wars, and countless lives lost in
terrorist attacks on civilian populations later, the quest for successful 'peace
talks' is still going on. This has been a political priority for every
successive American president since Carter. Each president has given Middle East
peace a high position on his list of presidential goals. Each president appears
to have wanted to go down in history as the one who achieved peace in the
region.
While the aim may be laudable in principle, it is flawed from beginning to end.
In what is perceived as a possible peace framework, every president since Jimmy
Carter has overlooked or ignored the realities of the region, and the true
character of the people most critically affected by the outcome. By accepting
the 'Palestinian' leadership as a viable and honest partner in the process,
American administrations have not only entered a no win situation, but
endangered the lives of millions of civilians in the region.
Ironically, our government's total lack of understanding of the dynamics of
Middle Eastern culture and their impact on the potential for successful peace
talks has led not to peace, but to war. Each time a new administration opens a
new round of peace talks, the stakes get higher and the cost of peace - in human
terms - gets higher and increasingly bloody.
Last night, on the eve of the newest 'peace talks' in Washington, the blood has
already begun to flow. Two Israeli couples, including a pregnant woman,
traveling in a private car near the town of Kiryat Arba, were shot to death, and
their bullet-ridden bodies were thrown onto the street by Palestinian
terrorists. Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas' military wing, told The Associated
Press late Tuesday that Hamas carried out the attack.
Since Israel has been largely free of terrorist attacks in recent years, due in
large measure to the controversial security fence and heightened security, the
brutality of the attack came as a shock. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
called on Israelis for restraint, while Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned,
"Israel will not allow terrorists to lift their heads, and will exact a price
from the murderers and those who sent them." The 'peace talks' have not yet
begun, but the drums of war, born of deep hatred of the Jews by 'Palestinian'
terrorists, have already been heard.
One simple fact, clearly stated by the Palestinian leadership since long before
this process began, and totally ignored by every president who has entered the
peace game, is that these leaders do not want peace - they want the land called
Israel - all of it. They have made that abundantly clear. Yet Washington refuses
to listen and charges ahead with policies that are doomed to failure, and put
both Israel and the civilians in the surrounding countries in great danger.
The primary 'Palestinian partner' for Israel in the quest for peace is the
Palestinian Authority (PA). This is the same organization which continues its
verbal attacks against Israel in its schools, on the Internet, in the press and
media, in its mosques, and in the statements made frequently by public officials
that Israel is an illegitimate state, usurping 'Palestinian' land. Official maps
identify all of Israel as "Palestine" and Israel is nowhere to be seen.
Palestinians are continually encouraged to attack and kill Israelis. They teach
their children, through government sanctioned (and produced!) cartoons and
television puppet shows (dark equivalents of Sesame Street), and interview
shows, that Israel and the Jews are their enemy. On these shows, they encourage
their children to become suicide bombers for Allah (shahadah), teaching them
that the way to paradise is to kill Jews whenever and wherever they have the
opportunity.
Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority and other members of
Fatah, a powerful political party which endorsed Abbas' Presidency (one of its
founders), has openly questioned Israel's right to exist, has called for its
destruction. According to one Fatah official, "peace is a means, the goal is
Palestine."
While making occasional conciliatory remarks to the press about his desire for
peace for his people, Abbas openly supports a broad spectrum of activities that
reveal his true inclinations. He recently demanded, as a condition to any direct
peace talks with Israel, a total Jewish construction freeze in the West Bank and
eastern Jerusalem, and written guarantees on the final borders for a Palestinian
state.
How can we be so incredibly stupid as to believe that this is an act of good
faith? Negotiations are all about defining the conditions. Preconditions may
include the shape of the table, or the people who are to participate, but to
make such far reaching demands relating to the outcome of the talks as
precondition for negotiations is patently absurd.
Israel will find no honest partner for peace in Mahmoud Abbas. There is no moral
equivalent between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israel will continue to
seek peace, but will fight fiercely to save itself from extinction. Mahmoud
Abbas, on the other hand, like his predecessor Yassir Arafat, is not a 'partner
for peace' but rather an obstacle to peace who will continue in his quest to
obliterate Israel, even as he speaks words of moderation.
When the peace talks begin today, the rhetoric will resonate with empty words
glorifying a 'peaceful solution'. But Obama's bid for greatness as the
peacemaker will surely meet the same fate as his predecessors - utter failure.
As long as the US government ignores the true character of the Palestinian
leadership, and the fact that it reflects a culture that uses taqiyah (lying to
further Islamic causes) as national policy, the 'peace' talks are doomed to
failure. The greatest tragedy of this is that the war that will follow them will
introduce to the battlefield the most vile and destructive weapons known to man.
The hell of war will follow the misguided policies of arrogant leaders. Many
thousands will die, even more will suffer terribly. That it could have all been
prevented will be remembered as one of the great tragedies of history. |
