CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, March 18, 2002

Israel: Peace through Victory

Let’s face reality with regard to Israel and the Arabs. There is a basic disagreement on what is meant by the term “peace.” To the Arabs, “peace” is a condition that can only be attained by the expulsion of the Jews from Israel and the completion of Hitler’s Final Solution. To the Israelis, “peace” is being free to live their lives without being invaded by Arab armies as they were in 1948, 1967 and 1973 and being free from constant terrorist attacks.

Here’s another reality: In war, there can be no peace without victory. Peace only comes about when one side has decisively defeated the other side and the beaten side has had to agree to terms totally dictated by the victor.

If the Arabs were interested in a “true” peace, they would have urged Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, to accept the deal President Clinton was trying to broker between Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak. The Clinton deal would have dictated that the Jews give Arafat and the Arabs 90 percent of what they are demanding today.

Therefore, there can be only one explanation why Arafat and his Arab backers rejected a deal that was so lopsidedly in favor of the Palestinians. That reason is simple: Arafat’s and his backers do not want a “peace” that recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist.

Since the founding of Israeli, the Arabs have launched Wars of Annihilation against Israel in 1948, 1967 and 1973 and they lost each time. But because the Israelis defined “peace” as being left alone, they did not pursue their attackers to the point of beating them to a pulp in the lands from which they came. That was a mistake.

Unable to exterminate the Israelis by Wars of Annihilation, the Arabs changed their strategy in 1987 to what they called: an Intifadeh. This was intended as a mini-War of Attrition. The throwing of stones at Israeli police or troops, the riots and the occasional bombings were designed to discourage Jews living outside of Israel from migrating to the Jewish Promised Land.

Moreover, the Arabs saw that modern Jews tended to practice birth control and, when they do intend to have children, they only have one or two. By contrast, Arab birth rates were soaring. So, it seemed only a matter of time until the burgeoning Arab population and the dwindling Jewish population forced world public opinion to rethink the whole idea of a Jewish state in the Middle East.

But then, enter President Ronald Reagan, Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of the Cold War. With the demise of the Soviet Union and the freeing of the Soviet satellite states, the dam burst. A flood of Jewish immigrants left the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and headed for Israel. Israel’s population began to soar.

By 1993, the Arabs figured out that the demographic shift they were counting on was not going to happen. Then, about 18 months ago, Arafat and his Arab backers decided to launch a major War of Attrition from within the areas held by the Palestinians.

This explains the enormous violence unleashed upon the people of Israel for the last year and one-half. Wave after wave of suicide bombers have attacked Jews at work, at home, during religious events and even children at play.

Finally realizing that a tit-for-tat response was never going to end the Arab attacks, the Israelis moved to a War of Annihilation aimed at the Arab terrorist leadership. Using helicopter-launched, precision-guided missiles and other “gotcha” type weapons, the new Israeli strategy is working. Working so well that the oil-rich Arabs are placing enormous pressure on the United States and its allies to get it stopped. Otherwise, they say they won’t help us in the war against terrorism.

Hello. The Arabs aren’t going to help us, anyway. So, let the Israelis win a decisive victory. Then, we’ll have peace.

William Hamilton, a nationally syndicated columnist and featured commentator for USA Today, is the co-author of The Grand Conspiracy – a novel about terrorism in the Colorado high country. See: www.thegrandconspiracy.com.

©2002. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com