June 24, 2009
"The Arabs have a well thought-through, staged,
comprehensive plan to bring about the collapse of Israel
... [and] have been crafty enough to catch Israel in this
trap so that Israel has become a participant in the early
stages of Israel's own self-destruction,..."
"There is no way to prevent an Arab state from
abrogating agreements to remain demilitarized ...
claiming unforeseen conditions or undue pressure ...
undoubtedly a fact that Israel should take to heart for
itself and recognize the change in conditions that
render Israeli obligations under earlier agreements as
likewise calling for abrogation ..."
if PM Netanyahu really believes that Jerusalem must remain part of
Israel, he must come out clearly to stake Israel's claim, announcing
to the world that the territories that Israel took possession of as a
consequence of the 1967 Six Day War were lands to which Israel has the
only legitimate, sovereign claim.
These lands captured in the 67 War include East Jerusalem. But all the
lands acquired then were part of the lands set aside for the Jewish
people by the 51 members of the League of Nations in their Mandate of
Palestine. At the time of the 1967 War, these lands had been illegally
occupied earlier by Egypt and Jordan. Both of these nations have since
acknowledged their lack of any legitimate claims to them.
The fact is that when, in 1967, Israel crossed into these west bank
territories in defending against Arab attack coming from these very
lands, Israel traversed crossed no recognized international boundaries
and had remained within the envelop of lands set aside by the League
of Nations for a homeland for the Jewish people.
If PM Netanyahu fails to assert Israel's legitimate rights to these
territories, he jeopardizes not only Israel's bona fide claims to these
lands and the Jewish communities there but also to East Jerusalem
which is a part of them. The failure to assert Israel's claims feeds
the slanders leveled against Israel that allege Israel steals these
lands from the Arabs. These Israeli-Jewish claims are valid even in a
context in which Israel may be seeking to bargain away these lands to
in return for a binding peace agreement with the Arabs. What is more,
this failure to assert Israel's rights has led to the Arabs jumping
into this vacuum and claiming the lands as their right that is not to
be denied, let alone entailing Arab concessions to Israel for the
privilege of receiving them.
While at one time Israeli leaders could have believed (erroneously of
course) that by unilaterally relinquishing Israel's rights to those
acquired territories the Arabs would be encouraged to come to a
peaceful compromise. But this expectation has by now been shown to be
ill conceived. The Arabs have clearly indicated by word and deed that
they have no intention of living in peace with an Israel that they
think (and with good reason) that they can gradually roll back and
destroy. The so-called "two state solution" is the child of this
Israeli failure of assertion of her rights. Thus, what had began as
one-sided Israeli gestures for peace have turned out to be a ruinous,
deadly trap that Israel now finds difficult to withdraw from without
drastic diplomatic consequences and heroic exercises of courage that
involve Israel's willingness to endure hardship.
What is evident, the Arab side has had a well thought-through, staged,
comprehensive plan to bring about the collapse of Israel. Moreover,
the Arabs have been crafty enough to catch a naive Israel in this
trap, making Israel into an active participant in the early stages of
the Arab plan for Israel's own destruction. This had been amply
demonstrated recently in Gaza, where Israel surrendered the entire
security of southern Israel and became the instrument of ethnic
cleansing of Israel's own Jewish population from their homes and
properties. Yet, the lesson had still not been learned by Netanyahu
since he followed this surrender by acquiescing in the right of the
Arabs to build of a new Palestinian State on Israel's unclaimed
territory, albeit with the demand that this state be demilitarized.
As many critics have again argued, there is no way to prevent an Arab
state from abrogating agreements to remain demilitarized or seeking
the military assistance of outside nations, claiming unforeseen
conditions or undue pressure to give up what are universal
entitlements. This is undoubtedly a fact that Israel should take to
heart for itself and recognize the change in conditions that render
Israeli obligations under earlier agreements to surrender its rights
in the territories as likewise calling for abrogation in the light that
these now afford serious threats to the safety and security of
Israel.
In fact, Avigdor Lieberman has already raised such issues and has
indeed argued that conditions have changed that call for Israel's
rethinking of her diplomatic obligations in the light of today's
threatening environment.
Unfortunately, most of the world has come to hold the opinion of
Israel as attempting to steal what belongs to the Arabs, a view
acquiesced and even asserted by Leftist Israeli leaders. The grave
dangers that these unwise policies have brought now leave little room
for error in Israeli maneuvering. It is long past time for Israel to
formulate, like the Arabs have, a comprehensive plan for the long
range future that recognizes that Israel faces an implacable Arab
enemy and that holding to concession serves the Arab enemy as the
point of departure to make good on its cherished goal of Israel's
destruction.
*****
David Basch is an architect and city planner in New York as well as the Freeman Center's political philosopher. Basch is also an expert on Shakespeare and the author of the book, The Hidden Shakespeare, which proves through talmudic and other Jewish sources that Shakespeare was in fact Jewish.
Thursday, 25 June 2009
NO ROOM FOR ERROR
by David Basch
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
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