Sunday, 24 April 2011
FATEFUL DECISION COMING
by David Basch
Freeman Center For Strategic Studies
April 24, 2011
"The question is whether PM Netanyahu's next proposal
will mark a new direction in negotiation -- one that
walks Israel back from earlier surrender agreements that
should be declared nul and void on grounds of the perfidious
performance of the Arab enemy."
It has been PM Netanyahu's unhappy lot that he has been the one called
on to make fateful decisions for Israel and the Jewish people. Maybe
that statment should be corrected that it is Israel and the Jewish
people's unhappy lot that it is he that is called on to decide these
issues for them. Reflecting on what has happened, he has not done well
for them.
One need only recall that in his first term as PM, elected to stand
fast on behalf of Israel against the Oslo process that was delivering
Israel into the hands of those that sought to destroy the nation, he
failed to stop it in its tracks and even expanded it by contributing
the early surrender of additional large portions of Hebron to the
Arabs. A decade later, after running on another right wing program, he
became the first Israeli leader to subscibe to a Palestinian State.
Leading up to this, he was also for the surrender of Gaza, the very
surrender that brought Israel's southern cities under Arab
bombardment.
We learn from Netanyahu's policies that he is a first class betrayer
of those who elected him, having been duplicitous again and again in
campaigning on policies subscribing to a strong defense, but then,
after achieving office, promptly rejecting such action, thinking that
he could get the US and even the Arabs to do Israel's fighting to
survive, as he pursued his theories of economic determinism that
supposedly would change Arab hearts to acceptance of Israel. He still
thinks that this will come about as a result of the Arab materialistic
attainments that he himself finds so hypnotically compelling that he
imagines it will make the Arabs veer from their Islamic goal to
destroy Israel. In such peace endeavors, PM Netanyahu has failed
Israel miserably.
And now he comes to the present next crossroad, being called upon to
present another version of Israel's plan for peace, the plans which in
the past have, step by step, been delivering Israel into the Arab jaws
of death as their empowerments of the Arab enemy have weakened Israel
militarily and diplomatically. Will Netanyahu perform in his usual
manner or will his plan embark Israel on a new path of strength and
survival? The stakes have never been higher.
What Netanyahu should not do is spell our further steps to weaken
Israel the way that it has been done before. It should have been
noticed that each of the earlier proposals have led to Israel's
further binding on behalf of ingratiating the Arab enemy -- an enemy
that has not once taken a step toward peace with Israel since that
enemy staunchly retains all of its killer demands of bringing millions
of Arabs into Israel, surrender of Jerusalem, and the abandonment and
ethnic cleansing of of Jewish communities in Israel's territories. But
each time Israel proposes a further surrender along this path, the
proposal is immediately pocketed and becomes the starting position for
the next stages of negotiation, enabling the Arabs to win from Israel
at the negotiating table what they could not win with their armies.
The big picture, of course, which should have been apparent long ago,
is that the goal of the Arab enemy is not coexisting with Israel but
with destroying every vestige of the non Muslim Israel.
The question is whether PM Netanyahu's next proposal will mark a new
direction in negotiation -- one that walks Israel back from earlier
surrender agreements that should be declared nul and void on grounds
of the perfidious performance of the Arab enemy. After all, once one
side of an agreement breaks that agreement, the other side is equally
entitled to walk away from it. The Arab nation that will emerge from
such Israeli surrenders will be irredentist and dedicated to Israel's
destruction and in a position with the help of Arab allies to make
this a reality. Israel has no choice but to assert this reality.
Sure, Israel now has a problem with a US administration and a Europe
that insists that Israel continue on the path of this dangerous
surrender. But that will be suicidal. Better that this path be
resisted than entering on a downward spiral to ultimate, certain
defeat. It should be recalled that Israel's victory in 1967 in the
face of similar world opposition changed the complexion of attitudes
toward Israel, creating decades of friendship with formerly
antagonistic western nations. Also, it should be recognized that
support in the US for the current white house is skin deep, at odds
with the majority of US public opinion and with the US Congress. In is
evident that the persistence of President Obama on his dangerous,
anti-Israel course could very well insure his certain defeat in the
next election and a new pro-Israel foreign policy course.
The margin for Israel's survival has in recent years become ever
thinner. Strategic thinking is more a necessity than it ever was.
Policies merely preserving Israel for another decade or two -- the
visionary scope of the Israeli leftists who live for the moment and
power to control Israel's government, however fleeting the existence
of such an Israel -- is out of the question. But unless a leader with
realistic vision and ability to guide Israel's future shows up, able
to lead obsessed leftists away from their policies of delusion that
have mired Israel in continuing failure, the prospects are dark. It is
apparent to that there are no peaceful Arab Santa Clauses that Israel
may depend on to accept the existence of a weakened Israel that the
Arabs think they can destroy.
PM Netanyahu has an opportunity to chart a new course. He will need a
maximum of wisdom to enable this to take place. What he says to the US
Congress next month will tell this tale
Posts
