Gerald A. Honigman
The author is an educator who has done extensive doctoral studies in Mid-East Affairs and has conducted counter-Arab propaganda programs for college youth. He gives lectures and participates in debates around the U.S. Read his new book to be found at http://q4j-middle-east.com.As Arab infighting expands in Gaza, and much of the world bemoans Mahmoud Abbas and his fellow latter-day Arafatians' setbacks, Israel has reason to be glad.
While I get no pleasure from anyone dying, the fact is that it makes no difference whether it's Hamas or Fatah affiliates murdering Jews. Both have no intention of living peacefully with a permanent Jewish State as their neighbor - whatever their assorted white-washers say, including the Foggy Bottom folks. Abbas himself ran on a platform for Israel's destruction; he and his folks are simply willing to sing the right tune in Western ears to gain support, so the international squeeze can be put on the Jews. To its credit, Hamas is more honest about its murderous intent.
Dozens have been killed and wounded as Gaza implodes. If Israel was doing this, 
So, guess what? I'm backing a Hamas victory.
imagine the international outcry.
So, guess what? I'm backing a Hamas victory.
imagine the international outcry.The good news is that even syndicated New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman finally seems to get it. While usually throwing a zinger regarding alleged moral equivalence between Israeli responses and Arab barbarism, in one of his latest pieces, Friedman had his "aha!" moment. He stated that the Arabs could forget about the Jews handing over the West Bank as they did with Gaza.
Gaza was a test, as many of us have noted, and the Arabs flunked it with flying colors.
As Friedman finally acknowledged - after years of lecturing Israel about the need for withdrawal from virtually all the disputed territories - it just takes one Arab rocket fired from the West Bank to close down Israel's main airport. Hundreds of such rockets have been fired into Israel proper since its withdrawal from Gaza two years ago. And keep in mind that America has been pressing the Jews to arm, or allow arms to reach, the sweet-talking Arafatians. Latest reports state that Hamas has confiscated much of the arms and equipment already delivered to Fatah (which has itself also used them against Jews).The Foggy Bottom folks are just loaded with such ideas.
Any Israeli leader who continues to cave in on these issues needs to be exiled or tried for treason.
The fight Abbas & Co. have with Hamas is basically over who gets control of the money, which is and will be pouring in. Arafat made zillions this way. It is also about, of course, which group will be calling the shots - literally and figuratively speaking.
So, guess what? I'm backing a Hamas victory. No more bull manure.
Let the Arabs fight it out. They had their chance at state-building and they blew it, big time. They chose what the late professor Richard Cottam (Nationalism In Iran), George Orwell (Notes on Nationalism), and others have called "negative nationalism" over the more tedious responsibilities of "positive nationalism."
Israel got nothing in return for its unilateral withdrawal from Gaza - land used repeatedly to launch warfare and terror against it in the past - except what most of us expected: more terror, but this time launched closer to home. As even the alleged "moderate" Arafatians repeatedly said, any dealings with the Jews would just serve as a Trojan Horse, bringing them one step further each time along their post-1967 destruction-in-stages plans for the Jews.
Given all that has transpired - including the recent resurrected fiasco of the Saudi Peace (of the grave) Initiative and the Mecca Accord, which insist on flooding Israel with allegedly "returning" jihadists dedicated to its destruction - Israel must continue to act unilaterally. It must draw lines in the sand in the disputed lands of Judea (as in "Jew") and Samaria, the "West Bank," which allow it reasonable defense against its millions of murderous enemies. The days of Israel's 1949 United Nations-imposed microscopic armistice-line existence must be gone forever - just as UN Security Council Resolution 242 specified in the wake of the Six Day War. Judea and Samaria were non-apportioned areas of the original Palestine Mandate received by Britain after World War I and they were open to settlement by all the Mandate's inhabitants, not just the Arabs, most of whom were themselves settlers from elsewhere.
Absent a true peace partner willing to come up with a real compromise and modus vivendi, Israel must declare that, henceforth, any aggression from Arab lands will be dealt with the way America's Colin Powell instructs for America itself - massive retaliation. A Hamas win in Gaza and perhaps beyond will make this easier for Israel to carry out, with no facade of phony, and equally murderous, Arafatian peace partners to deal with.
Hamas, in the meanwhile, has been playing Lebanon's Hizbullah game, learning well the lessons from the latter's war against Israel last summer. So, Israel must not be lured once again to fight according to the Arabs' game plan. A Hamas "win" must turn into its own destruction. As President George W. Bush has said, those who support terrorists will suffer their fate. When America warred with Germany and Japan, it didn't worry much about civilians killed along the way during the fire bombings and so forth. Unlike those World War II conflicts, the war the Jews have been continuously forced to fight is about the very existence of their sole, tiny, reborn nation. Poll after poll has shown that if Israel withdrew from every inch of disputed territory, most Arabs would still refuse its right to exist.
So, again, cut the manure.
When the Arabs create Hamastan, Israel must deal with it as any other country would when faced with an enemy dedicated to its destruction. To do this, Israel must first hold new elections and get rid of the pusillanimous, inept crew currently running the show. It must elect leaders who will tell Israel's best friends that what they're asking is not very
A Hamas "win" must turn into its own destruction.
friendly. And I'm being nice in describing such behavior this way.
A Hamas "win" must turn into its own destruction.
friendly. And I'm being nice in describing such behavior this way. This war is not about Arabs wanting their 22nd state (and the second, not first, one in "Palestine"). They could have had that decades ago. Honorable plans were repeatedly offered and turned down by the Arabs themselves over the past century. It's about the Arabs wanting the destruction of the only state the Jews have. The conflict has always been about this. "Negative nationalism" par excellence.
While the inter-Arab conflict plays out in the territories, and before the dust settles, Israel must create plans to leave the Arabs gasping for air when the time is ripe - a la June 1967. It must leave them afraid of retaliation because of what the next Israeli response will bring. This can be done. Israel must just have the will to act for its survival.
The hypocrites elsewhere will yell and scream about "Nazi" Jews and such. Israel must ignore them and take the cuts in aid, if need be.
Hamastan will give Israel a chance to face its mortal, genocidal, rejectionist enemies head on, with gloves removed. And it must do so this time in a way that will remove the smirk Arabs have been wearing since the war in Lebanon last year.