Not only has the US-Israel crisis ended, but it appears to have produced positive results for Israel.
The tensions began on Thursday night, when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated publicly that his Cabinet had instructed Israeli \"security forces to take all necessary measures to bring full security to the citizens of Israel. We can rely on ourselves only...\" He was speaking only hours after the downing of a Russian plane with over 50 Israelis on board, the deadly Arab terrorist attack in Afula that claimed the lives of three Israelis, and the Arab shootings in Hevron. \"I call on the Western democracies,\" Sharon said, \"and primarily the leader of the free world, the United States: Do not repeat the dreadful mistake of 1938, when enlightened European democracies decided to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for \'a convenient temporary solution.\' Do not try to appease the Arabs at our expense - this is unacceptable to us. Israel will not be Czechoslovakia. Israel will fight terrorism.\"
The remarks drew sharp criticism from the Americans. \"President Bush believes that these remarks are unacceptable,\" White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the next day. \"Israel can have no better or stronger a friend than the United States.\" In addition, both U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Ambassador Dan Kurtzer personally told Sharon of Bush\'s displeasure.
Sharon dutifully expressed to Powell his appreciation of the United States\' \"deep friendship\" with Israel, and especially that of President Bush, asking him to convey Israel\'s \"appreciation of the bold and courageous decision of the president to fight terrorism.\" Sharon, however, was a bit tougher on Kurtzer, expressing his disbelief that he was calling to complain instead of offering condolences for the Israelis killed by Palestinian terrorism in recent days. Kurtzer, in fact, apologized for his own role in aggravating the tensions and intervening in internal Israeli affairs.
The Prime Minister said last night that he \"regrets\" if his Czechoslovakia metaphor was not properly understood. He did not apologize, but rather praised Bush and the special Israeli-U.S. relationship, emphasizing that Israel\'s main responsibility, and his as Prime Minister, is to protect its citizens. The Americans accepted the explanations and have returned to diplomatic routine. In fact, U.S. officials, in a series of phone calls with their Israeli counterparts over the past few days, have briefed them on the state of the American plans to attack targets in its anti-terrorism war. Security officials, incidentally, see this as a sign that the American offensive is near.
In other ways, too, it appears that Israel has come out the stronger. The U.S. apparently acceded to one of Sharon\'s main demands yesterday when the State Department published its bi-annual list of foreign terrorist organizations and included the Israel-based Arab terrorist organizations Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as well as the Lebanese-based Hizbullah. These were blatantly absent from a list of 27 Bin Laden-associated organizations published by the White House two weeks ago. U.S. law bans American citizens from joining these groups or from transferring funds to them. Furthermore, banks are instructed to freeze the terrorist organizations\' financial assets in the U.S., and persons connected to these groups can be denied admission to the United States.
Another achievement, according to senior Jerusalem officials, is that in the wake of Sharon\'s tough talk, the Administration exerted strong pressure on Arafat to stop his violence against Israel, threatening to \"change its policy\" towards the Palestinian Authority if the violence does not stop. On the other hand, the U.S. will not block Syria\'s election to the United Nations Security Council tomorrow.
Israel had been receiving hints of late that the U.S. was differentiating between Arab terrorism against Israel and other terrorism, and that it was placing pressure on Israel to react blandly to Arab terrorist attacks so as not to thwart efforts to build a broad anti-Bin Laden coalition. For instance, on September 27, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters, \"Essentially, there are, on some planes, two different things. One is that there are violent people trying to destroy societies, ours, many others in the world. The world recognizes that, and we are going to stop those people. On the other hand, there are issues and violence and political issues that need to be resolved in the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians.\"
In addition, the U.S. exerted tremendous pressure for a Peres-Arafat meeting - for which Israel was rewarded with repeated murderous violations of the ceasefire, as well as a statement by President Bush announcing support for a Palestinian Arab state. The heavy and costly Arab violence against Israel of the last few days has been viewed as a result of Arafat\'s \"misunderstanding\" of the true American position - and Sharon\'s remarks were designed to make clear that Israel would not stand for it.
The tensions began on Thursday night, when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated publicly that his Cabinet had instructed Israeli \"security forces to take all necessary measures to bring full security to the citizens of Israel. We can rely on ourselves only...\" He was speaking only hours after the downing of a Russian plane with over 50 Israelis on board, the deadly Arab terrorist attack in Afula that claimed the lives of three Israelis, and the Arab shootings in Hevron. \"I call on the Western democracies,\" Sharon said, \"and primarily the leader of the free world, the United States: Do not repeat the dreadful mistake of 1938, when enlightened European democracies decided to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for \'a convenient temporary solution.\' Do not try to appease the Arabs at our expense - this is unacceptable to us. Israel will not be Czechoslovakia. Israel will fight terrorism.\"
The remarks drew sharp criticism from the Americans. \"President Bush believes that these remarks are unacceptable,\" White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the next day. \"Israel can have no better or stronger a friend than the United States.\" In addition, both U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Ambassador Dan Kurtzer personally told Sharon of Bush\'s displeasure.
Sharon dutifully expressed to Powell his appreciation of the United States\' \"deep friendship\" with Israel, and especially that of President Bush, asking him to convey Israel\'s \"appreciation of the bold and courageous decision of the president to fight terrorism.\" Sharon, however, was a bit tougher on Kurtzer, expressing his disbelief that he was calling to complain instead of offering condolences for the Israelis killed by Palestinian terrorism in recent days. Kurtzer, in fact, apologized for his own role in aggravating the tensions and intervening in internal Israeli affairs.
The Prime Minister said last night that he \"regrets\" if his Czechoslovakia metaphor was not properly understood. He did not apologize, but rather praised Bush and the special Israeli-U.S. relationship, emphasizing that Israel\'s main responsibility, and his as Prime Minister, is to protect its citizens. The Americans accepted the explanations and have returned to diplomatic routine. In fact, U.S. officials, in a series of phone calls with their Israeli counterparts over the past few days, have briefed them on the state of the American plans to attack targets in its anti-terrorism war. Security officials, incidentally, see this as a sign that the American offensive is near.
In other ways, too, it appears that Israel has come out the stronger. The U.S. apparently acceded to one of Sharon\'s main demands yesterday when the State Department published its bi-annual list of foreign terrorist organizations and included the Israel-based Arab terrorist organizations Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as well as the Lebanese-based Hizbullah. These were blatantly absent from a list of 27 Bin Laden-associated organizations published by the White House two weeks ago. U.S. law bans American citizens from joining these groups or from transferring funds to them. Furthermore, banks are instructed to freeze the terrorist organizations\' financial assets in the U.S., and persons connected to these groups can be denied admission to the United States.
Another achievement, according to senior Jerusalem officials, is that in the wake of Sharon\'s tough talk, the Administration exerted strong pressure on Arafat to stop his violence against Israel, threatening to \"change its policy\" towards the Palestinian Authority if the violence does not stop. On the other hand, the U.S. will not block Syria\'s election to the United Nations Security Council tomorrow.
Israel had been receiving hints of late that the U.S. was differentiating between Arab terrorism against Israel and other terrorism, and that it was placing pressure on Israel to react blandly to Arab terrorist attacks so as not to thwart efforts to build a broad anti-Bin Laden coalition. For instance, on September 27, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters, \"Essentially, there are, on some planes, two different things. One is that there are violent people trying to destroy societies, ours, many others in the world. The world recognizes that, and we are going to stop those people. On the other hand, there are issues and violence and political issues that need to be resolved in the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians.\"
In addition, the U.S. exerted tremendous pressure for a Peres-Arafat meeting - for which Israel was rewarded with repeated murderous violations of the ceasefire, as well as a statement by President Bush announcing support for a Palestinian Arab state. The heavy and costly Arab violence against Israel of the last few days has been viewed as a result of Arafat\'s \"misunderstanding\" of the true American position - and Sharon\'s remarks were designed to make clear that Israel would not stand for it.