Arik: ?Either fight or get out of the ring.?
Mr. Prime Minister, you aimed the phrase ?fight terror or get out of the ring? with great ferocity at Yasser Arafat. Due to its correctness and its righteousness, a decisive majority of the nation elected you a year ago and stood behind you for the entire year, flowing with blood as it was. Now, to our chagrin, this phrase can also be directed at you.
?Either he will fight terror,? you said, and the entire nation listened to you with great attention, ?or someone else will fight terror, and he will be irrelevant.? During a specific period, it seemed that our retaliatory actions and international pressure on Arafat and on the Palestinian Authority would bear fruit, and that the time was near when they would control the riotous terror and put an end to the war against us. In the name of this strategic purpose it was appropriate even to grit our teeth and pass another day and another sea of blood and tears. In recent weeks, though, it has finally become clear that this ?Had Gadya?, where we hit him so that he should hit them, does not work. It didn?t cost us just two silver coins, either, but much blood, unprecedented terror and, in light of the strategic agreement between Iran, Iraq and the Palestinian Authority, it is impossible to say that it will improve in the future. Arafat will not fight terror, neither will his successor, nor his successor?s successor.
You have acted with wisdom, Mr. Prime Minister. With a broad national and international consensus, you have had more than a few achievements. Unfortunately, the central purpose of your administration has not been achieved: There are no expectations of this government and no hope for this nation unless we take revenge, unless we fight terror and unless we defeat it decisively. The entire political agenda, unilateral or multi-lateral, all hope, all repose, all light at the end of the tunnel, is conditioned on this. The tunnel through which we must pass is a single-minded decision to fight the war on terror, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. To defeat terror decisively means the elimination of its infrastructure, the collection of weapons that are used against us, the closure of bomb factories, the breaking of the will of the suicide terrorists and their dispatchers. In this matter there are no shortcuts and there is no one that will do the work in our stead.
The tough challenge that you presented to Arafat, fight or get out of the ring, was answered with a thundering rejection: He will not fight. So the question returns to you, sir. Will you fight? The responsibility is great and I do not envy you. It is seventy times greater in your case, because if you choose not to fight, you will sow confusion and despondency throughout the Israeli public. The group that constantly calls for capitulation will say, ?Look, even Arik Sharon has no answer.?
The most basic right of the citizen is the right to live and the most basic responsibility of a State is the duty to protect the lives of its citizens. A leadership that does not fulfill this duty has little left to offer. Life, Mr. Prime Minister, is above politics. It is very difficult to say this, sir, and very unpleasant. However, now it is you that stands before this acute choice: Either fight or get off the stage of national leadership.
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Effi Eitam is a Brigadier-General (res.) in the Israel Defense Forces.
Mr. Prime Minister, you aimed the phrase ?fight terror or get out of the ring? with great ferocity at Yasser Arafat. Due to its correctness and its righteousness, a decisive majority of the nation elected you a year ago and stood behind you for the entire year, flowing with blood as it was. Now, to our chagrin, this phrase can also be directed at you.
?Either he will fight terror,? you said, and the entire nation listened to you with great attention, ?or someone else will fight terror, and he will be irrelevant.? During a specific period, it seemed that our retaliatory actions and international pressure on Arafat and on the Palestinian Authority would bear fruit, and that the time was near when they would control the riotous terror and put an end to the war against us. In the name of this strategic purpose it was appropriate even to grit our teeth and pass another day and another sea of blood and tears. In recent weeks, though, it has finally become clear that this ?Had Gadya?, where we hit him so that he should hit them, does not work. It didn?t cost us just two silver coins, either, but much blood, unprecedented terror and, in light of the strategic agreement between Iran, Iraq and the Palestinian Authority, it is impossible to say that it will improve in the future. Arafat will not fight terror, neither will his successor, nor his successor?s successor.
You have acted with wisdom, Mr. Prime Minister. With a broad national and international consensus, you have had more than a few achievements. Unfortunately, the central purpose of your administration has not been achieved: There are no expectations of this government and no hope for this nation unless we take revenge, unless we fight terror and unless we defeat it decisively. The entire political agenda, unilateral or multi-lateral, all hope, all repose, all light at the end of the tunnel, is conditioned on this. The tunnel through which we must pass is a single-minded decision to fight the war on terror, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. To defeat terror decisively means the elimination of its infrastructure, the collection of weapons that are used against us, the closure of bomb factories, the breaking of the will of the suicide terrorists and their dispatchers. In this matter there are no shortcuts and there is no one that will do the work in our stead.
The tough challenge that you presented to Arafat, fight or get out of the ring, was answered with a thundering rejection: He will not fight. So the question returns to you, sir. Will you fight? The responsibility is great and I do not envy you. It is seventy times greater in your case, because if you choose not to fight, you will sow confusion and despondency throughout the Israeli public. The group that constantly calls for capitulation will say, ?Look, even Arik Sharon has no answer.?
The most basic right of the citizen is the right to live and the most basic responsibility of a State is the duty to protect the lives of its citizens. A leadership that does not fulfill this duty has little left to offer. Life, Mr. Prime Minister, is above politics. It is very difficult to say this, sir, and very unpleasant. However, now it is you that stands before this acute choice: Either fight or get off the stage of national leadership.
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Effi Eitam is a Brigadier-General (res.) in the Israel Defense Forces.