News reports are circulating about recent "behind-the-scenes" peace plans that have supposedly been worked out by left-wing Israelis and some Palestinian Arab politicians and academics, notably Yasser Abed Rabbo and Sari Nusseibeh.
As a result of the Arab invasion of a newborn Israel in 1948, two refugee situations were created: Arabs who fled Israel and a like number of Jews who fled Arab lands. Unlike the former, however, the latter did not have some two dozen other states to potentially choose from - including one carved out of 80% of the original Palestinian Mandate issued to Britain on April 25, 1920 and today known as Jordan.
Nusseibeh is perhaps best noted for his advice for Arab refugees ? both real and fudged ? to give up their claim to return to Israel for peace to occur. He has also called for an end to suicide bombings. The American State Department ? grasping at straws to blow some life into its all-but-dead ?roadmap? ? has recently given its own blessings to these initiatives.
The problem, of course, is that, unlike Israel, where there is strong grassroots sentiment for an honorable compromise to be found, poll after poll among Arabs still reveals that even if Israel agreed to withdraw to its pre-'67, 9-mile wide, armistice line existence, most Arabs would still not accept its right to exist and would continue to support attacks upon its people.
The sad reality is that Nusseibeh lives only because Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa, and Arafat himself don't take him seriously. Isam Sartawi and other previous rare voices of reason were eliminated as soon as they appeared to be a real threat to the overwhelming Arab rejectionist mentality. Arafat's Palestinian Authority has done nothing to change this climate. Its schools, media, mosques, etc. continue to assure that the possibility of an Arab "grassroots" campaign for an honorable peace with a viable Jewish neighbor will be an impossibility for at least a long time to come. Arabs talk only of a temporary "Trojan Horse" truce to gain tangibles from Israel on the ground, while retaining their destruction-in-stages goal towards the Jewish State. Hundreds of Arabs who didn't tow the line have been eliminated by their brothers as "collaborators" over the years.
Nusseibeh is like the Eugene McCarthy of American politics... only not as influential. He's tolerated only as long as he's useful to be showcased as a voice of alleged reason to a naive West. The late Faisal Husseini served in a somewhat similar capacity, although his "vision" was still a purely Arab Palestine from the River to the Sea. Rabbo can be seen as just another Arafatian marionette. Don't look for anything really "new" from this direction.
If Nusseibeh can be used to win additional concessions from Israel, he's safe. But he better have some solid tricks up his sleeves if he expects support from the Arafat/Hamas, good cop/bad cop team for the Arabs living up to their side of the "deal." Will Yossi Beilin, Yasser Abed Rabbo, Sari Nusseibeh or Colin Powell feel safe boarding a bus in Jerusalem or eating in a restaurant in Haifa? That's the real test of any such plan or "deal." Having stated all of this, I pray that I'm wrong... Sari Nusseibeh is a good man.
Thus, little of the above should be taken seriously until something crucial occurs to change the current reality. Let's step back in history for a moment to truly understand what is needed at this time.
It was early May, 1948. Surrounding Arab countries invaded a reborn Israel to nip it in the bud. The Jews had no choice but to immediately emerge out of the shock of the Holocaust in order to deal with yet another harsh reality.
David Ben-Gurion, leader of the new state, made countless historic decisions, but one particularly painful one involved the ship Altalena ? a pen name for his Labor Zionist Party's rival, the late Ze'ev Vladimir Jabotinsky.
Jabotinsky's heirs were determined to repay the Arab slaughter of Jews in kind and to hasten the end of British rule and anti-Israel policies by any means necessary. Among other things, they purchased an American ship and landed it near Marseilles, France. It was expected that the vessel would be making repeat trips between France and Israel carrying arms and new recruits gathered from the survivors of Europe's nightmare and the frightened mellahs of kelbi yahudi ? "Jew Dog" ? Jewish existence in Arab North Africa and the Middle East.
Israel desperately needed the arms and manpower aboard the Altalena. But Ben-Gurion insisted that there would be but one unified command. On June 20th, Ben-Gurion made a heart-wrenching decision to resist the Irgun's challenge concerning the ship's precious human and material cargo. In the ensuing tragic battle, scores of Jews were killed by Jews for the sake of shaping the infant state's future and character.
Holocaust-denying author and former Arafat-appointed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, had given lip service to the need to end attacks on Jewish innocents ? for whatever his reasons. He and his successor, Ahmed Qureia, specifically don't like the bad press that comes along with suicide bombings. Arafat, the master puppeteer, has long been exposed as saying one thing to Western ears and quite another to his own people in these regards.
Both the supposedly "moderate" Abbas and his security chief, Mohammad Dahlan, had past ties themselves to terrorist activities. Dahlan had been caught on tape, for example, issuing orders for suicide bombings. Yet the hope was that that was yesterday's news and that there could be a chance for a better tomorrow.
But Hamas is Hamas, and Arafat is Arafat. Neither has any intention of arriving at a settlement in which a viable Israel exists on the morrow. That has been proven over and over again, and there's no need to repeat the evidence about Camp David 2000 and Taba, etc., etc. yet again. There will be no better tomorrow with this good cop/bad cop team still calling the shots... literally.
That better tomorrow will not arrive unless new leaders arise in the would-be 23rd Arab state, with the power and will to make the decisions a stateless and millennially persecuted people and its leaders ? at the end of their collective rope ? made fifty-five years ago.
What will Beilin, Rabbo, Ayalon and Nusseibeh do the day after the next Egged bus blows up loaded with innocent Jews aboard, or another father is murdered having dinner with his children...and this after Israel has withdrawn to its microscopic, armistice line existence again?
Merely "chatting" with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa, etc. won't solve the problem, but this is all that Arafat & Co. say that they're willing to do. The Oslo days of the Trojan Horse "peace" Arabs played with Jews are over. The more Israel gave, the more it bled. Despite Arab visions of the much-touted and now highly endangered "roadmap" to the contrary, there will be no Oslo II. How many nations would tolerate the continuous slaughter Israelis are expected to put up with? Think of our American bunker buster and daisy cutter bombs, used in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Until the Arabs make clear their intention to live peacefully alongside a secure Israel with concrete measures that are actually taken to stop the murder of Jews, promotion of hatred and violence among the Arab masses, etc., then Israel should not be expected to become a party to its own demise by caving in to Arab demands and those of the hypocrites elsewhere who support them. The Yossi Beilins are convenient tools of the Arabs on that score, as well. No other country would demand less under the circumstances Israel has been faced with. Indeed, most of those European and Russian sponsors of the ?roadmap? would have leveled Gaza a long time ago if they had been subjected to what they expect Jews to continuously tolerate. America is coming close to making some similar decisions regarding Tikrit.
What's missing is the Arabs' own Altalena.
As a result of the Arab invasion of a newborn Israel in 1948, two refugee situations were created: Arabs who fled Israel and a like number of Jews who fled Arab lands. Unlike the former, however, the latter did not have some two dozen other states to potentially choose from - including one carved out of 80% of the original Palestinian Mandate issued to Britain on April 25, 1920 and today known as Jordan.
Nusseibeh is perhaps best noted for his advice for Arab refugees ? both real and fudged ? to give up their claim to return to Israel for peace to occur. He has also called for an end to suicide bombings. The American State Department ? grasping at straws to blow some life into its all-but-dead ?roadmap? ? has recently given its own blessings to these initiatives.
The problem, of course, is that, unlike Israel, where there is strong grassroots sentiment for an honorable compromise to be found, poll after poll among Arabs still reveals that even if Israel agreed to withdraw to its pre-'67, 9-mile wide, armistice line existence, most Arabs would still not accept its right to exist and would continue to support attacks upon its people.
The sad reality is that Nusseibeh lives only because Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa, and Arafat himself don't take him seriously. Isam Sartawi and other previous rare voices of reason were eliminated as soon as they appeared to be a real threat to the overwhelming Arab rejectionist mentality. Arafat's Palestinian Authority has done nothing to change this climate. Its schools, media, mosques, etc. continue to assure that the possibility of an Arab "grassroots" campaign for an honorable peace with a viable Jewish neighbor will be an impossibility for at least a long time to come. Arabs talk only of a temporary "Trojan Horse" truce to gain tangibles from Israel on the ground, while retaining their destruction-in-stages goal towards the Jewish State. Hundreds of Arabs who didn't tow the line have been eliminated by their brothers as "collaborators" over the years.
Nusseibeh is like the Eugene McCarthy of American politics... only not as influential. He's tolerated only as long as he's useful to be showcased as a voice of alleged reason to a naive West. The late Faisal Husseini served in a somewhat similar capacity, although his "vision" was still a purely Arab Palestine from the River to the Sea. Rabbo can be seen as just another Arafatian marionette. Don't look for anything really "new" from this direction.
If Nusseibeh can be used to win additional concessions from Israel, he's safe. But he better have some solid tricks up his sleeves if he expects support from the Arafat/Hamas, good cop/bad cop team for the Arabs living up to their side of the "deal." Will Yossi Beilin, Yasser Abed Rabbo, Sari Nusseibeh or Colin Powell feel safe boarding a bus in Jerusalem or eating in a restaurant in Haifa? That's the real test of any such plan or "deal." Having stated all of this, I pray that I'm wrong... Sari Nusseibeh is a good man.
Thus, little of the above should be taken seriously until something crucial occurs to change the current reality. Let's step back in history for a moment to truly understand what is needed at this time.
It was early May, 1948. Surrounding Arab countries invaded a reborn Israel to nip it in the bud. The Jews had no choice but to immediately emerge out of the shock of the Holocaust in order to deal with yet another harsh reality.
David Ben-Gurion, leader of the new state, made countless historic decisions, but one particularly painful one involved the ship Altalena ? a pen name for his Labor Zionist Party's rival, the late Ze'ev Vladimir Jabotinsky.
Jabotinsky's heirs were determined to repay the Arab slaughter of Jews in kind and to hasten the end of British rule and anti-Israel policies by any means necessary. Among other things, they purchased an American ship and landed it near Marseilles, France. It was expected that the vessel would be making repeat trips between France and Israel carrying arms and new recruits gathered from the survivors of Europe's nightmare and the frightened mellahs of kelbi yahudi ? "Jew Dog" ? Jewish existence in Arab North Africa and the Middle East.
Israel desperately needed the arms and manpower aboard the Altalena. But Ben-Gurion insisted that there would be but one unified command. On June 20th, Ben-Gurion made a heart-wrenching decision to resist the Irgun's challenge concerning the ship's precious human and material cargo. In the ensuing tragic battle, scores of Jews were killed by Jews for the sake of shaping the infant state's future and character.
Holocaust-denying author and former Arafat-appointed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, had given lip service to the need to end attacks on Jewish innocents ? for whatever his reasons. He and his successor, Ahmed Qureia, specifically don't like the bad press that comes along with suicide bombings. Arafat, the master puppeteer, has long been exposed as saying one thing to Western ears and quite another to his own people in these regards.
Both the supposedly "moderate" Abbas and his security chief, Mohammad Dahlan, had past ties themselves to terrorist activities. Dahlan had been caught on tape, for example, issuing orders for suicide bombings. Yet the hope was that that was yesterday's news and that there could be a chance for a better tomorrow.
But Hamas is Hamas, and Arafat is Arafat. Neither has any intention of arriving at a settlement in which a viable Israel exists on the morrow. That has been proven over and over again, and there's no need to repeat the evidence about Camp David 2000 and Taba, etc., etc. yet again. There will be no better tomorrow with this good cop/bad cop team still calling the shots... literally.
That better tomorrow will not arrive unless new leaders arise in the would-be 23rd Arab state, with the power and will to make the decisions a stateless and millennially persecuted people and its leaders ? at the end of their collective rope ? made fifty-five years ago.
What will Beilin, Rabbo, Ayalon and Nusseibeh do the day after the next Egged bus blows up loaded with innocent Jews aboard, or another father is murdered having dinner with his children...and this after Israel has withdrawn to its microscopic, armistice line existence again?
Merely "chatting" with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa, etc. won't solve the problem, but this is all that Arafat & Co. say that they're willing to do. The Oslo days of the Trojan Horse "peace" Arabs played with Jews are over. The more Israel gave, the more it bled. Despite Arab visions of the much-touted and now highly endangered "roadmap" to the contrary, there will be no Oslo II. How many nations would tolerate the continuous slaughter Israelis are expected to put up with? Think of our American bunker buster and daisy cutter bombs, used in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Until the Arabs make clear their intention to live peacefully alongside a secure Israel with concrete measures that are actually taken to stop the murder of Jews, promotion of hatred and violence among the Arab masses, etc., then Israel should not be expected to become a party to its own demise by caving in to Arab demands and those of the hypocrites elsewhere who support them. The Yossi Beilins are convenient tools of the Arabs on that score, as well. No other country would demand less under the circumstances Israel has been faced with. Indeed, most of those European and Russian sponsors of the ?roadmap? would have leveled Gaza a long time ago if they had been subjected to what they expect Jews to continuously tolerate. America is coming close to making some similar decisions regarding Tikrit.
What's missing is the Arabs' own Altalena.