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Arab-Israeli Conflict - Articles

You have to win a war in order to win a peace!

By Jan Willem van der Hoeven - Nov. 26, 2001, International Christian Zionist Center

The leader of Israel's opposition, Yossi Sarid said (in an interview with the Jerusalem Post, 10.08.01):

"Every dispute around the world in history was solved through negotiations". This mantra repeatedly verbalized across Israel's political spectrum, the notion that a solution with the Palestinians can only be found through negotiations is, however, entirely false.

Israel's negotiations have actually brought more violence, not less. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak's failure to reach a political solution despite his unprecedented concessions is just one proof of this.

The ONLY WAY a political solution can be reached via negotiations is if an Israeli government comes to power, which, for the sake of regional peace, would be willing to change Israel's nature so that it would no longer be a sovereign JEWISH state.

World history is replete with examples demonstrating that conflicts initiated by aggressive regimes are usually only resolved by military might. From the Islamic conquest of Europe, through the aggression of Nazi Germany and Japan, through Soviet aggression against Berlin, Argentina's invasion of the Falklands, Noriega's dictatorship, North Korea's designs on South Korea and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, all these aggressors have been turned back by military means.

In truth, where nations were persuaded to relinquish the fruits of their military prowess and opt for negotiated settlements, it is nearly always the aggressor that has won.

Vietnam is a most obvious example:

Through Kissingers' negotiations with Hanoi, all America's military investment into ensuring that South Vietnam remained free was lost. The north overran the south as a direct result of the negotiated settlement.

We know that Eastern Europe was enslaved for decades by the Soviet Union as a result of negotiations between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin.

Negotiations in and around Yugoslavia did not bring the desired result of peace to that fractured land. And Macedonia today is another clear example of the frequent futility of politically negotiated settlements.

In Lebanon, neither the numerous treaties and negotiations, nor the years-long presence of U.N. peacekeeping troops have led the country into freedom and independence, and Beirut remains largely under the control of Damascus, which militarily occupies Lebanese soil.

Egypt and Jordan - which received land and other benefits from Israel through the negotiating process, and as a result of these negotiations signed treaties with Israel - both have already withdrawn their ambassadors from Tel Aviv, and are under increasing pressure to join the rest of the Arab world in the next war against Israel.

Do I need to name more examples? There are Kashmir, Northern-Ireland and many others which, despite untold days of negotiations by the parties involved, have yet to reach peaceful solutions to their problems, and the bloodshed continues to this day.

No, Mr. Yossi Sarid, you are wrong when you (and many others) say: "Every dispute around the world in history was solved through negotiations."

Posterity is proof that the opposite is true! Negotiations have very seldom satisfactorily solved conflicts.

The near unanimous lesson from History is this: You have to win a war in order to win a peace.

And now I am afraid that the country's leaders will not be willing to even consider what I believe to be the only way out of its present predicament until Israel has suffered even more violence. There is no doubt that what's called for is a new leadership, a more correct perception of the realities, a sound recognition of the enemy's aims, and clear, definitive strategic-political planning. There must be no fumbling in the dark and no mere tactical expedients, for these will get us nowhere. If we don't have a well-defined, realistic objective, we won't have to fight the Arabs for our survival. The Arabs won't need to fight. The Jews, as usual, will destroy themselves. (Colonel Jonathan Netanyahu: Self-portrait of a hero, page 227).

In order for Israel to get out of its perilous situation, the IDF will have to re-enter all the "Areas A" now under Palestinian Authority control and reestablish Israeli law and order there by:

1. Imprisoning all known terrorists.

2. Confiscating all illegal weapons.

3. Closing, until they relent, all institutions that promote violent jihad against the Jews.

4. Guaranteeing the protection of all Palestinians who sincerely foreswear violence and want to live in peace with Israel.

5. Giving these Arabs as much independence as possible; and offering them the chance to become Israeli citizens with full rights and full obligations (including military service).

If, whether from fear of drawing the Arab states into war or of further antagonizing a hostile world, Israel does not take these essential steps to restore calm given that no political solution is presently possible the following may happen:

1. A total security collapse in Israel, both within and without the green line.

2. A sustained and increasing drop in tourism leading to a serious economic downswing.

3. A successful turning of the tables by the Palestinians through continued terrorism and Israeli counteraction leading to the introduction of an international observer force into the "territories."

4. A keeping alive of the hope and intention of the world's billion-plus Muslims to create an Islamic Palestinian state, which will become the springboard for all fanatical forces to do away with Israel.

5. Denying the relevance of the age-old biblical promise of this land to the Jews jeopardizes Israel's whole historical claim.

Shortsighted politicians will counter that retaking control of these areas would create a demographic nightmare with the Arab population of such an all-encompassing state soon outnumbering its Jews.

Quite the opposite is true.

The moment Israel reestablishes full sovereignty over all of the Land of Israel, over a million of the Muslim Arabs now living in Judea and Samaria would opt against being fully-fledged citizens of this Jewish State and leave of their own accord. Conversely, numerous Jews still in the Diaspora would come to settle in Judea and Samaria, creating a far different demographic situation.

Israel's failure to take these drastic measures, however, may well place what is now left of the tiny Jewish state and its people in insuperable danger, from a security point of view, economically, and even demographically.

May God raise up courageous men in Israel to make the right decisions!