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A Monument for Evil
Mind games. Some personalities are so strong that even after death
their colleagues, cohorts and supporters are able to successfully
manipulate the deceased’s spirit so that it continues to haunt, to
torment, to plague those same people the person haunted, tormented
and plagued in life. Take, for example, one of the greatest
masterminds of terror this millennium has known. Arch terrorist Abu
Musab al Zarqawi. Metaphorically speaking, Zarqawi is reaching out
from the grave in order to agitate the people around him - his
enemies and his supporters. Why metaphorically? Because the
subject of Zarqawi’s grave is precisely the haunting question.
Where should Zarqawi be buried?
Zarqawi lived in Jordan. He was also sentenced to death in absentia
by Jordan for his role in planning terror attacks that shook the
capitol city Amman. Many members of Zarqawi’s family still call
Jordan home and it was there that, in accordance with Muslim
tradition, family members mourned the loss of their loved one.
Paying a condolence call is another Islamic tradition. Several
members of Jordan’s parliament, representatives of The Islamic
Action Front, paid a condolence call to Zarqawi’s family in Jordan,
their countryman. In paying their respects to the family of the man
targeted and killed by the United States Air Force these members of
Parliament, members of the government who had sentenced him to death
in absentia, remembered him fondly, they recalled his heroic deeds,
they praised his life. They called the deceased terrorist a
“martyr.” The Jordanian parliamentarians were censured for their
actions. There was a public call for their party to be expelled
from politics and ousted from the political process, they were even
detained and interrogated. Everything that Zarqawi stood for, his
actions, his ideals, his values and ideology, his every breath, was
antithetical to all that the Hashemite Kingdom’s values. No lesson
was learned from the antics of the parliamentarians. The Zarqawi
issue has not yet been put to rest. Zarqawi supporters want the
devil to be remembered - if not as a martyr, then at least as a
saint. The brother of Zarqawi, a resident of Jordan, has made public
a request to have the body of his brother - which was still under
the control of the United States Armed Forces - brought to Jordan.
The claim is that if the body were transferred to Jordan the Zarqawi
family would be able to pay the proper respect to their fallen
family member. They would be able to properly mourn Abu Musab al
Zarqawi. The United States military and the current Iraqi government
are saying No Way to the request. Jordan has not yet commented, but
I am certain that they would echo the United States and Iraq and are
wisely removing themselves from the fray for the moment to minimize
the validity and legitimacy of the request.
Where is the body right now? After the Americans killed Zarqawi
they removed his body from the building in which he was found and
took it to a medical examiner for DNA confirmation. That probably
took place in Iraq. The Iraqi National Security adviser, Mouwafek
al Roubai, is quoted by AP as saying that Zarqawi was buried in a
“secret location.” He says that the body was buried according to
Muslim custom. A US spokesperson has confirmed that Zarqawi has
been buried.
Who
cares where Zarqawi is buried? We should all - Muslim
Fundamentalists and lovers of freedom and democracy - care. What
one group fears the other covets. The obvious concern is that the
grave of Zarqawi will become a center for terrorist ideals and a
focal point for galvanizing hate. The fear is that the gravesite of
Abu Musab al Zarqawi will become a monument for evil. A monument
to monster Zarqawi may yet be erected, but the United States, Iraq
and Jordan need not assist the architects of the edifice. Even Osama
bin Laden, through the release of his latest tape, has reached out
from his own netherworld and added his voice to the discussion on
Zarqawi’s last resting place and his place in Muslim history and
lore. The tape pays tribute to Zarqawi, the tape proclaims him a
hero. Bin Laden and Zarqawi were not friends. The tape extolling
Zarqawi is nothing more than a prop. It allows bin Laden the
opportunity to portray himself as a great international Muslim
leader, one who pays respect to the dead and appeals to the enemy -
George Bush - in the name of honor for the dead and in order to
console the family of an Islamic fighter. On the tape bin Laden
beseeches the president of the United States to allow the body to be
brought to Zarqawi’s family in Jordan. The tape shows that despite
the rumor about their disagreements, in death, bin Laden respects
Zarqawi as a true Jihadi, a true fighter for Islam. The tape was
released in order to show the Muslim world that Osama bin Laden is
not just a great fighter for Islam but a true diplomat for Muslim
causes.
In
Islam, respect for the dead, proper burial and condolences are major
dimensions of the final life cycle event. It is in death and in
burial that Muslims are careful, cautious and punctilious. That is
the only way to insure that the body will properly pass on and enter
heaven. And that is why Muslim suicide bombers are so baffling. It
is expressly forbidden by Islam to commit suicide or to kill
innocents. And yet, Zarqawi and other terrorist leaders and
organizers routinely and without conscience send out bombers for the
sole and exact purpose of perpetrating suicide attacks that kill
innocents. And then, then those suicide bombers are praised within
their Muslim communities and heralded as Muslim martyrs. Muslims
like Zarqawi sacrificed their place in the kingdom of heaven long
ago.
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Armies take captives. Terrorists kidnap.
Palestinian terrorists killed two Israeli Defense Force soldiers and
kidnapped a third, Gilad Sharit. The Palestinian attack on an
Israeli military outpost was well planned and executed. Better
planned and executed than the myriad other attacks that Palestinian
forces regularly attempt and that the Israeli army regularly
thwarts.
Israel is calling for Hamas, the terrorist force behind the
kidnapping, to return their soldier alive and unharmed. Israel is
saying that unless their soldier is returned they will temporarily
re-invade Gaza, home base for the terrorists, and destroy Hamas the
organization and Hamas the ruling government. If Israel does enter
Gaza they will, I believe, hit hard and furious. The IDF will
conduct surgical strikes, targeting terrorist leaders and
operatives. They will also conduct non-discriminatory strikes in
order to stimulate all Palestinians to feel the fear of reprisal.
If Israel re-enters Gaza there will be massive damage and many
casualties. For Israel the trade-off is Gilad Shavit or the
elimination of Hamas in Gaza. For the Palestinians the trade-off is
an Israeli invasion into Gaza for the unity of their people.
Hamas, for their part, is actually looking forward to, even
welcoming an Israeli strike. They see it as the perfect opportunity
to unify a divided Palestinian people against the common enemy.
They see it as a way to bring gun-toting, warring, Fatah and Hamas
and Islamic Jihad members together under the umbrella of Hatred Of
The Israeli. Responsibility for the bold attack has been claimed by
three Hamas groups: Hamas proper, The Popular Resistance
Committees, and a little known Hamas organization called The Army of
Islam. The groups have issued a joint statement. They have two
demands. The soldier will be returned to Israel in exchange for all
female Palestinian prisoners and all Palestinian minors imprisoned
in Israel. Within the Palestinian Authority there has been a call
to try to find the Israeli soldier and free him. Some voices within
the Hamas-led government have spoken out against the kidnapping.
Mahmoud Abbas the president of the Palestinian Authority has begged
the kidnappers to let no harm come to the soldier. But this
official PA condemnation of the terrorist attack is, I believe,
nothing more than a diplomatic ploy taken out of the Yasser Arafat
Handbook Of Damage Control Following A Successful Mission Against
Israel. Arafat, the mastermind of many attacks would, immediately
following the attacks, express outrage, cry out for the culprits and
say generally anything he thought would stave off Israeli reprisal.
Despite the few public requests, it seems quite clear that Hamas
leadership certainly in Damascus knew about the attack and that they
are responsible for the attack. Hamas operates under the principle
that military targets are fair game and they claim this attack –
rightfully - as a great military victory. They also claim to have
disabled the tank, the powerful Israeli war machine with nothing
more than good planning and the aid of Allah. Outside of Gaza there
is criticism and condemnation of the kidnapping of Gilad Sharit.
Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, France, the United States and the United
Nations have been trying, through diplomatic maneuverings, to make
headway with Hamas and with the specific Hamas groups responsible
for the kidnapping. A personal call was placed to the prime
minister of the Palestinian Authority expressing the hope that the
entire matter would end peacefully. The prime minister, a Hamas
member, a Muslim Fundamentalist, accepted that personal call – from
the Pope. Inside Gaza there is dancing and celebration. As I
monitor the Palestinian press I know that the Palestinian people -
leaders, thinkers, family members of the attackers, mothers of
Palestinians in Israeli prisons and men and women on the street –
take pride in the actions of the kidnappers. The Palestinians are
heaping congratulations upon the terrorists who conducted a daring
raid that immobilized an Israeli tank and that killed two soldiers
and wounded and kidnapped Gilad Sharit. I would not be surprised if
there were more kidnappings to come. Palestinians are saying that
they must make certain that at least ten Palestinian prisoners are
exchanged for the one Israeli. One mother asks why her three
children sitting in Israeli prisons are less valuable than the one
soldier. I’ll tell her why.
Her
children were not kidnapped, they are in a prison.
Her
children receive three proper meals a day, food that is good,
plentiful and nutritious, probably better than the rest of her
family eats.
Her
children have fresh air, medical treatment, heat in the winter even
air conditioning in the summer.
Her
children’s lives are not at risk and they may even get out of prison
in time. Most of all, the lives of her children and of the children
of all Palestinian mothers have been decreed less important, less
valuable, less worthy not by the Israelis, but by the Palestinian
people themselves.
TAKING THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE
The
prospect of Palestinian civil war is looming closer and closer. It
is a prospect that is daunting not only for Palestinians but for the
entire Arab world. Intra-Palestinian fighting frightens
everyone.
The
question is how to prevent Palestinians from killing each other.
The Arab world and their best Western and European Union friends
have come up with a solution. They are reviving a tried-but-true
mechanism, one that has been used – successfully - throughout the
Middle East in order to unify feuding groups. It is called invoking
anti-Israel sentiment and promoting anti-Israel diplomacy.
Just think about it. By invoking anti-Israel sentiment and
promoting anti-Israel diplomacy the Palestinians can concentrate on
something greater, more nefarious, more awful than the situation
their chosen leaders have chosen for them, the people. And Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is playing right into the hands of
anti-Israel promoters. Believe it or not, the current incarnation
of anti-Israel sentiment is couched in an attack on the dreaded
notion of Israel’s plans for unilateral actions.
In
an absurd twist of diplomatic-correctness, the efforts of
Olmert to move Palestinians in the direction of possible statehood
are being met with displeasure in certain diplomatic circles.
Olmert is being called arrogant, aggressive, impatient,
thoughtless. How dare he, they are asking. How dare Israel’s prime
minister offer to give up Israeli land to the Palestinians and ask
nothing in return? Who does he think he is? What does he think he
is doing? Olmert’s efforts to chat up world leaders about the lack
of a negotiating partner for peace as long as Hamas is in power,
about the need to resolve issues and set borders so that Israelis
can go about their lives, is being turned against him, against his
country and against the process that would lead to Israel exiting
from Palestinian areas. Palestinian President Abbas,
the man who was pushing ahead for a Referendum that would include
peace with Israel, with Palestinians living side-by-side with
Israelis, is now devoting himself to a new plan. Now, rather than
face-off against Hamas and live with the consequences, Abbas is
pushing forward a plan that would stop any unilateral decisions on
Israel’s side. And most of the Arab world is jumping at the
opportunity to sideline peace with Israel in the name of internal
Palestinian peace.
So
called liberal Arab states, including nations with previously
negotiated peace treaties with Israel, are among Abbas’ most vocal
supporters. Jordan and Egypt have come out with direct statements
clearly rejecting any unilateral steps taken by Israel. The
European Union has also stepped up pressure and is engaged in an
effort to marginalize if not totally halt Olmert’s intentions.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Union External Relations
Commissioner which is the EU’s equivalent of foreign minister, just
visited Israel. She left a mixed message. On the one hand
Ferrero-Waldner praised Olmert’s plan, on the other hand, she
criticized it. The plan, she said, was a “very courageous idea but
Europeans believe unilateral steps do not lead to real peace.” Well,
Olmert isn’t fooling himself. Israelis, like Europeans, know that
unilateral actions do not lead to “real peace” - no one disputes
that. By undertaking unilateral actions Olmert is underscoring the
facts on the ground. The reality is that Palestinians are not ready
to negotiate and proof of that is the ascent of Hamas to power. The
argument should stop right there. But Benita Ferrero-Waldner
continued, not just criticizing but actually threatening Israel.
The EU Commissioner said: “We will not recognize any borders between
Israel and the Palestinian Authority determined by unilateral
steps.”
The
question begs asking: Why is the Palestinian Authority and the Arab
world and by extension the European Union and by extension other
European countries so interested in mounting an offensive against
Israel’s unilateralism when they should be trying to organize a
serious Palestinian government with a plan calling for Palestinians
to live next to Israel? The question is rhetorical, we all know
why. The reality is that it is much easier to create a
multi-national campaign against Israel than it is to change or
harness or discipline extremists from within. It is far more
attractive to the Arab world to trounce Israel than to trounce the
Palestinian Authority as weak and ineffective and to label Hamas as
being an obstacle – if not “the” obstacle - to peace. The
world has chosen to take the path of least resistance. If a
campaign against Israel blows up, the casualties will only be
figurative. When a campaign against Hamas blows up, the casualties
are always literal.
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THINK LIKE A TERRORIST
Think like a terrorist.
If you want to stop terrorism, you have to think like a
terrorist. Not like a bureaucrat.
The Office of Homeland Security is a bureaucracy. Plain and
simple. The decision to cut 40% off the anti-terrorism funds
allocated to New York City, arguably the most famous city in the
world, is a bureaucratic decision. No guts, no heart, no soul,
not even any common sense went into the decision. It is a “just
crunch the numbers and make a bureaucratic decision” decision.
The same rules of bureaucracy are being applied in the decision
that may cut 15% off of New York’s bio-terror allocation.
Here is the problem. There are undoubtedly some great minds in
the Office of Homeland Security, but not terrorist minds. And in
the business of fighting terror, thinking like a bureaucrat is
tantamount to thinking like a victim. And that is deadly.
Literally, figuratively, deadly. The people given the task of
allocating Homeland Security funds used a simple calculus. They
were told that the first target terrorists will hit will be
national monuments. They were told that national monuments
represent America and that’s why they are the obvious choice for
the next major attack or set of attacks against the United States.
The information is accurate. The thinking that goes along with
the information is faulty. Terrorist do not want to hit
America, they want to hit AMERICA. Terrorists do not only want to
hurt the West, they want their supporters and fellow
Fundamentalists to know that they hurt the West. Hurt them bad.
Hit them hard. They want the world to take notice.
What the men and women of Homeland Security do not understand is
that the world notices what goes on in New York and in Washington
and in Los Angeles - and cares about what happens there – much
more than they notice or care about what happens in Charlotte,
North Carolina. In the world of the terrorist, Charlotte is
nowhere. And while it is true that when you bean count, monument
for monument, New York does not top the list, that is really not
the point. Terrorists do not just care about destroying any
old monument or about inflicting terror on some
we-don’t-know-where-it-even-is wasteland. Terrorists do not
target a location purely for the fear factor, not in the United
States, not in Europe, not even in the Middle East. The primary
objective in terrorist planning and targeting is value to the
terrorist adherents.
How will the attack play back at home? What awe will it inspire
throughout the Muslim world? Will new recruits swarm to the
cause? Chillicothe and Toledo can relax, if people have never
heard of a city, monuments or not, that city will never become a
target. That’s why North Carolina is out. It might fit the
bureaucratic calculus, but it does not fit the criteria of the
terrorist calculus. Does it still need an anti-terror
allocation? Certainly – but not against attack. North Carolina
needs an allocation from Homeland Security because sleeper cells
were discovered in Charlotte. North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky,
these states need human intel and analysis. Sleeper cells can be
cultivated anywhere, but the cities in which the sleepers live
will be attacked only by accident and human error. And the
resources needed to flush out sleeper operatives are very
different from the resources needed to prevent targeted attacks
against monuments, the visible symbols of Western decadence.
In the minds of Americans Mount Rushmore is as mythic as it is
large. But how many Americans even know where Mount Rushmore is?
Were that same monument in New York it would be a target. In
South Dakota the greatest threat to Mount Rushmore remains
erosion.
The power of terrorists lies in the impact of their attack.
Terrorists need their supporters to believe that the great Allah
has reached out to strike at the core of the evil that seeks to
corrupt Muslim beliefs and values. The people delegated to worry
about our safety must understand what the terrorist knows to be
true. Not to understand the true objectives of terror puts us all
at unnecessary risk.
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Politically Unwise Abbas
Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas recently declared that he hopes acting prime minister
Ehud Olmert becomes the next Israeli Prime Minister. This was truly
the utterance of a foolish politician. No foreign leader should poke
their nose into the workings of a stable democracy. Of course, Abbas
was stating the obvious. Olmert will certainly be the next Israeli
prime minister but in making that politically unwise statement Abbas
has achieved exactly the opposite of what he stated. Israel's Labor
Party is the ideal pro-peace partner for the Palestinians. Now Labor
is perceived to have been stabbed in the back by the ruling
Palestinians. So why vote for Labor? Labor will now lose electoral
support.On the other side of the spectrum, Likud has run with the
Abbas statement saying: see, we told you, even Abbas realizes that
Kadima is leftist. Labor loses. Kadima loses. Even if Likud wins
this round, they are losers.
So now I'm wondering. Abbas
probably does not want an agreement with Israel. Is he smart enough
to have done this all intentionally?
Iran & the Security Council
I'm Predicting:
The United States is talking about
presenting Iran before the UN Security Council for discussion,
pressure, censure. Bad Idea. At best, the plan will fail - and Iran
will just ignore the Security Council. At worst, the plan will
backfire - and Iran will forge ahead paying no heed even to those
countries who have begun to make some headway. Yesterday,
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns testified before Congress
saying that the by next week the Security Council will deal with
Iran. The United States may want to turn up the pressure, but the
United States has never been good at reading or understanding Iran.
Russia can read the Iranians. Also yesterday Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that putting pressure on Iran will not
work. In that Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council
they have veto power. If Russia doesn't want something to happen,
it's not about to happen. Wake up America, you are not running this
show.
Iranian Syrian Nexus
I'm Predicting:
A recently issued press release
from the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)touted a series of
projects to be jointly run by Iran and Syria. The projects included
joint oil and gas pipelines and a link-up of electricity lines and
railway lines. The press release also had Iran expressing interest
in co-operation in technical and scientific areas. According to some
sources, the transfer of weapons was also discussed.
Why is this interesting? Because
both these countries are being isolated by the rest of the world and
now they are looking to hook-up and join forces. Because this union
provides both countries with strength, security and cover under fire
that neither one has alone. Because, most importantly, this union
provides each country with alternative energy in the event of an
American or Western strike. This is a brilliant tactical response.
Anticipate future vulnerabilities and attacks and be pre-emptive, be
prepared. Iran and Syria are perfect partners against the West. Be
on the look out for more Iran/Syria links.
Hamas Sees Itself as Liberal
Hamas has told al Qaeda to butt
out, to take a hike, to leave them alone. Unofficially and politely,
but firmly, never-the-less. Here's what happened: A video of al
Qaeda's inimitable number 2 man, Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, was
circulated over the weekend. The video had Zawahiri proclaiming and
sermonizing on morality, on Islamic fundamentals and on the chosen
path for newly-elected political Hamas.
In response: One Hamas spokesman
said: "Hamas believes that Islam is completely different to the
ideology of Mr. al Zawarhiri." Another Hamas spokesman, this one in
Gaza, said: "Our battle is against the Israeli occupation and our
only concern is to restore our rights and serve our people. We have
no links with any group or element outside Palestine."
On al Jazeera Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said: that Hamas was
elected through its moderate approach to Islam, which did not
compare to al Qaeda's exclusionary tactics. "We are not a movement
that labels people infidels or that abandons them. We are a movement
that lives the realities of the people and that uses wisdom ... to
turn them to Islam."
Did you ever, even in your wildest
dreams, think that Hamas would be labeled as "liberal" ?!
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PALESTINIAN POLITICS ARE PERCOLATING
Political unrest, much like military unrest, has been brewing in
the Palestinian Authority for quite some time. Hamas versus Fatah.
Fatah versus Hamas. And now, accusations and counter accusations
are popping up all over. I’d say that Palestinian politics is
beginning to percolate. President Abbas is pushing through a
Referendum. The Referendum Abbas wants asserts that Palestinian
will live side by side with Israel. Hamas refuses – unequivocally,
to accept the principle of living Israelis, let alone of
Palestinians living side-by-side with Israelis. Hamas refuses to
even call the Referendum a Referendum. Instead, they call the
Referendum and the document Palestinians would be voting on a
“declaration of a coup against the government.” They have called the
entire issue illegal. Technically, officially, the Referendum
is named the National Reconciliation Document but it is also
being referred to by a much more popular title. Because the
document was composed by five Palestinians sitting in Israel’s
Hadari prison, the Palestinian press has dubbed it the Prisoner’s
Document. The most senior designer of the document is prisoner
Marwan Bargouti, secretary general of Fatah. Another senior
contributor is Abdel Halek Natshe, a leader of Hamas. Prison, at
least Israeli prison, seems to be the great Palestinian equalizer.
The document itself contains eighteen points. The most significant
point, the point that Hamas finds it hardest to accept, recognizes
Israel within the ‘67 borders. On that issue the document is
unbending. The document continues with a point long held by
Secretary General Bargouti, long before he became one of Israel’s
most highly-placed prisoners. It rejects attacks on Israelis within
the ‘67 borders and welcomes attacks on settlers over the border.
The document is overwhelming supported by the Palestinian masses.
When it goes to Referendum it will win a significant victory. And a
victory for the Referendum is a definite defeat for Hamas. Hamas
does not want to be ousted from office. Hamas is taking the
challenge seriously. Hamas has begun a counter-campaign. They have
pressured the Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners who signed and
developed the document to withdrawn their names and their support.
The prisoner/signees now claim that the paper they wrote was never
meant as a political document intended for Referendum. They claim
that President Abbas has co-opted the document and manipulated it.
They claim that the President’s actions are an “unacceptable abuse”
of the document. The Palestinians are facing off in what appears to
be a case of the (tea)kettle calling the (coffee)pot black. For his
part, Abbas has the overwhelming support of the masses, the
Palestinian Street. Abbas says that there is no legal problem with
the Referendum. According to Abbas “There is no article in the
basic law that says a referendum is not allowed. It states that the
people are the source of all power.” He said that “As chairman of
the PLO Executive Committee and president of the Palestinian
Authority, I have decided to exercise my constitutional right and
duty to hold a Referendum over the Document of National
Reconciliation.” In order to legally halt the Referendum, Hamas
would have to stop it in the Palestinian Parliament. According to
Palestinian law, that would require a two-thirds Parliamentary
majority. The chances of Hamas swaying Parliament is highly
unlikely. Hamas has only 74 of 132 Parliamentary seats, which
translates into only slightly over a 50% majority. And that is why
Hamas is trying to defeat the Referendum by turning it upside-down
and inside-out.
Hamas is putting the blame on Abbas, challenging his authority for
doing something “illegal.” The Hamas counter-attack is not working.
Palestinians are witnessing the beginning of the end of Hamas in
power. Just as they voted Hamas in, they are – through the
Referendum – preparing to vote Hamas out. Because after the
referendum will come elections. And while Israel has long awaited
the political downfall of Hamas, this is not the way they would have
chosen to put Hamas out of power. The success of the Referendum has
a definite downside for Israel. Palestinian acceptance of the
Referendum will mean a shift in pressure forcing Israel to offer
serious concessions. Essentially, the language in the document
concerning the ’67 borders is very, very strong. There is no
possibility for compromise on the issue of borders and the 1967
Green Line. The original document had to be firm. Otherwise, it
would never have been written and never have been accepted by the
Palestinian people.
Good news for the Palestinians, bad news for the Israelis
BEERSHEBA IS NOT GAZA
On Sunday morning, during the morning
rush, outside the Central Bus Station of the sleepy, desert, southern
Israeli city of Beersheba a suicide bomber detonated. The attack marked
the first suicide terrorist bombing since Israel redeployed from Gaza.
Islamic Jihad immediately claimed responsibility for the terror attack.
They said that a twenty-five year old male named Ayman Zaqiq, from the
village of Bet Umar, just south of Bethlehem, was the suicide bomber. The
problem with this claim is that Ayman Zaqiq was picked up by Israeli
security several days before the attack. Does that mean that Islamic Jihad
is not responsible, does it mean that they just messed up on the name? It
probably means that several suicide terrorists were dispatched to
Beersheba and only one made it while the others were intercepted. It means
that Israel has intelligence information, once again, that terrorist
organizations hedge their bets by sending out more than one operative per
attack. It means, as far as Israelis are concerned, that while some
terrorists do slip by, Israeli security forces are doing their job. But
one terrorist did slip by and he did detonate. And now lots of people are
nodding their heads, wringing their hands and saying "I told you so." But
I am telling you that there is no connection between this bombing and
Israel getting out of Gaza. Those same people are saying that terrorists
feel bolstered and terrorist morale is boosted by Israel's very public
leaving of Gaza. Well of course it is. But those people just do not
understand terrorist mentality and actions. If they did, they would know
that the kind of terror that struck Beersheba will be with Israel for many
years to come and it has very little to do with Gaza. Everyone involved in
security knows that terror is not going to end even if Palestinians and
Israelis settle their differences. Terror attacks will continue for a very
long time into the future. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not about to
relinquish their raison d'etre. They are committed to the total
annihilation of Israel without compromise and with or without a peace
treaty. The hope is that the Palestinians will try to prevent terrorists
from attacking Israel. The hope is that using their own mechanisms and
intelligence tools and police Palestinians will be able to persuade
terrorists from attacking Israel. The significant impact that the Israeli
withdrawal from Gaza had on terrorists is only psychological, not
practical. That should be obvious. And terrorists will parlay the
psychological factor and use it as a marketing tool. They will convince
themselves and their followers and their new recruits that their methods
are effective. They will use the Gaza withdrawal as proof that if Israel
is hit often enough and hard enough they will succumb, they will change
policy and evacuate from all "occupied territories."
But they are wrong.
Past history proves exactly the
opposite. The reality of Israeli policy and decision making and even the
attitude of the average Israeli is that when Israel is hit by terror
Israelis become more and more intransigent and hardline. Under direct
pressure from terrorists, Israeli moderates and the left swerve towards
the right and become steadfastly anti-negotiation and anti-Palestinian.
Look no further than the recent Intifada. The vast majority of those
labeled as peace camp rejected any compromise first with Arafat and now
with Palestinian President Abbas during the height of the Intifada. The
tide has not turned for the Israeli masses, Gaza withdrawal
notwithstanding. Israel will continue to reject any agreement until
Palestinian leadership begins to act against the terrorists and shows some
signs of success. Israel withdrew from Gaza because it was an untenable
military position, because there was no way to shield soldiers and
settlers, because they were the proverbial sitting ducks. Israel did not
withdraw from Gaza because terrorists successfully infiltrated and
perpetrated their deadly, dastardly acts.
Beersheba is not Gaza.
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