The nations of the world may be divided into two groups: builders and destroyers.
To go back in time for a description of the Land of Israel, or Palestine as it was known then, we can quote Mark Twain. In Innocents Abroad, the book he wrote concerning his travels during the 1880’s, Twain described Palestine as being so desolate that on long stretches of the road he traveled even the least demanding plant “did not grace the countryside.”
There was no clamor being made to rush in and bring this land back to life, except among one group of people – the Jewish pioneers who had returned to their homeland to reclaim and rebuild it. In the course of time they built villages and cities, brought irrigation to the parched soil. They reclaimed the desert, dried the malaria-infested swamps of the Huleh Valley, and restored life to a desolate land, barren from centuries of neglect. They created decent living conditions for all, including the Arab population.
The Arabs, however, came with a different purpose in mind – to dislodge and destroy the Jewish presence. Arab terrorism started not after the 1967 war nor at the rebirth of the Jewish state, but early in the 20th century. Bands of Arab terrorists were always a threat to the Jewish pioneers, starting in the early reclamation and development period. Later, the birth of Israel in 1948 was marked by a failed attack on the part of six Arab states. This gave rise not only to the invention of a new ‘Palestinian’ nationality but to terrorist activity for the purpose of attaining political ends.
While Israel struggled with the tasks of building a modern state and absorbing Jewish refugees – those who survived the horrors of Europe and those who fled oppression in Arab countries – Arab terrorist organizations were refining and expanding their operations. Not only in Israel did they strike; the PLO’s war against the Lebanese Christians resulted in tremendous slaughter and destruction.
Yes, the world is divided between builders and destroyers. Israel is defending its people and land from terror and destruction, and yet is often blamed for its insistence on survival. Israel is vilified by the world for building while the PLO is justified by the same world for destruction.
In her powerful book The Rage And The Pride, renowned Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci writes of “The fad or rather the fraudulent mockery that in the name of Humanitarianism (sic) reveres the invaders and slanders the defenders, absolves the delinquents and condemns the victims, weeps for the Taliban and curses the Americans, forgives the Palestinians for every wrong and the Israelis for nothing….”
The war against terrorism will not be won by fighting it in one place while tolerating it in another. In fact, to paraphrase President Bush, in drawing a clear distinction between good and evil in the war against terrorism you are either with the builders or with the destroyers.
The repartitioning of Israel to create another state for Arab terrorists would lead to disaster. There is no middle ground between good and evil. No terrorist state disguised as a pseudo-democracy planted in Israel’s back yard, no “east” or “west” bank and no “Danzig corridor” to link them, under any pretext, should be tolerated.
To those in the administration who counsel this ill-conceived policy, history will say: “You have profited nothing from past experience if you don’t realize the consequences of yielding to terror and aggression.”
Yielding to such folly would signal to terrorists everywhere that this triumph is the direct result and reward for their reign of terror – that terrorism does indeed work.
The 1967 ‘Auschwitz Borders’ must not be reimposed on Israel. The very prospect of superimposing an Arab state in the Holy Land – a state bent on the total destruction of the Jewish people – is unthinkable.
We are told that the Jews must accept within their homeland an independent state run by people who are so filled with hatred against Jews that they sacrifice their own children as suicide bombers and take pride in that fact. Would President Bush consider taking bin Laden and al Qaeda as neighbors? What deals were made with the Arabs during the Iraq war for Israel to be compromised in its aftermath?
The West should be reminded of Churchill’s immortal words of warning: “The belief that security can be obtained by throwing a small state to the wolves is a fatal delusion.”
We know exactly what Arab intentions are concerning Israel. The Arabs have repeatedly tried to destroy the Jewish state from the time of its rebirth 55 years ago. The Western nations would not think of creating a state for the likes of bin Laden and his amalgam of terrorist gangs, but this, in fact, is exactly what we are proposing for Arafat and his amalgam of terrorist gangs.
Whether they’re known as the Taliban, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, Black September, Hizbullah, al Qaeda, Al Aqsa or the PLO (now respectfully referred to as the “Palestinian Authority”), there is no difference or separation between these evil forces. They all spell “destruction” and should not be tolerated under any guise.
Almost all the devastation that visits the world starts first with the Jews. So it was with Hitler and so it was with Arab terrorists. First they struck against the Jews, than the people of Europe and eventually the U.S.
We should all rise in loud protest against this ill-conceived ‘road map’ plan. As King Solomon said, “Silence pacifies grave offenses.”
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