As a senior military figure during Oslo, Ya'alon said that it became obvious to him by 1995 that Yasir Arafat and the PA, rather than preparing Palestinian society for peace and reconciliation, were indoctrinating it with murderous hatred and glorifying jihad and suicide terrorism.

As he puts it, "I needed no sophisticated intelligence to reach this conclusion - I only had to look at their textbooks, posters and so on. We should not be surprised, but we ignored it . In 1999, I was commander of Central Command and I said then that we would face a war with Arafat in 2000. I knew it when Barak said that he would have a settlement with Arafat within 15 months, which meant by September 2000...."

Ya'alon believes Israel started to win the war against the PA by methodically cutting down the terrorists and taking the war to them, but then lost many of the gains it had made. He speaks of Operation Defensive Shield in 2002 and especially the clearing out of Jenin as "a very necessary operation." The result was that the terrorist organizations, including Hamas, were on the run. But the announcement in December 2003 that Israel would unilaterally withdraw from Gaza and northern Samaria changed all that. Hamas and others concluded that their terrorist campaign was working, that no concessions had to be made, and that more terrorism would bring about more unilateral withdrawals from Israel.

Ya'alon stressed that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza was a major factor in the Hamas election victory because it was perceived as a surrender to Islamic terrorism.

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"What we are doing is leaving a legacy for the next generation who will deal with Palestinians who believe that terrorism pays, that Israel cuts and runs under pressure," Ya'alon said, adding that Israel is fighting a "war," not merely dealing with an uprising.

Worse, while Israel left Gaza saying it would fiercely retaliate against continued terrorism launched from there, it did not follow through on the threat. "After the Gaza withdrawal," said Ya'alon, "I would have recommended after the first Kassam rocket fired into Israel that there should have been a strong and immediate retaliation."

But Israel did not follow this path. Instead, it is following the path of facilitating the creation of a Palestinian state.

"The establishment of a Palestinian state," Ya'alon warned, "will lead, at some stage, to war. Such a war can be dangerous to the State of Israel. The idea that a Palestinian state will achieve stability is disconnected from reality and is dangerous." Israelis, he said, must maintain a military presence in Judea and Samaria as long as the Palestinians refuse to make a serious peace deal, and that "Israel must brand into the Palestinians consciousness" the notion that terror will bring them no benefits.

In line with that, Ya'alon called for a proactive anti-terrorist campaign. "The best defense is a good offense, not a fence. The best way to deal with terrorists is to arrest them or kill them in their beds . Without dealing with the roots, we can cut down the weeds - to deal with the roots would be to force them to reform their education and culture. I am not sure we will succeed but we should be under no pressure to make any concessions until this changes."

Ya'alon emphasized that "The two-state solution has failed and to my mind is now irrelevant. In Israel we must consolidate our Jewish Zionist narrative. Without believing in our case, there is no way to convince someone else. Even before the Hamas victory, a two-state solution was a mistaken fantasy - now it's even more irrelevant. The Palestinians knew exactly who Hamas was when they voted for them."

Ya'alon also pointedly stated, "If we couldn't tame and change Arafat, we can't tame and change Hamas. [But] if we're in Judea and Samaria we can thwart the terrorism from there." It is for this reason that Ya'alon describes Israeli leaders who call for more unilateral concessions "confused" and offering the Israeli public "illusions."

Ya'alon concluded by saying, "We don't need Chamberlains, we need Churchills" who offer realism and optimism, warning of "blood, toil, tears and sweat" but also the prospect of ultimate victory.

Ya'alon urged Israel and the West to cease preferring "to be confused" and to instead adopt the "moral clarity" to see that the "from the dawn of Zionism until this day, the source of all terrorist attacks has been the refusal of the Arab world to recognize Israel's existence. Until this changes we will remain the target of violent terrorist activity. The '67 borders are neither a solution to rocket attacks, suicide bombs nor to more conventional forms of warfare . Iran sees us withdrawing from Gaza, Hamas is elected, they see U.S. trouble in Iraq and because they do not pay price for financing, supporting and encouraging terrorism, they continue . As long as they see our appeasement policy, they will continue."

Israel is proposing to give away 95 percent of Judea and Samaria and declare borders. The U.S. has already said it will not accept these borders unless the PA does, and the PA says it won't. Therefore, if Israel goes through with this huge withdrawal, it will have given away all the leverage it must maintain to resolve issues such as Jerusalem, refugees, demilitarization, etc. - and will find itself having nothing left to offer.

Morton A. Klein is National President of the Zionist Organization of America.