Why should Israel deal with the Arabs now?

Posted by by Bruce S. Ticker on September 19, 2005 at 11:46:03:

Why should Israel deal with the Arabs now?
Friday, September 16, 2005
By: Bruce S. Ticker

from Israel Insider

The post-pullout Palestinian track record reads like the titles of an old book series about a rabbi/detective:

On Monday, the Palestinians sacked and burned many of the two dozen synagogue facilities left to stand in the abandoned Gaza settlements while Palestinian police stood by and did nothing.

On Tuesday, the Palestinians looted greenhouses that were left behind that the Palestinian Authority hopes to employ as part of its plan to rebuild the economy in Gaza.

On Wednesday, the Palestinians smuggled hundreds of assault rifles from Egypt into Gaza.

After reading news accounts of the shul-wrecking rampage in The New York Times and other newspapers, I was ready to demand that Israel close the book on future relations with the Palestinians. They issue death threats for the slightest hint of an insult against Islam, yet they don't hesitate to desecrate buildings that housed religious sanctuaries of another religion the instant Israeli troops move out on Monday, Sept. 12.

If Israel still talks to the authority after that, it needs to think very carefully about allowing access for Gazans from Gaza into Israel. They can sneak many of the weapons that they smuggled from Egypt in the past week into Israel at a later date.

In addition, after Israel first evacuated the 25 settlements, a meeting between Israeli and Pakistani aides in Istanbul prompted a Palestinian group to call it as "a stab in the back of the Palestinians"; in nearly the same breath, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas pledged he will not "confront" Hamas and voiced hope that a Palestinian state will be established next year; as Israel is accused of "ethnic cleansing," several dozen young Muslim men burned down 14 homes belonging to Christian families near Ramallah in the West Bank; and, a group of Palestinians would not play ball?literally, basketball, when the Palestinian Basketball League refused to participate in a basketball clinic with Israelis.

Children behave better than this, which raises questions about the maturity level of the Palestinian people. There are certainly mature adults who live in Gaza and the West Bank, but so far the inmates are running the asylum. If so many of them act like juveniles, and in some cases like criminals, how can Israel take them seriously? Why should Israel deal with them at all?

In relative terms, prior to the troop pullout, the most crude and stupid conduct can be attributed to Nabil Shaath, who as PA information minister erupted over a Sept. 1 meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri in Turkey to improve relations between the two countries; Pakistan is a Muslim country.

As quoted in The Jerusalem Post, Shaath declared, "There's no reason why Israel should be rewarded for anything. Israel must take more steps before any Arab country recognizes it. Israel does not want to make any progress on the West Bank after the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip."

Worse words were uttered by extremist factions. The Palestinian Committee for Resisting Normalization with Israel called the meeting "a stab in the back of the Palestinians and their national struggle to liberate their lands, first and foremost the al-Aksa Mosque, and to achieve the right of return for all refugees."

Shaath is no extremist, at least officially. He represents the Palestinian governing structure. How does it harm the Palestinians for Israelis to meet with Pakistanis? Based on Shaath's standards, shouldn't American and European leaders ignore Abbas and other Palestinian officials?

As a clue to Shaath's outburst, Yasser Arafat went into a snit when then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak pursued talks with Syria because Arafat feared that any deal with Syria first would undermine his plans. Israel probably wants pacts with neighboring countries more than it does an agreement with the Palestinians. After all, the most significant hazards lie with sovereign nations which have been historically hostile.

Two days later, Abbas told the Associated Press that peace talks should resume immediately after Israel completes its withdrawal from Gaza to facilitate the creation of a state by 2006. "We hope that a Palestinian state can be achieved next year, God willing. What is important is to have a state."

A Palestinian state is important to Abbas, but freedom from terrorism is important to Israelis. In the same AP story, "We never had any intention to have a confrontation with Hamas or with others. We want to solve all our problems through negotiations."

There have already been bombings and other attacks which killed or wounded Israelis, which constitute multiple acts of war. Hamas has already pledged to keep their weapons and maintains its goal of destroying Israel. How can Abbas reconcile his "hope" for an independent state next year and his toleration of a direct threat to Israel?

The next day, Sunday, Sept. 5, several dozen young men from the village of Dir Jarir descended on Taybeh, a West Bank village northeast of Ramallah, and burned down 14 homes belonging to Catholic and/or Greek Orthodox residents - all because they believed that a 23-year-old woman from their village was romantically involved with a Christian man from Taybeh, according to Ha'aretz, a Tel Aviv-based daily newspaper.

The woman had already been murdered by family members.

These assailants presumably do not represent the PA or even the vast majority of Palestinians, but their actions reflect barbaric customs which are centuries old - punishing their women, with death, for violating romantic rules and carrying out blood feuds.

Punishing dishonor and conducting blood feuds are old traditions in the Arab world and they certainly have not disappeared.

This incident was followed by more outbreaks of violence. A crowd of Palestinians stormed an abandoned settlement in Gaza and had to be repelled by Israeli troops. Then PA security adviser Moussa Arafat, Yasser Arafat's cousin, was murdered gangland-style only a few blocks from Abbas's house in Gaza City.

Bottom line: If the Palestinians cannot control violence among themselves, how can they control violence directed against Israel?

Reference: http://www.ifcj.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=11580&JServSessionIdr011=9m7bgsfaz1.app7b

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