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‘Two roads diverged…’

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Also by Mac VerStandig:

How the Pentagon won the war over Baghdad and the war over public opinion (April 25, 2003)
Hypocrisy floats riverboats casinos (September 9, 2005)
Hate crime debate needed on campus (January 20, 2006)

by Mac VerStandig

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

This week marks two landmark anniversaries in the young history of the nation of Israel. Twenty-six years ago Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat ended 12 days of negotiations by signing the Camp David Accords. And 11 years ago yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, with his Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, were joined on the South Lawn of the White House to sign a peace plan with Palestinian Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, a secondary PLO official.

Of course, history has guided these two momentous occasions into radically different directions. Egypt would be expelled from the Arab League after daring to dignify the existence of the Jewish state, while Mr. al-Sadat would die a martyr for the cause, assassinated by Muslim terrorists. Still, the Egyptians proved good to their word, as did the Israelis; necessary land exchanges were made, and a peace between the two nations still exists today.

The latter agreement, however, would also reveal a martyr: Mr. Rabin. Indeed, the Israeli prime minister, much like Mr. al-Sadat, would be assassinated by an extremist from within his own cause. But, again mirroring history, Israel proved good to its word — withdrawing from agreed-upon lands in May 1994.

This time around, though, the other party chose to go back on their handshakes and signature, as Mr. Arafat stood by while Palestinian terrorist organizations violently slaughtered innocent Israelis.

This probably shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise. As mentioned in this column late last academic year, Sports Illustrated has turned up evidence that both Mr. Arafat and Mr. Abbas had a hand in the 1972 massacre in Munich in which nine Israeli athletes were violently kidnapped from within the Olympic village while two of their colleagues were murdered on the spot. (A day later, all nine hostages were executed by the Palestinian gunmen, bringing the death toll to 11.)

Indeed, there can be little historical question but that it was the actions of Palestinian terrorists — not Israelis — that forced the 1993 agreement to be rendered moot and that brought upon the renewed bloodshed that carries forth to this very day.

Perhaps more damning, however, is that the Palestinian Authority (formerly the PLO) has not acted to separate itself from these radical murderers. Mr. Arafat, now the President, either refuses to — or is incapable of — honing in the militant sects of the organization and ending the massacres that Mr. Rabin decried at the White House, saying “Enough of blood and tears. Enough!”

Indeed, one of the major militant organizations that so giddily takes to the streets with homicide bombers these days is the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a terrorist group that was born from Mr. Arafat’s own Fatah movement. It would seem only sensible that the chairman could at least reign in this organization — even if not Hamas and other like murder clubs — but the bristling reality is that Mr. Arafat displays no interest in ending the bloodshed of Israelis or bringing peace to the region.

This unfortunate situation intensified in 2000, when the terrorist leader and Ehud Barak, then Israeli prime minister, took to Camp David with President Clinton for another summit. Realizing Mr. Arafat to be beyond unreasonable, Mr. Barak did not attempt to meet him halfway. Rather, wanting peace so badly that seemingly any sacrifice would be worthwhile, the Israeli prime minister offered to meet Mr. Arafat more than 95 percent of the way to the Palestinian Authority’s land demands. To this, the Palestinian President offered nothing and walked away. Apparently peace just isn’t a priority for him.

Of course, it may well be that the Palestinian Authority cannot afford peace. Questions abound about the group’s ability to govern effectively. In fact, there appear to be rather significant voids in the current Palestinian infrastructure, from utility oversight to law enforcement, which might prove embarrassing to the leadership if brought to bear in peace time.

Then again, the entire suggestion of a Palestinian people is supremely misleading. No matter how biblically noble the title may sound, the reality, as noted online by The History Channel, is that 80 years ago there were no persons calling themselves Palestinians. These are a people who, following the creation of Israel, were refused permanent occupancy by seemingly every Arab country, including Jordan. So a group title was assumed — “Palestinians” — and a new invasion attempted: occupy the Jews’ land. Thus, today, we see their supposed-leader (keep in mind, the Palestinian Authority isn’t the most well-oiled of democracies) preaching of a historical “right” to a land so great that violence may be used as a means to an end. Still, you must question just how great that historical “right” can be, considering that “Palestinians” have been around for a shorter period of time than Major League Baseball, while the Israelites have existed for millennia.

But regardless of the robustness of historical claims, it is clear that peace must be achieved so that the bloodshed can end. This week is a reminder that such isn’t an impossible goal. Egypt and Israel today live in quiet harmony. But one still must question how it is that both Mr. al-Sadat and Mr. Arafat could have received the Nobel Peace Prize for their Washington accords. After all, Mr. Arafat has done about as much to advance the cause of peace as the gunmen who took aim at Mr. al-Sadat and Mr. Rabin.

Mac VerStandig (mac@badgerherald.com) is a junior majoring in rhetoric.

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Anonymous (September 14, 2004 @ 9:44am):

Good article, Mac, but you should also note that Fatah actively funds Palestinian terrorist organizations, as the EU's audit of PLO finances showed last year. Also, the FBI is currently investigating Arafat's involvement in the assassination of two American diplomats in Khartoum in 1973. See http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=@317 for more details.

Anonymous (September 14, 2004 @ 11:52am):

Mr. VerStandig's hallowed invocation of the original Camp David accords obscures the true difference between them and Oslo. Egypt's deal, meanwhile was full withdrawal and dismantling of settlements, something that has never been offered to Palestinians. For returning a territory it miliarily conquered, Israel received 15 years of oil supplies and a vast increase in US aid.

The reason Egypt was marginalized was because it sought a separate deal with the Israelis and allowed the Palestinians to be marginalized. Israel refused to talk to them, ignoring all Palestinian offers. the proposed "autonomy" led nowhere, until Oslo when Arafat finally got "control" over a patchwork of territories it was obvious Israel could invade at any time (and did.)
Israel's next move was to launch the invasion of Lebanon that left many thousands dead. But, hey they made peace with Egypt!
Jesse Bacon
Chicago, IL

Anonymous (September 14, 2004 @ 11:55am):

Mr. VerStanding relies on the noted source "History Channel Online" to tell us that the term "Palestinian" is only 80 years old. His tortured syntax refers to them as "The people who, following the creation of the State of Israel, were refused permanent occupancy in every Arab Country" since he can't bring himself to use the logical term for the residents of Palestine.
And if "Israelites" existed for millenia, why weren't any of them actually living in Palestine at the time? Why was it necessary to create 750,000 refugees to found this Jewish State?
Jesse Bacon
Chicago IL

Anonymous (September 14, 2004 @ 12:42pm):

The only Palestinian offers to Israel were death and destruction. Anyone who thinks Israel should have accepted is a moron.

Anonymous (September 14, 2004 @ 3:39pm):

Jesse, umm... just so ya know... 750,000 refugees weren't necessary to create Israel. If you had bothered to learn something before posting you'd know the real number is around 600,000, and many had lived there prior to the founding of ISrael.

Bottom line is that no one cares for the Palestinians, not even their moronic leaders. They've been left out to dry by every Arab country and are used like a political football to serve other people's objectives. A sad story, in a way, but when Palestinian society actively supports kindergartens that teach the glory of suicide bombings and camps teach youngsters how to kill (yes, how to KILL), it may be for the best that they don't have a State. Maybe in the future things will change... but not likely. Sad indeed.

Anonymous (September 14, 2004 @ 3:58pm):

Uh, actually I have read many sources documenting the 750,000 number, a quick glance at the UNRWA site gives 850,000 registered refugees by 1953. ...But let's just say 650,000. Does that make it ok? What would the population ratios have been in 1948 Israel if those folks wouldn't have left? How "Jewish and democratic" would the resulting state have been?
And Palestinians youngsters don't need to learn how to hate Israel from their elders. Israel does just fine at that by itself.
jesse Bacon

Anonymous (September 14, 2004 @ 4:00pm):

Oh ,I get it! You think I mean Jewish refugees. No, not the 600,000 Jews came from Middle Eastern countries in the decade after Israel's founding (not all of them were refugees)
Sorry Anonymous, I am talking about the 750,000 Arab Palestinians who, had they not fled, would have constituted a majority or near majority of 1948 Israel. If they did not exist, Israel would have been forced to invent them.

Anonymous (September 14, 2004 @ 5:47pm):

"And Palestinians youngsters don't need to learn how to hate Israel from their elders. Israel does just fine at that by itself. "

Jesse, ignoring the facts does not make them dissappear. It is precisely this reluctance of the Palestinians to confront the very real horror embodied by their schools, camps, and media outlets which teach hatred and promote the killing of Israelis that is a major problem.

Anonymous (September 14, 2004 @ 10:09pm):

Hmm, so how does your ignoring the real interactions that take place every day between Israeli soldiers and settlers and Palestinian children in favor of overhyped illusory "camps" constitute a dealing with the facts, Anonymous?
Jesse