I heard Ben Rhodes, the U.S. deputy national security adviser, talking
to Ilana Dayan on Army Radio Thursday morning, while I was driving to a meeting
in the Tel Aviv area.
Rhodes is one of President Barack Obama's most loyal aides – Dayan (who
is a top notch journalist and leans in the dovish direction) noted his
longevity which is atypical -- most of the original White House crowd is long
gone.
In addition to the customary bunch-of-words-strung-together you'd expect
to hear from a professional wordsmith, Rhodes commented that one of the reasons
the Palestinian Arabs had (again) turned to murderous violence is that there is
no diplomatic solution on the horizon; there is a sense of hopelessness. If
only there were a horizon of hope, he implied, this would not be happening.
That sounds reasonable. Only that it is wrong and shows how little he
(and the administration he speaks for) understands Palestinian Arab sentiment.
Back on September 13, 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords
known as the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements.
This was the apex of hope for Palestinians (and many Israelis). Here was
something more than a diplomatic horizon. Here was a blueprint for the creation
of Palestinian Arab interim self-government. In return, the PLO (supposedly) recognized
Israel and (supposedly) committed to stop terrorism (i.e. anti-civilian
warfare).
So, most reasonable folks would agree that September 13, 1993 might be a good starting point to gauge the correlation between "hope" or political horizon and Palestinian behavior.
What happened next?
Sep 24 93 - Yigal Vaknin was stabbed to death in an orchard near the
trailer home where he lived near the village of Basra. A squad of the HAMAS's
Iz a-Din al Kassam claimed responsibility for the attack.
Oct 9 93 Dror Forer and Aran Bachar were murdered by terrorists in Wadi
Kelt in the Judean Desert. The Popular Front and the Islamic Jihad 'Al-Aqsa
Squads' each publicly claimed responsibility.
Oct 24 93 Two IDF soldiers, Staff Sgt. (res.) Ehud Rot, age 35, and Sgt.
Ilan Levi, age 23, were killed by a HAMAS Iz a-Din al Kassam squad. The two
entered a Subaru with Israeli license plates outside a Jewish settlement in the
Gaza Strip, whose passengers were apparently terrorists disguised as Israelis.
Following a brief struggle, the soldiers were shot at close range and killed.
Hamas publicly claimed responsibility for the attack.
Oct 29 93 Chaim Mizrahi, resident of Beit-El, was kidnapped by three
terrorists from a poultry farm near Ramallah. He was murdered and his body
burned. Three Fatah members were convicted of the murder on July 27, 1994.
Nov 7 93 Efraim Ayubi of Kfar
Darom, Rabbi Chaim Druckman's personal driver, was shot to death by terrorists
near Hebron. HAMAS publicly claimed responsibility for the murder.
Nov 9 93 Salman 'Id el-Hawashla, age 38, an Israeli Bedouin of the Abu
Rekaik tribe who was driving a car with Israeli plates, was killed by three
armed men driving a truck hijacked from the Gaza municipality, in a deliberate
head-on collision.
Nov 17 93 Sgt. 1st Cl. Chaim Darina, age 37, was stabbed by a Gazan
terrorist while seated at the cafeteria at the Nahal Oz road block at the
entrance to the Gaza Strip. The perpetrator was apprehended. The Islamic Jihad
claimed responsibility for the murder.
Nov 24 93 Maurice (Moshe) Edri, age 65, was killed in a terrorist attack
in Netanya
Dec 1 93 Shalva Ozana, age 23, and Yitzhak Weinstock, age 19, were shot
to death by terrorists from a moving vehicle, while parked on the side of the
road to Ramallah because of engine trouble. Weinstock died of his wounds the following
morning. Iz a-Din al Kassam claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that
it was carried out in retaliation for the killing by Israeli forces of Imad
Akel, a wanted HAMAS leader in Gaza.
Dec 5 93 David Mashrati, a reserve soldier, was shot and killed by a
terrorist attempting to board a bus on route 641 at the Holon junction. The
Islamic Jihad Shekaki group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Dec 6 93 Mordechai Lapid and his son Shalom Lapid, age 19, were shot to
death by terrorists near Hebron. HAMAS publicly claimed responsibility for the
attack.
Dec 22 93 Eliahu Levin and Meir Mendelovitch were killed by shots fired
at their car from a passing vehicle in the Ramallah area. HAMAS claimed
responsibility.
Dec 23 93 Anatoly Kolisnikov, an Ashdod resident employed as a relief
watchman at a construction site there, was stabbed to death while on duty.
Dec 24 93 Lieut.Col. Meir Mintz, commander of the IDF special forces in
the Gaza area, was shot and killed by terrorists in an ambush on his jeep at
the T-junction in Gaza. The HAMAS Iz a-Din al Kassam squads publicly claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Dec 31 93 Chaim Weizman and David
Bizi were found murdered in a Ramle apartment. ID cards of two Gaza residents
were found in the apartment, together with a leaflet of the Popular Front 'Red
Eagle' group, claiming responsibility for the murder.
Jan 12 94 Moshe Becker of Rishon
Le-Zion was stabbed to death by three Palestinian employees while working in
his orchard. The Popular Front claimed responsibility for the murder.
Jan 14 94 Grigory Ivanov was stabbed to death by a terrorist in the
industrial zone at the Erez junction, near the Gaza Strip. HAMAS claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Feb 9 94 Ilan Sudri, a taxi driver, was kidnapped and murdered while
returning home from work. The Islamic Jihad Shekaki group sent a message to the
news agencies claiming responsibility for the murder.
Feb 9 94 Shai Shuker, aged 22 of Herzliya, was killed in a terrorist
attack in Tira
Feb 10 94 Naftali Sahar, a citrus grower, was murdered by blows to his
head. His body was found in his orchard near Kibbutz Na'an.
Feb 13 94 Noam Cohen, age 28, member of the General Security Service,
was shot and killed in an ambush on his car. Two of his colleagues who were
also in the vehicle suffered moderate injuries. HAMAS claimed responsibility
for the attack.
Feb 17 94 Yuval Golan, stabbed on December 29, 1993 by a terrorist near
Adarim in the Hebron area, died of his wounds.
Feb 19 94 Zipora Sasson, resident of Ariel and five months pregnant, was
killed on the trans-Samaria highway in an ambush by shots fired at her car. The
terrorists were members of HAMAS.
Feb 25 94 Sam Eisenstadt, age 80, was assaulted with an axe in the
center of Kfar Saba. He died of his wounds shortly afterwards.
I want to interrupt this litany (it is only partial) to sadly acknowledge that on February 25, 1994
Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 unarmed Palestinian Arabs at the Cave of the
Patriarchs in Hebron.
Back to the Arabs.
On Mar 23 94 Victor Lashchiver, employed as a guard
at the Income Tax offices in east Jerusalem, was shot and killed near Damascus
Gate on his way to work. The Popular Front claimed responsibility for the
attack.
Mar 29 94 Yitzhak Rothenberg, age 70 of Petah Tikva, was attacked on a
construction site by two residents of Khan Yunis by axe blows to the head. He
died several days later of his wounds. The murderers, apprehended the next day,
stated that they carried out the attack in order to clear themselves of
suspected collaboration with the Israeli authorities.
Mar 31 94 Yosef Zandani, age 28 of Bnei Ayish, near Gedera, was found
murdered in his apartment. Near the body was a leaflet of the DFLP "Red
Star", explaining that the murder was carried out in revenge for the
shooting of one of its members by an Israeli citizen. The Israeli acted in
self-defense.
Apr 6 94 Asher Attia, 48, of Afula, bus driver; Vered Mordechai, 13, of
Afula; Maya Elharar, 17, of Afula; Ilana Schreiber, 45, a teacher from Kibbutz
Nir David; Meirav Ben-Moshe, 16, of Afula; Ayala Vahaba, 40, a teacher from
Afula; and Fadiya Shalabi, 25, of Iksal were killed in a car-bomb attack on a
bus in the center of Afula. HAMAS claimed responsibility for the attack. Ahuva
Cohen Onalla, 37, wounded in the attack, died of her wounds on April 25.
Apr 7 94 Yishai Gadassi, age 32 of Kvutzat Yavne, was shot and killed at
a hitchhiking post at the Ashdod junction by a member of HAMAS. The terrorist
was killed by bystanders at the scene.
Apr 13 94 Rahamim Mazgauker, 34, of Hadera; David Moyal, 26 of Ramat
Gan, an Egged mechanic; Daga Perda, 44, who immigrated from Ethiopia in 1991;
Bilha Butin, 49, of Hadera; and Sgt. Ari Perlmutter, 19, of Ir Ovot in the
Arava were killed in a suicide bombing attack on a bus in the central bus
station of Hadera. HAMAS claimed responsibility for the attack.
So within the
first six months or so of being offered an unprecedented political horizon the
Palestinian Arabs barely took a break from their blood-lust.
Ben Rhodes might want to take a closer look at Palestinian intentions. If he did he'd understand that this issue isn't hope or horizons or the illusion of momentum the peace process offers Europeans and Americans. It isn't about settlements (there were no settlements between 1948 and 1967). It is "original sin" or as the Arabs call it the "nakba" -- the creation of Israel within any boundaries,
When Arafat proposed the phased destruction of Israel to his comrades and his polity -- they balked. Many would not even suspend the "struggle" because, what if, what it they stopped the killing and practiced coexistence and then lost their will to kill....the will to return to the "struggle" somewhere down the line once Israel pulled back to the 1949 Armistice Lines.
Simply put, the Palestinians are engaged in a zero sum struggle.
Until Ben Rhodes comprehends Palestinian intentions he will continue to offer well articulated banalities about finding horizons to end the "conflict."
He means well, no doubt. But it is our lives that are at stake.
Until Ben Rhodes comprehends Palestinian intentions he will continue to offer well articulated banalities about finding horizons to end the "conflict."
He means well, no doubt. But it is our lives that are at stake.
PS. Please don't excuse the violence with the mantra that the extremists were trying to torpedo Oslo. You can't have it both ways: You can't credibly argue that when there is no hope some Palestinians turn to violence, but when
there is hope other Palestinians turn to violence.