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Making Arafat
kosher By Avi Davis September 24 2001 George Bush's commanding and definitive speech before both houses of Congress on Thursday may have left its mark on history, but for Israelis it acted as another disheartening sign that Israel's struggle with terrorism will continue on alone. Here, after all, was the President of the United States cataloging obscure terrorist groups from Uzbekistan to Egypt but failing entirely to list the regime that has, over the past 12 months, perpetrated more terror than any other group in the world. Forgotten was the fact that during the past year over 7,000 individual acts of Palestinian violence, together with the deaths of 170 Israelis, have occurred in Israel - which locates the Palestinian Authority oscillating dangerously close to the hub of world terrorism. Yet if Yasser Arafat ever had any fears that the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center were going to coat him with the same blanket of gray ash, he needn't have worried. One of Colin Powell's first acts following the bombing was to corral the aging chairman, together with Ariel Sharon and Shimon Peres, into observing a truce. Powell, of course, knew what was coming. The coalition that he expected to forge to combat Islamic extremists would require both the military and intelligence cooperation of several Islamic states. From his previous experience in the Gulf War, he understood immediately that there would be no such cooperation if the United States continued to be perceived as exhibiting partiality toward the Israelis or if there was no further progress toward addressing Palestinian concerns. Bowing to U.S pressure, Arafat, whose own efforts to ameliorate the Americans had risen to the ludicrous heights of calling for the establishment of an anti-terrorism Arab coalition, declared a cease-fire. The ever-cautious Sharon responded with a pullback of Israeli troops. And so, President Bush was happy to report on Wednesday, Israeli-Palestinian rapprochement is the first signal that there is now actually something positive to emerge from the disaster. Or is there? Anybody expecting a cease-fire to take permanent force shouldn't hold his breath. On Wednesday afternoon Sarit Amrani, an Israeli mother of three from the settlement of Nokdim on the West Bank, was killed in a drive-by shooting. Already some of Arafat's key lieutenants are disavowing the cease-fire altogether. Reports from both Hebron and the Gaza Strip indicate that gunfire there has only intensified since the declared cease-fire and that Jewish life has become increasingly endangered. One would think that an extended cease-fire would certainly serve Yasser Arafat's best interests. Arafat's stock has fallen so low in the United States that he cannot afford much further erosion. In addition, with the world now focused on the elimination of the international terrorist threat, Arafat's mini-terrorist state would seem to be one of the first in line for the crushing roll of American wrath. But that disregards how Arafat, drawing on the lessons of the Gulf War, may use world distraction to bring even further pressure on the Israelis to negotiate under fire. During that war Israel, a non-belligerent, was asked (some would even say forced) by the United States to accept the launch of 39 Iraqi Scud missiles against its territory, all of them feared to be loaded with chemical weapons. The emasculation of Israeli military might during these very tense months proved to many Arab states that extended American preoccupation with another targeted enemy in the Middle East may offer opportunities for their own military and political gains. Therefore, while the attempt to neutralize Arafat's ability to disturb the status quo may give the United States some temporary tactical advantages, its represents an abysmally poor long term strategy. Talk of involving either Syria, Iran or the Palestinian Authority in a broad international coalition will leave the United States with partners who pay lip service to American war aims while continuing to foment terrorism and harbor terrorists within their own borders. Under these circumstances, the United States' own strategy against international terror may well degenerate from elimination to containment to inadvertent encouragement. As for strategy and intelligence, Israel's extraordinary
value can hardly be dismissed. While the world was reeling from the attacks
on the World Trade Center, it was revealed that weeks earlier the Mossad
had warned the CIA of an impending attack and had confirmed that up to On the other hand, all that Yasser Arafat has offered the U.S. are a few pints of his own blood, a condolence call and a growing sense that his own population is as virulently anti-American as any of the terrorist regimes that the U.S is now targeting. What will it take for the U.S. to learn that
serving up Arafat as some kind of palatable dish only encourages and rewards
a source of terror who may ultimately poison, not aid, efforts to rid
the world of the terrorist scourge? Views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
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