Ariel Center for
Policy Research

A JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND THE ARTS

 

NATIV   ■   Volume Fifteen   ■   Number 4-5 (87-88)  ■  September 2002   ■  Ariel Center for Policy Research

 

SYNOPSIS

 


 

“Apart from the ‘Eternal One of Israel’ Nothing Lasts ‘Forever’”

Shlomo Sharan

The response to Gorny’s article emphasizes a few select points of fundamental disagreement with his position:

  1. The territory west of the Jordan was always known as Judea and Samaria, and is an integral part of Mandatory Palestine allocated for the Jewish homeland. Israel’s presence there is not “occupation” as claimed by Leftists and Arabs. The only “occupation” was by Jordan (1948-1967).
     

  2. A US-Israel mutual defense treaty for safeguarding Israel’s security, suggested by Prof. Gorny, is a fiction. No such agreement was ever concluded, and the US is unlikely to guarantee Israel’s security if attacked by Arab groups or nations.
     

  3. Israel must heed the Arabs’ proclamations regarding their intention to destroy Israel and kill the Jews. Disregarding the enemy’s public declarations as not indicative of its true intentions disregards the lesson learned from Mein Kampf and invites national suicide.
     

  4. There are no grounds for anticipating that further concessions (e.g. giving up half of Jerusalem) will achieve a permanent solution to the century-old war with the Arabs.
     

  5. No set of economic benefits to be offered by Europe or the US to the Arabs as an inducement for concluding a peace agreement with Israel can redirect Moslem policy. The Moslem world is not engaged in rational economic planning and development known in the Western world, and the Moslem’s goals cannot be replaced by promises of economic gain.
     

  6. No genuine solution to the war between Jewish Israel and the Arabs is currently apparent. Decades of radical social-religious-political change in Arab countries are required (e.g. Germany or Japan after WWII) before a trace of democracy could emerge in the Moslem Middle East.  

Proponents of territorial and other concessions for peace ought to listen to the Arabs and pay close attention to their behavior. The Arabs know what they want and how they intend to get it. The Israeli “peace camp” prefers political agreements by wish fulfillment.

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