The purpose of the Declaration of
Principles, which Israel and the PLO signed on the White House Lawn a
decade ago, was to initiate a peace process between the two parties.
Since then, Israel has suffered over 1,129 casualties. One must ask
therefore: If we are supposed to have peace, why are we counting
bodies?
Through a lightheaded “leap of
faith”, Israel’s leaders entered into a peace process with the PLO
making considerable concessions. The PLO, for its part, seized the
opportunity to work for its main political goal, the destruction of
the Jewish state and its replacement with an Arab-Palestinian state.
From 1969 to 1974, the PLO unsuccessfully tried to wage a guerilla war
against Israel but lacked a territorial base. Through the Oslo
Accords, it acquired this precious strategic asset.
Palestinian leaders openly declared their intentions. In an interview
published posthumously in June 2001, the late Faisal Husseini called
the Oslo Agreement a Trojan Horse, declaring that “we are ambushing
the Israelis and cheating them,” and that the “ultimate goal is
[still] the liberation of all historical Palestine from the [Jordan]
River to the [Mediterranean] Sea...” According to Abu Mazen (July
2002), Oslo was “the biggest mistake Israel ever made”. (Quotations
from MEMRI.) Israel’s leaders failed to understand the meaning of such
clear statements.
The Accords have placed Israel at
close quarters with a different kind of war, one that combines
political and military methods over a prolonged time-span. The model
for this type of total conflict is the “People’s War” which originated
in China and in Vietnam. Through the use of political and military
warfare, the PLO is endeavoring to destroy Israel’s ability to defend
itself by ruining the economy, demoralizing the public through terror,
and undermining its social cohesion. Using propaganda, it is attacking
Israel’s legitimacy at home and abroad by portraying it as a criminal
state.
Protracted conflict of this type
is new for Israel which has traditionally preferred to fight
conventional wars quickly and on enemy territory. If Israel wants to
assure its survival, it will have to come to terms with this new
reality. In the light of a decade’s experience any kind of a peaceful
settlement is not a prospect.