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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: teevee who wrote (12393)12/2/2001 1:45:45 PM
From: Nadine Carroll  Read Replies (3) of 281500
 
Isn't that how the state of Israel arose? Why would a Palestinian State born of terrorism be any less legitimate?

No, it's not. Terrorism was the favored method of the Arabs from day one. The majority policy of the Palmach was restraint because the Zionists still hoped to work with their Arab neighbors. The Irgun, who favored fighting fire with fire were a minority movement. They were swiftly brought to heel in April 1948 by Ben Gurion when he ordered the sinking of the Altalena after Begin refused to turn it over to him.

Arafat occasionally holstered the Islamicists, but never brought them to heel. He always wanted to use them to pursue a policy of terrorism with plausible deniability. Any opportunity for an Arafat "Altalena" moment has come and gone. The Islamicists are on top now.

History has proved terrorism to be an effective method to achieve independance and statehood.

There is a distinction to be made between guerilla campaigns that target military and government targets, vs. wholesale terrorist campaigns that slaughter civilians. What kind of regimes have terrorist campaigns begotten?

Also, even following that playbook, you have to know when to reign in your extremists and negotiate a deal. (Cf. Michael Collins and the Irish Free State.) The Arabs in this century have again and again scorned their pragmatists, while honoring maximalists who pursue ruinous campaigns for some impossible goal. They are still blaming everybody but themselves for the results.
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