Of course, the article cited makes no mention of Zionist terrorist enlisting children, because they didn't. Even the Stern gang, the most radical of the Jewish groups, spent most of its time blowing up British railways and military installations. They never sent suicide bombers into Arab markets.
Equally, he remembers that the extremist Jewish groups melted away the moment the United Nations promised a Jewish state in 1947. If Israel and the United States made clear now that the Palestinians would get a Palestinian state on all of the West Bank and Gaza (with any small border changes mutually agreed) then, he believes, the likes of Hamas and Jihad would go the way of the Irgun and Stern Gang: they would become redundant overnight.
1. They didn't "melt". Remember the Altalena? Ben Gurion brought them to heel, because he was building a state, not heading a coalition of mafiosi and terrorist gangs. Unfortunately for the Palestinians, their "George Washington" is incapable of building anything. Arafat's talent is survival in the ruins he creates.
2. In Camp David, Arafat was offered over 90% of the West Bank. Did he ever make a counter-offer? Did we ever hear his terms concerning "small border exchanges"? No, because any terms would have expressed a definite limit to ambitions, a real compromise.
Since he had been telling his own people and the whole Arab world that Oslo was just a temporary cease-fire, a ruse to gain ground, he couldn't afford to do this. It would have been to Arafat's advantage if he could have agreed to Camp David, taken control of 95% of the territories, and then started his intifada. But even for the sake of such a strategic gain, he couldn't agree to a compromise.
3. Why would a territorial compromise make Hamas go away? Their aim is to liberate ALL of Palestine, including territories "occupied in 1948". Sheesh, this guy is too old, he must have lost his memory. Did Arab terrorism only start after 1967? What was its aim prior to that? |
