CAL THOMAS: Of Netanyahu and Neville Chamberlain
Copyright © 1998 Los Angeles Times Syndicate
(October 1, 1998 11:03 a.m. EDT nandotimes.com) -- The picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat flanking President Clinton in the Oval Office makes one wonder what the president promised
Netanyahu to get him to agree to the conditional turnover of an additional 13 percent of West Bank land. Why would Netanyahu
believe any promise coming from this president, an admitted liar? Getting Netanyahu to believe this lie allows the president to claim
a Middle East peace breakthrough in time for the elections and provide him with some impeachment insurance.
It does not take an biblical prophet of the caliber of Daniel or Jeremiah to figure out what happens next. Arafat promises to do what
he can to stem terrorism. But terrorism has brought him this far, and he and his colleagues in Hamas and other terrorist
organizations aren't about to lay down their most effective weapon so close to their often-stated goal of annihilating Israel.
Netanyahu has left himself a loophole, but it may be just large enough to put his neck through. He says he'll give up the land
provided that agreement can be reached on what the Palestinians will do to dismantle terrorist cells, extradite prisoners, confiscate
"excess" guns and stop inciting citizens with anti-Israel propaganda, speeches and sermons.
Good luck. These have all been effective tools in the Palestine Liberation Organization arsenal. The PLO may say they'll do these
things, but they've said they'd do a lot of things. On the rare occasions when they appear to live up to their word, they soon violate it
when the West's attention is turned elsewhere. Only Israel is to be held accountable when it fails to sign the form for its own
assisted suicide.
Netanyahu says he wants 3 percent of the 13 percent of land to be ceded designated a nature reserve where no Palestinians would
be allowed to live. But Israel has promised to allow Palestinians to have their own airport, open an industrial park in Gaza (which
could be used for storing or producing weapons) and to allow safe passage for Palestinians between the West Bank and Gaza,
which might facilitate the movement of forces hostile to Israel.
Arabists in the State Department and throughout the U.S. government are gullible, naive or stupid. They probably believe that
Salman Rushdie's "canceled" fatwa is for real, too. Can a diplomat terminate an Allah-inspired directive to kill "an infidel" and an
enemy of Islam? Rushdie, who thinks he's free, has probably never been in greater danger.
It is the same with Israel. Diplomats will not protect the Jewish people when the next war comes, which some believe will occur
shortly after Arafat declares an independent Palestinian state next May.
Writing in the Sept. 25 issue of the publication Ma'ariv, Oded Granot outlines a probable scenario: "The Palestinians have learned
their lessons from the tunnel riots. In advance of the big confrontation, which will begin immediately after Arafat declares
independence, they will prepare firing positions, anti-tank weapons, communication systems and an effective civil defense system.
In Gaza and the West Bank, people understand that a mass civilian uprising -- which police forces will join only in the second stage
-- is the most effective way of contending with the IDF's (Israel Defense Force) great clumsiness. And it also looks great on
television screens abroad."
Israel is being squeezed like the Sudetenland before Hitler broke his promise to Neville Chamberlain and launched a war that killed
50 million people, including 6 million Jews. Chamberlain's deathbed lament was "if only Hitler hadn't lied to me." Bill Clinton is
playing Neville Chamberlain. Arafat is in the Hitler role. What role will Netanyahu play?
Israel's enemies believe the only good Jews are dead Jews. They know how to play the West for suckers. Get ready for the next
war. It's coming as sure as the next broken promise from Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat.
The question is whether Israelis will have enough land left to stand and fight and win for the fifth time. |
