Stop Them with a Clear-Cut Victory Part II

by Moshe Sharon

2nd part of 5

Peace plans and refugees– tools in the war against Israel

All the Arab countries, led by the Arab League, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, support and arm terrorists that are fighting Israel. At the same time they are very busy in all the international bodies and media seeking to harm Israel by isolating it worldwide, and singling it out as a pariah nation, blackening its name in every possible way. Concurrently, they also publicize their seasonal "peace plans," all of which are but weapons in their war against Israel. These "peace plans" always contain three components: the withdrawal of Israel to the pre-1967 armistice lines, the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem its capital and "the return of the Arab refugees" into the diminished state of Israel. The aim of such plans is clear: to create the strategic conditions that render Israel defenseless, and to destroy it from within by flooding it with the Arab "refugees."

Who are these "refugees?" How is it that they have been on the world's agenda for the past 60 years? To understand this, the most astounding abnormality of modern times, it should be emphasized that the term "refugees" in the case of the Arab ones has been constantly used by the general media, by the international community, by the United Nations and by every individual country in the world both inaccurately and dishonestly. Every war creates refugees, but in all other cases, the term "refugee" describes a temporary condition. In the case of the "Arab refugees" ("Palestinian" is a rather new term) this temporary condition has been successfully turned into a permanent status bequeathed and inherited, transmitted from one generation to another. This is the only case in history wherein refugees breed refugees. The amazing thing is that the whole world has been actively cooperating with the Arabs in perpetuating this status. The United Nations has spent billions until now in creating and keeping the sophisticated machinery of UNRWA, formed not to solve the refugee problem but to keep it alive, knowing very well that by now hardly a few thousands of the original refugees from 1948 are still alive. The dishonesty of the international community cries out to heaven because it is clear that the Arabs are keeping this ever-multiplying, unique refugee problem for only one purpose – the destruction of the Jewish state. Nobody is interested in the over six hundred and fifty thousand Jewish refugees who were thrown out of the Arab countries following the establishment of the State of Israel, and were settled by Israel. These Jewish refugees have also multiplied, but as free and rehabilitated human beings. They and their descendents also number several million people. However, Israel, like any other civilized country, does not regard "refugee" to be an inherited status.

As I write these words on 1 August 2007, it has been announced that Saudi Arabia, reacting to President Bush's idea of convening a "Peace Conference," has said that the President's plan has "positive elements." When the Arabs say "positive elements," it means that these elements are in full accord with their own plans for the elimination of the Jewish state. The "positive elements" which the Saudi king found in the American suggestion were "the dismantling of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and a solution to the refugee problem." In plain language, it means returning Israel to the indefensible borders of the pre-1967 ceasefire lines and precipitating the process of destroying its Jewish character.

Why the penny doesn't drop is a mystery. How is it that at least intelligent people in the West do not follow the policy of "benign neglect," and keep on falling into the trap of seasonal "peace plans?" How is they still do not comprehend that three generations of efforts to achieve peace through negotiations have only led to more violence and instability? How can they not see that cheating and deception are intrinsic components of Arab diplomacy and are cemented into every agreement they sign, even among themselves.

The Arab ideas aimed at the elimination of Israel, which have remained unchanged since its establishment in 1948, are now shared by the Arab citizens of Israel who openly define the establishment of the State, whose prosperity and security, freedom and democracy they enjoy, – "nakbah" – "catastrophe." Their representatives in the Knesset, who swear allegiance to "the State and its laws" as well as the media that speaks for them, demand the elimination of the Jewish character of Israel, and the abolishment of the "Law of Return" which guaranties that the State of Israel is the Jewish Home. They also demand that all its Jewish symbols (flag, emblems, national anthem) should be eliminated, and that it should become "the State of all its citizens," - in other words, it should be prepared to turn into an Arab state.

Although this analysis relates only to the Israeli-Arab conflict, it is described by most of the world media as influencing the well-being of the entire world. The Europeans and, to a large extant, the majority of the American political leaders and media, have fallen victim to years of Arab-Leftist-anti-Jewish-anti-Zionist propaganda and they are convinced that, by accepting the Arab demands and establishing another Arab state on the tiny territory of Palestine, all the conflicts in the world, or at least most of them, will come to an end. There is no need to explain, yet again, the fallacy of these ideas.

The validity of the Islamic factor

There is no way that the Arabs in particular, and the Muslims in general, can or will accept the permanent existence of a Jewish, that is to say a non-Arab, non-Muslim state, in the heart of what is regarded to be an Arab-Islamic homeland. There is no Muslim leader who would dare to relinquish any portion of the Holy Land, small as it might be, in order to allow the "Jewish infidels" to establish their legitimately, independent presence on it. Palestine, as far as the Muslims are concerned, contains only Muslim holy places and is regarded to be a Muslim, religious endowment. In their eyes, it is exclusively Islamic, and the claim of any non-Muslim to any part of it on historical or religious grounds is false. It belongs to all the Muslims and any Muslim who dares to give up any of the Muslim rights to it should know that he signs his own death warrant.

No Muslim leader would venture to accept officially, even for a limited period, the equality of the Jews to the Muslims by recognizing the legitimacy of their independence and sovereignty. Moreover, any agreement with the Jews, which contains anything beyond a limited armistice or ceasefire, is by its very nature null and void. The only agreement with non-believers that is permitted by Islamic law is one that enables Islam to strengthen itself, so that when the time comes it can resume the war of Jihad in better conditions and from better positions. Such a ceasefire or armistice is based on the postulation that the infidel enemy will surely mistake it for peace, lower its defenses and slide into a slumber of tranquility, thus turning itself into an easy target. In Arabic armistice is called hudnah but it can be rendered by the word sulh, which is the term used by the Muslims to describe a treaty concluded with a defeated enemy. In European languages and in Hebrew the last term is mistakenly translated as "peace." This translation suits the Muslim Jihadi plans very well: the infidels rejoice in the "peace" and Islam can meanwhile gather its forces for the "next round."

If in the past one was told that these laws of Jihad were theoretical and inapplicable to our modern times, along came the Islamic terrorist activity of the past generation all over the world, and proved that they are certainly valid, and form the basis of the relations between the Muslim world and the West.

The Islamic factor, therefore, is an axiom in world affairs. It should be regarded as a vital component in the assessment of any activity, whether political or military, in the Middle East as well as in the world at large.

Moshe Sharon

Professor Emeritus of Islamic History and Civilization.

 

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