Thursday, June 27, 2013

We've Seen this Show Before



by Dr. Haim Shine


Once again we are all invited to a repeat performance of the age-old "negotiations with the Palestinians -- now and forever." 

We have seen this performance many times in the past, and it has never had a happy ending. At the end of the show, we have always regretted having paid such a high price for the ticket. The actors may change, the sets may be different, but our enemies' sea of hate continues to flow. Even Greek philosopher Heraclitus (famous for saying "no man ever steps in the same river twice") would not be able to understand how intelligent people can voluntarily jump into the same turbulent, dangerous waters time and time again.

No marketing slogan or presidential pyrotechnics can hide the fact that the Palestinian leadership, whichever leadership it may be, will never accept Israel's existence as a Jewish state with Jerusalem as the capital. It will never relinquish its demand for the right of return. Every Palestinian leader knows that every concession brings him closer to his demise. There will always be a "shahid" (martyr) glad to take to heaven anyone seen by radical Islam as an infidel. 

Every time the U.S. runs into difficulties, whether domestically or abroad, it immediately focuses all its energies focus on Israel and the Palestinian issue. It is a clearly Pavlovian response. This conditioned response rests on the assumption that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will put the entire Western world out of its misery and allow the U.S. to rehabilitate its weakened status. Russia, under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, shows very little respect for the U.S. and provokes it incessantly, as though it were a tired, hibernating bear. Putin has learned to identify the limits of President Barack Obama's ability to use force, and he is grinding the U.S.'s power advantage to dust. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, instead of investing his efforts to resolving the U.S.'s real diplomatic problems, is wasting his time on futile trips between Ramallah and Jerusalem. Kerry's efforts will not help rehabilitate the U.S.'s standing, and could actually lead to unnecessary bloodshed. 

The State of Israel, the American superpower's most strong and stable ally, has no choice but to play the negotiations game. Sometimes a true and essential friendship comes with a price. But it is extremely important not to fall back into the delusional trap of repeating historic mistakes like trading land for peace, freezing settlement construction or releasing Palestinian prisoners. The Jewish people congregated in the land of Israel cannot become addicted to dreams. The Jewish people must always be prepared to defend their existence.

For decades now, we have been terrorized, mainly by leftists, with the notion that time is not on our side. That is nonsense. Time certainly is on our side. The State of Israel is growing stronger while the Palestinian Authority is collapsing. Every new home built in Judea and Samaria ensures our possession of our homeland. Intelligent Israelis have already understood that every piece of land that we hand over to a foreign regime will turn into a frontline terror base. It is frightening to think, in light of recent events, where we would be today if we had handed the Golan Heights over to the Syrians in exchange for peace with the mass murderer Bashar Assad. 

The power of Israel's leadership depends on its citizens' endurance. The citizens of Israel are determined, strong, and convinced that it would be a bad idea to buy into the same old used merchandise of a delusional peace agreement. Peace is not at our door. It will arrive only when our enemies finally understand that it is in their best interests too, and that the people of Israel will live in their historic homeland forever and ever.


Dr. Haim Shine

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=4787

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

No comments:

Post a Comment