ON WAR

hat thousands of IsraelТs Arab citizens have attacked Jews means that Israel is engaged in a civil war.а This war should remind Jews of the 15-year civil war between Moslems and Christians in Lebanon, which took the lives of 100,000 men, women, and children.а Israel is also engaged in a war with the kinsmen of its Arab citizens, the Palestinian Arabs.а Some 50,000 of these Arabs have deadly weapons, supplied, for the most part, by the Rabin-Peres and Netanyahu governments.а

Judging from the Barak governmentТs supine reaction to Arab violence, one thing is clear:а that government must be replaced as soon as possible.а What is also clear is that the leadership of any new government must be utterly ruthless if Israel is to survive.а Bearing this in mind, I offer you some lessons on war by one of the greatest military scientists, General Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831).

ClausewitzТs magnum opus, On War, is studied in military schools to this day, for its principles are as valid for nuclear as well as for conventional and even guerrilla warfare.ааа Clausewitz defines war as "an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will.а Violence is the means; submission of the enemy to our will the ultimate object."а For as long as the enemy remains armed, he will wait for a more favorable moment for action.

The ultimate object of war is political.а To attain this object fully, the enemy must be disarmed.а Disarming the enemy "becomes therefore the immediate object of hostilities.а It takes the place of the final object and puts it aside as something we can eliminate from our calculations."

Clausewitz warns: "Philanthropists may readily imagine there is a skillful method of disarming and overcoming an enemy without causing great bloodshed, and that this is the proper tendency of the Art of War.а However plausible this may appear, still it is an error which must be extirpated; for in such dangerous things as war, the errors which proceed from a spirit of benevolence are the worst."а

Not that Clausewitz advocates indiscriminate slaughter.а He warns, however, that "he who uses force unsparingly, without reference to the bloodshed involved, must obtain a superiority if his adversary uses less vigor in its application."а "Let us not hear of Generals who conquer without bloodshed.а If a bloody slaughter is a horrible sight, then that is a ground for paying more respect to War, but not for making the sword we wear blunter and blunter by degrees from feelings of humanity, until someone steps in with one that is sharp and lops off the arm from our body."а

It follows that moderation as a principle of war is absurd. The correct military principle is proportionality.а Thus, to defeat the enemy the means must be proportioned to his powers of resistance.а But above and beyond military considerations is statecraft.аа For in the last analysis, war is never an isolated act.а The military commander is subordinate to the statesman.

The statesman must take into account not only the forces of the enemy.а He must also understand the character of his own people.а His first concern is national morale and unity.а He must solidify the confidence and determination of his people.а They must believe in the justice of their country's cause and understand the importance of victory as well as the consequences of defeat.а The statesman must display wisdom, decisiveness, and clarity.

Above all the statesman must have, in his own mind, a clear view of his post-war goal or political object.а The political object will determine the aim of military force as well as the amount of force or effort to be used.

War, says Clausewitz, is a continuation of political intercourse by other means.а The means may not only be military but economic and diplomatic.а Therefore, the dichotomy of war and peace is fallacious.

Although peace is the proper object of war, the deplorable fact is that the norm of international relations is war and not peace.а A Stockholm study indicates that during the 23 years following World War II, there were not more than 26 days in which there was no war of some kind somewhere in the world.а Indeed, about twelve wars were being fought on an "average" day.

It follows from this data, as well as from Clausewitz, that the choice is not between peace and war but between war with victory and war with defeat.а

Can Israel produce a government with courage enough to face the truth about the implacable nature of IsraelТs enemies and to deal with them accordingly?а