PLO TERRORISM
AND GRAND STRATEGY
Foreign Minister
Shimon Peres wants to continue the policy of negotiating with Arafat despite
on-going PLO-Palestinian violence.а
Prime Minister Sharon rejects this policy, or so he would have us
believe.а The present writer will argue
that negotiating with Arafat is a grave error.а
To explain, allow me to recall an article I wrote about the PLO back in
March 1985, almost four years before Arafat renounced violence in Geneva.
1.а Like all terrorist organizations, the PLO
uses terror to gain recruits. Terrorist leaders know as well as Hollywood
move-makers that violence and bloodshed are alluring to no small number of
men.а They do not harbor a softheaded
view of human nature.
2.а To attract recruits the PLO must of course
succeed, from time to time, in killing Jews, especially in Israel.а Only by murdering Jews can the PLO obtain
from Saudi Arabia the financial means with which to buy arms.а Only by murdering Jews can Yasir ArafatТs
PLO obtain diplomatic support from the Moslem world Е above all from Egypt, the
creator of the PLO and the most steadfast champion of this Е organizationТs
claim to represent the so-called УPalestinian people.Ф
3.а Unlike Western politicians, Moslem leaders
think in long as well as in short terms.а
Jewish children in Israel eventually become Jewish soldiers. Murdering
one is eliminating the other. аNo less a
УmoderateФ than [the late] King Hussein of Jordan Е urged Moslems to Уkill Jews
wherever you find them, kill them with your hands, with your nails and teeth.Ф
4.а Now let us go a little deeper.а Operating under the leadership of Yasir
Arafat, another Уmoderate,Ф the PLO [then ensconced] in Lebanon used schools,
Mosques, hospitals, and other civilian structures for storing arms Е and other
military purposes.а The object was not
only to inhibit Israeli retaliation against terrorist attacks, say on IsraelТs
northern towns and resort areas.а To the
contrary, Arafat surely knew that such PLO attacks would compel Israel, at some
point, to strike at the PLOТs civilian sanctuaries with the consequence of
killing Lebanese civilians, but of thereby alienating American public opinion
and triggering U.S. military sanctions. Viewed in this light, terrorist attacks
are instruments of grand strategy, the subject of the next consideration.
5.а It was said above that the PLO must engage
in terrorism in order to obtain financial and diplomatic support from Arab
states.а If the PLO were to go [purely]
УpoliticalФ Ц and not merely for the purpose of wresting Judea and Samaria from
Israel in preparation for a mortal blow [by Arab states] Ц it would
self-destruct; it would be of use to no one.а
Е The Islamic world uses the PLO to keep alive American fear Е of
another Middle East war.а This fear
aligns the United States with Egypt and other Moslem autocracies against
IsraelТs retention of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza [as well as] the Golan
Heights.а I am referring to the key
strategic function of the PLO Е
6.а Consistent therewith, Islamic autocrats have
foisted on the U.S. the fiction that the УPalestinian problemФ is the УcoreФ of
the Middle East conflict.а PLO terrorism
serves to dramatize this fiction Е because nothing gains the mediaТs attention
more than violence. Е The short-term pragmatism of American politicians enables
Moslems to pander to one of AmericaТs worst instincts: the belief in
Уquick-fixФ solutions Е for all problems. And what is the neat solution to the
so-called Palestinian problem?а Simply
IsraelТs return to her pre-1967 borders.а
Within those borders, however, are 600,000 [now almost 1.2 million]
Moslems.а These Moslems are not only
related by blood to the mythical Palestinians in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, but
they identity with Е the PLO.а This
unpleasant but strategically significant fact is conveniently ignored by
sheltered American commentators on the Middle East [to say nothing of Shimon
Peres].
7.а Consider, now, the impact of repeated
terrorist attacks on Israeli morale [and this was written 8╜ years before
Oslo].а Moslem leaders know very well
the value Jews place on a single human life Е [Hence] one aim of terrorist
attacks against the people of Israel is to break down their will and
perseverance, their political sobriety and national solidarity.а Jewish realism may give way to Jewish
wishful thinking: the ... desire for peace may move softhearted and shortsighted
politicians to enter into unwise and dangerous agreements.а Here PLO terrorism functions as a form of
psychological warfare.
8.а Terrorism is also used as an instrument of
economic warfare.а Е Planting bombs Е in
Jerusalem cannot but diminish tourism, on which IsraelТs economy to no small
extent depends.
9.а Finally, reluctant as the free press may be
so say it Е killing Jews is a religious obligation for Moslems so long as
Israel remains a sovereign and independent stateЕ Ponder the words of Dr. Abdul
Halim Mahmoud, rector of CairoТs al-Ashar University, theologically and
politically the most influential university in Islamdom: УAllah commands
Moslems to fight the friends of Satan wherever they are to be found.а Among the friends of SatanЧindeed, among the
foremost friends of Satan in the present ageЧare the Jews.Ф
To begin to
fathom this venomous hatred of the Jews, let us cite Е Professor Abd al-Rahman
al-Bazzaz of the University of Baghdad: УThe existence of Israel nullifies the
unity of our civilization which embraces the whole region.а Moreover, the existence of Israel is a
flagrant challenge to our philosophy of life Е and a total barrier against the
values and aims we aspire in the world.Ф
Not theа УPalestinian problemФ but the УJewish
ProblemФ is the core of the Middle East conflict.а For Islam there is but one УFinal SolutionФ to this problem,
which is why all Moslem states support the PLO Covenant calling for IsraelТs
destructionЕ.
It is hard for
men of good will to take implacable hatred seriously, which is why Adolph
Hitler was chosen Time MagazineТs Man of the Year in 1939.
Thus ended my
1985 article.а Only a postscript is
necessary.а Sharon will either crush the
PLO or gradually succumb to Arafat and his benighted Jewish allies.