Glick Nails Another One

Caroline Glick's latest article, Convenient culprits, in the Jerusalem Post is an attempt to open our eyes. She points out that what we're seeing today has been seen before -- in March of 1996 when Hamas and Islamic Jihad went on an eight-day murder spree killing 62 Israelis in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ashkelon. How does it compare, you may ask? This was happening in an atmosphere where peace was "on the horizon" with the Wye Plantation negotiations. So upsetting the apple cart of hope wasn't an option.

"Neither Peres nor Clinton could acknowledge the role played by the PA and Syria in enabling the bombings. Doing so would have been tantamount to admitting that their entire policy of peace processing was based on flawed assumptions. So rather than admit the truth, both men called for Arafat to be strengthened."

Glick feels we're seeing a repeat of this today -- but will we learn from our past mistakes? After Friday's suicide bombing, both Israeli and Palestinians were claiming Hizbullah, Syria or Iran were responsible. While Glick agrees Hizbullah plays a significant role in fomenting, directing and financing Palestinian terror, she feels Hizbullah's involvement is welcomed by the PA and their terror groups.

"In the last few years Fatah cells have exceeded both Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the amount of direct payments and direction they have received from Hizbullah."

It's been obvious that the various terror factions have been working together. Glick adds, "Case in point is Friday's bomber Abdullah Badran. While Badran apparently acted as an agent of Islamic Jihad, Palestinians in Tulkarm say that he was a longtime member of Fatah."

I know, I know....a smoke screen from the Palestinians. Say it isn't so! But it gets worse. Today, Israel and the US are calling for Arafat 2.0 to be strengthened. Sound familiar? Of course. The rest of Glick's article needs to be read. I will include it all:

"Both Israel and the US have placed their faith in Abbas despite his coddling of terrorists during his election campaign; his decision two weeks ago to unfreeze Hamas's bank accounts; his refusal to take action against any terrorists or their support networks; and his plan to bring terrorists into his "reformed" security services.

As was the case with the 1996 finger-pointing at Iran, the government's accusations against Hizbullah, Syria and Iran today are both illuminating and misleading. It is true that all three are actively fomenting Palestinian terrorism. But that does not mean that we no longer need to focus most on Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and the PA whose forces are on the ground attacking us.

It is hard to escape the feeling that, as was the case in 1996, at least in part, the government's emphasis on distant enemies is aimed at distracting the public from the dangers closer to home.

Just last week Abbas requested that the nations of the world provide him with offensive weaponry. Russia has already responded that it will give armored personnel carriers to the PA. So far, the government has given no indication that it has a problem with this state of affairs.

This, in spite of the fact that such Palestinian offensive armament is in total contravention of the Oslo agreements and, more importantly, flies in the face of Israel's security doctrine since the founding of the state. This doctrine has completely ruled out the introduction of offensive weapons systems to the territories. But then, if the government goes through with vacating Gaza, it will have no ability to sustain this doctrine.

Syria, Iran and Hizbullah are all formidable enemies of Israel. But this fact must not obscure the serious terror problem posed by the PA and its terror allies right here. And this problem will only grow if Israel vacates Gaza, providing them with a secure base of operations where Syria, Iran and Hizbullah will be able to arm and train them to attack at will."

So... are we trying for peace at any price? And can doing so ever bring true peace?