                      A Voice from Hebron
                              by 
                       Gary M. Cooperberg
                                
           Will the real Shimon Peres Please Stand Up
                  What do you mean by "Peace"?
                         July 14, 1998

     Former Prime Minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, who now heads the new "Peace Center"
modestly named after himself, has been working feverishly to promote peace.  One of his
achievements was to secure multimillion dollar grants from the world bank to the PLO.  While
this gesture certainly has gained him the admiration of a richer Yaser Arafat, it remains unclear
how exactly this brings us any closer to peace.

     There are those who have asked how it is possible that Shimon could really believe it
possible to live in peace with a murderous cutthroat like Arafat and his PLO terrorist
organization.  Listening to his many glowing speeches extolling the peace process, including the
one given upon receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize, one might be led to think that Mr. Peres really
believes that the days of war and bloodshed are over and that all of our Arab neighbors want
nothing more than to live in peace with Israel.

     Well yesterday that bubble was burst by the predictably unpredictable Mr. Peres himself. 
Until now we all were given to understand that Shimon is really proud and satisfied with our
relations with our Arab neighbors, at least those with which we have signed agreements. 
Incredibly, while giving a speech in, of all places, Jordan, Peres made an unprecedented admission
of Israel's nuclear capability.  Of course this is Israel's worst kept secret, but now a former Prime
Minister made a public admission to its existence.  

     The fact of this admission, in no way, bothers me.  In fact I think it is good that he made
this statement.  What is even more amazing, and gratifying, however, is our dauntless peace
advocate's explanation as to why Israel has such an arsenal.  He told his Jordanian audience that
Israel does not want another Hiroshima.  He reminded his Arab peace partners that the Jewish
State was attacked five times in unprovoked wars by our Arab neighbors who sought our
destruction.  He unabashedly stated that it has always been the goal of the Arab nations to
overpower the Jewish State whenever they felt they were able to do so.

     And then came the clincher.  It was only as a result of the fact that we have nuclear
weapons that we were able to achieve the Oslo agreement!

     Here, at long last, we can really begin to understand the kind of peace even Mr. Peres
recognizes that we have, although, until now would never admit.   The only reason we are able to
have any kind of  "peace" with any Arab nation is because we have the big stick of nuclear
weapons backing us up.  In other words, as long as we have the ability to defeat our enemies, we
can make peace with them.  But the minute we lose that ability, we can forget about peace.

     What happened to Peres' recent axiom that weapons don't kill and that with peace it
makes no difference how many weapons the PLO has?  The worst kind of liar is one who lies to
himself.  For once Mr. Peres was brutally honest.  And, amazingly enough, he made his statements
to our strongest Arab ally, Jordan!   If he would only listen to himself he would realize just how
wrong it is for Israel to continue to weaken herself for peace.  Just as he was correct to note that
we only have "peace" because we are strong, clearly the "peace" we now enjoy will not get better
if we weaken ourselves.

     He may be right that, without a nuclear deterrent we would never have been able to have
an Oslo.  But what good is Oslo if we use it to create yet another enemy state upon Jewish soil? 
Does he suggest using that nuclear deterrent as a Masada threat in which case we will bring down
all the Arab nations together with ourselves in the event of another war?  That doesn't make a lot
of sense.  Clearly if we have peace, as Shimon told the Jordanians, only because our enemies
believe that they cannot win a war against us, how is the cause of peace promoted by a policy of
deliberately weakening ourselves and strengthening our enemies?  

     If Peres really wants to promote peace, using the logic he presented to Jordan, the best
thing for us to do is to throw Arafat out of Israel while it is still relatively easy to do so.  Instead,
aside from the fact that he has failed to honor his agreements, Arafat is stockpiling illegal
weapons, increasing his PLO army, fortifying his territory by placing land mines to protect his
bases, acquiring anti-tank missiles, training his soldiers to prepare to attack Jewish settlements,
and building underground bunkers. . . all, ostensibly for peace.  Not only do we not hear a word
of protest from the Peres Peace Center, but we find Mr. Peres praising the terrorist and providing
him with millions of dollars. . . again for peace.

     Nu, what's the story?  Do we have peace because we are stronger than our enemies, or
will we achieve peace by surrendering to them?  Will the real Shimon Peres please stand up. 