The 'Peace Process'
is Dead

Goin’s On

Erev Yom Kippur 5761
Sunday, October 8, 2000

 
 

No doubt you good people have heard of the latest developments in our neck o’ the woods where a violent Arab insurrection has been going on for at least a week.  First I want to reassure everyone that we are well and are enduring little discomfort from the events at hand.

Our situation here is that we are quite safe.  Although we’re in the ‘Wild West Bank’ our community is centrally located at the center of a cluster of others.  Ours is rather well fortified.  I only regret that the others around us are not as well prepared.  This makes the others softer targets than us.  Other communities would be preferred targets over us if the Arabs would choose to enter into a serious confrontation.  The Israeli Army has stepped up its’ presence with frequent jeep patrols on the roads as well as squads of soldiers going on foot through the hills around us. In fact, a patrol of our soldiers, fully battle laden, have included Sharon’s school in their rounds.  Our soldiers often linger around the school and detour through the halls.  We’ve also noted much more frequent army helicopter overflights to our area especially at night. They’re clearly using night vision equipment to watch the scenery for suspicious movements.

As of today, Sunday, October 8, 2000, I have been informed by the army that I should be prepared to be called up for indefinite reserve duty and be ready to go at a moment’s notice.  I was told not to be surprised if I get a telephone call on tomorrow, Yom Kippur, with orders to go.   Just to allay any fears you might have I am part of a crew that operates a temporary medial unit in our area.  We have a temporary facility that can be unpacked and made ready within 15 minutes.  I’ll be working at a 7-bed trauma center with an operating room.  Rest assured that I will not be called upon to go into actual combat.

Groups of residents in every community in Judea, Samaria & Gaza have undergone army counter-terrorist training and these individuals have become part of an immediate response team that will deal shortly and severely with any terrorist incursion.  I am part of one of those teams and we’ve gotten additional training to deal with a new scenario in the terrorist trade.  The army here is aware of the possibility of hundreds, perhaps even thousands of Arabs massing near the perimeter of Jewish communities here with the object of overrunning the community in one massive onslaught. So we’ve been trained to deal with just such a possibility and have received more equipment to help in this.  Among the equipment are a bunch of medium machine guns, sniper’s rifles, night vision and surveillance equipment and much more.  As mentioned above, even if the Arabs should attempt this kind of foolhardy move there are communities that are much more vulnerable than ours.  It goes without saying that the Israeli Air Force has Apache attack helicopters ready to dispatch.  These would provide awesome air support for us should they be necessary.

In the first week of this new phase of conflict our family has had to endure minor irritations.  The main road coming from J’lem out here has two tunnels with a bridge in between them.  On a number of occasions Arab sniper fire has been directed at Jewish vehicles as the government stupidly gave the hills above the tunnels to the PLO a few years ago.  Now that bridge has become part of a shooting gallery making cars an easy target as the vehicles are restricted to a narrow roadway for several hundred yards on the bridge with no cover whatsoever.  The other day one of our busses was shot at and one man was lightly injured. The army then closed this highway.  In any case the IDF has been closing the tunnel highway well before sundown and opening it only in the morning.  There is a bypass road which skirts the main highway but that bypass goes through an Arab village right next to a joint IDF-PLO base as well as a school where Arab kids have been involved in stone throwing against Jewish cars.  There is yet another bypass that we have to get home by and that goes through some of the prettiest areas in Israel.  This plus side of bypass-of-the-bypass is that this route is very mountainous and densely forested and resembles Northern California. It’s very pretty.  The minus-side is that it’s a very circuitous route and it takes me 1.3 hours to get home --compared to the direct tunnel highway which takes all of 20 minutes.

Our kids are fine and taking the situation very well.  Obviously they report feeling a bit of anxiety over what the future might bring but that’s understandable.  Gavriel’s school is located in a neighborhood in J’lem that is about 3000 feet from an Arab village controlled by the PLO.  The other day two Molotov cocktails were thrown near the entrance of his school from a passing car.  Neither ignited nor did they even come close to the building.  The next day a police helicopter was flying over that area and volleys of shots were fired  at the chopper from that village.  The aircraft was obviously well out of range of the shots and it’s even unlikely that the occupants were even aware of the hostile fire directed at them.

The highway farther south of us, toward Hebron & Kiriat-Arba, is much more problematic. Fortunately we don’t have to travel this one. One of my colleagues at work had spent the two-day Rosh Hashanah weekend south of us in Kiriat-Arba and was driving home in the evening after the holiday.  The main road down there passes right next to the village of el-Arub and a large chunk of building stone was flung from a 2nd story rooftop onto his car.  That stone was about 2-feet long, 10 inches wide and an inch thick.  The stone fell into the windshield and stuck there, while one chunk of it broke off and shot back into the interior of the car.  It smacked into the face of his 7-year-old daughter. She was taken to the hospital and received 26 stitches in her face to repair the damage.

In a nutshell, Arab rioting and armed clashes with the local Arabs have erupted to a degree that is unprecedented since the creation of the State of Israel back in 1948.  The Palestinian Authority has been attacking Jews and the Israeli Army in running street battles that the news media had called “demonstrations” but anywhere else in the world this would be called “war”.  Arab civilians have been organizing street disturbances, also called “demonstrations” by the media but would be undoubtedly called “riots” anywhere else. These Arabs in street clothing have been using children and women as shields to pelt Jews and our soldiers with rocks, Molotov cocktails, pipes, gunfire and virtually anything else that can be thrown.

The media refers to the “stones” that the Arabs throw and it would be appropriate to clarify this term.  Often the Arabs throw rocks by hand but very often they use a slingshot.  Now these aren’t the Y-shaped slingshots with a rubber band to launch a pebble but rather the type of sling that Biblical narrative had it that King David used to slay Goliath.  A number of years ago I bought one of these from Ethiopian Jews just to experiment with and I discovered what a lethal weapon this very simple device can be.  These slings are constructed with a pouch to hold a rock in the middle of two pieces of twine.  The rock is held in the pouch with one end of the twine secured by looping it over a finger.  The other end of the twine is pinched between the thumb and forefinger.  This device is operated by standing erect and then quickly whipping one’s body around about a half turn with the arm extended.  This action makes the sling accelerate forward in an arc at furious speed and at the right moment one launches the rock by releasing the twine end that is pinched between the thumb and forefinger.  It takes a bit of practice to coordinate everything but once that’s done this sling is can propel a good-sized rock an impressive distance.  Now I have to admit that, despite my height as a kid, I was terrible at baseball and could never throw a ball beyond a short distance as I never had much strength in my arm.  It was to my utter surprise and wonderment that with a sling I am now easily capable of heaving a rock that was 2 to 2.5 times the mass that I would be comfortable throwing with my arm.  In addition, when launching a rock with this sling at a 45-degree trajectory, which would propel it the maximum distance, I discovered that I could easily land a rock 80-feet away with the thing would reach about 30 feet in elevation.  No exaggeration.  What is more, the rocks for this weapon must be within a certain optimum mass range for the thing to work effectively. When I attempted to launch a rock about the mass I would be comfortable with throwing with my arm the sling was practically ineffective I found that it would only work with a rock that is substantially more heft.  So know that the use of the sling to heave lethal missiles here is typical.  When the media refers to the Arabs “throwing stones” at Jews please don’t think that they are just lobbing harmless little pond-skippers. The truth is that the kind of rocks that they launch at us are easily able to permanently maim and kill should someone be unfortunate enough to be hit with one.

The news media, both international and local, has been pointing the finger of blame for starting all the violence at Ariel Sharon, an Israeli politician who went with an entourage onto the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This is the Temple Mount that is Judaism’s holiest site the place where two of our ancient Temples stood.  Today Islam’s third most important shrine, the gold-plated Dome of the Rock stands, jealously guarding by the Muslims.

On Friday Sept. 29, 2000 a huge riot broke out on the Temple Mount after a Muslim clergyman delivered an impassioned sermon to the faithful that explicitly called for mass violent disturbances.  So the Arabs followed his lead and threw masses of rocks down on Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall (“Wailing Wall” as the Christians like to call it) and our holy site had to be evacuated with all haste. The police arrived to deal with the situation.   About  40 Jewish ambulances arrived and parked in the plaza of the Western Wall in anticipation of receiving the injured.  A number of rioters entered the area and burned two ambulances to a crisp and damaged many others. Ambulance crews waiting to take the injured were beaten up and some were seriously injured.

The rioting broke out about a day or more after a visit by Israeli politician Ariel Sharon and Arafat has use this as a pretext for calling for riots.  Muslims have been quoted in the media as saying that they turned to rioting and mass disturbances because Ariel Sharon somehow “defiled” their holy site by just being on the Temple Mount, despite the fact that none of his entourage had entered the Dome.  Ariel Sharon & Co. visited the Temple Mount on Thursday.  Major rioting didn’t happen till after Friday prayers at the al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Interestingly enough, Even PM Barak who is Ariel Sharon’s political opponent said that his visit did not spark the rioting:

Prime Minister Barak: PA incitement, not Sharon, cause of bloodshed

(IsraelWire-10/2) Prime Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio on  Friday afternoon (Sept 29), that PLO Authority (PA) incitement after Likud MK Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount rather than Sharon's visit was to blame for the violence in Jerusalem earlier in the day.

When Sharon visited the Temple Mount on Thursday morning very few Arabs responded to calls to come to the Temple Mount to protest. Arab youth also steered clear of the Temple Mount even though local schools were closed to allow them join in "the defense
of Jerusalem".

Israel Radio reported that PA Radio devoted the morning broadcasts to calls for people to come to the Temple Mount in the defense of Jerusalem and inciting talk against Israel. Israel Radio also reports that the PA papers featured similar calls.

In a related matter, Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Major-General Moshe Ya'alon stated on Sunday evening that the ongoing riots and warfare was definitely not "spontaneous," but the direct result of orders and approval of Yassir Arafat and his senior aides. In addition, the deputy military commander pointed out that the incitement to violent attacks against Israeli civilians and security personnel continues by the PA printed and electronic media. (www.israelwire.com  portions from the IMRA News Agency)

So the fact is that the PLO used Sharon’s visit as an excuse to spark and enflame the riots.  On the Friday following, Yassir Arafat got on the radio and, rather than attempt to quell the disturbances, actually encouraged the rioters to continue the violence.

Also the Israeli media virtually ignored the fact that Sharon wasn’t and preferred to broadcast “news” that Sharon was responsible.  Such is the way of the media that pushes it’s own political agenda:

Israel Radio buried story that Rajoub promised no reaction to Sharon visit

Aaron Lerner  Date: 3 October, 2000

Israel Radio reported this morning that Minister of Internal Security and Acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami was promised by Jabril Rajoub, head of PA Preventive Security, that there would be no reaction to Likud MK Arik Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount as long as Sharon did not attempt to enter the mosque itself. Rajoub made the promise in a transatlantic conversation with Ben Ami while Ben Ami was in the US.

The story was only broadcast once and it was buried within a longer item. Since then the story has not been repeated on Israel Radio.

The five PM newsreel also did not repeat the story but included instead an item by Israel Radio military correspondent Carmella Menashe in which she quotes "a senior military source" calling for an investigation of why security officials did not warn against plans for Arik Sharon to visit the Temple Mount.  Carmella Menashe went on to quote the inidentified source as blaming Sharon for the blow up that she said followed the visit.

Authority (P.A.). This campaign began over five days previous to Sharon’s visit in the Netzarim area in Gaza, starting with stone throwing and escalated to the use of firearms and explosives against Israeli soldiers and civilians travelling there,

Those riots have spread out through the deliberate incitement (prior to the visit) by the  'Tanzim' (the armed militia of Chairman Arafat's  Fatah  organization).  Last Friday Arafat instructed the 'Tanzim' to escalate the riots.  Moreover, Palestinian Security
Chiefs have been directly involved in inciting the violence and in ordering Palestinian Police to open fire on Israeli soldiers, Police and Jewish civilians.

Arab Members of the Keneset (MKs) have contributed to and joined this violent campaign by repeated incitement calling Arab Israelis as well as Palestinians to resort to violence prior, during and after his visit to The Temple Mount.

Many liberal Jews who have had a lot of faith in the peace process have been surprised by the mass turnout by Israeli Arabs in the rioting and gunfights.  Many Jews were under the delusion that Israeli Arabs are abundantly loyal to the State of Israel and would never, ever turn against the Jewish State.  They often referred to them as “our Arabs” and believed that the high standard of living that Israeli Arabs enjoy relative to Arabs in other parts of the Mid-East would buy their loyalty.  Well, there are surprises in life.   Rioting and gun battles have been going on in all the major cities where there is a major Arab population.  Arabs in the Galilee started rioting in Nazareth and have been involved in such anti-Jewish behavior almost continuously. From there it spread to the main road between Haifa and Tiberias.  We have friends who live on Kibbutz Beit-Rimon just off that main highway and they hadn’t been able to leave their kibbutz in days because of Arabs rioting at the intersection that gives them access to the highway.  It’s not just at the Beit-Rimon intersection, the entire stretch of highway is frequently involved in Arabs throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, shooting at Jews and burning Israeli flags.

The notion that such discontentment by the Arab population is somehow due to economic inequality between Jews was claimed by the assistant mayor of Jaffa.  He is a Jew who said on TV news here that he was convinced that if Arabs could enjoy an equal standard of living equal to that of Jews that rioting wouldn’t be happening.  He might have a point except that in the town of Acco (“Acre” on some maps) just outside of Tel-Aviv the residents there have been going on the rampage by throwing rocks and molotov cocktails, shooting at Jews and burning tires, too.  What makes this interesting is that the Old City of Acco goes back at least 800 years.  It was literally an abandoned dump and early on the State of Israel remodeled, refurbished and rebuilt the place and restored it to its original charm and provided all the modern amenities such as water, electricity, sewerage and cable TV.  When Arabs saw that the government was redoing the place many took up residence as squatters in abandoned shells of houses.  The government allowed those Arab squatters, people who had no legal claim to the dwellings that they took over, to stay and provided them with modern apartments for absolutely free.  Today Acco is a lovely tourist attraction and the Arabs who squat there have done very well for themselves economically by opening small businesses that cater to the constant tourists that flow through their community.  Besides not having to pay a mortgage or rent for their dwellings they verily rake in the cash with their tourist concessions.  Yet it was these very Arabs, these who have economic advantages far above the average Israeli, have also been rioting and burning Israeli flags and shooting at the police.  They too, claim that they’re Palestinians in every sense of the word and definitely not Israelis.  They claim that what is closest to their hearts is a Palestinian state and not Israel.  Somehow very liberal Jews have refused to believe the plain language of many Israeli Arabs who explicitly say that they want nothing to do with the State of Israel.  It boils down to the fact that many liberal Jews here have simply been in denial for years.  The Israeli Arab citizens are more concerned about their Arab identity and nationality than their economic welfare.  They should be taken seriously. Unfortunately many Jews still patronize and insult them by refusing to believe them and continue thinking that the Israeli Arab can be lured away from their Palestinian Arab nationalism with economic bribes.

Israel's daily paper Ma'ariv, known for it’s left-wing views, editorialized (5 October 2000, courtesy of IMRA Newsletter [email protected] ) about something that was obvious to us years ago but is coming as a revelation to liberal Jews in Israel:

"Over the years, leaders of the Arab public explained that the continuing discrimination against Israeli Arabs is what led to feelings of bitterness and frustration.  There was much justice in such remarks.  But it is now clear that the traditional claim of discrimination is only a cover for the true motive.  Those who are outraged over discrimination demonstrate, but do not shout 'Death to the Jews'.   Those who shout 'Slaughter the Jews' do not want a working sewage system, but rather a Palestinian state on the ruins of Israel."

So what have Israeli Jews experienced at the hands of their fellow Arab citizens in northern Israel?  Consider this from the IMRA Newsletter of October 5, 2000
( [email protected] ):

ISRAELI-ARAB VIOLENCE HITS ISRAELI PUBLIC LIKE THUNDER:
Gershon Adani, a 35-year-old father of two, from the Galilee town of Oshrah near Acre, described what happened to him yesterday:
        "I was on my way home, when suddenly I was stopped by a mob of Israeli-Arabs.  They were stopping all the drivers, and asking to see their papers.  They let the Arab drivers go, but not the Jewish ones.  I started to tell them that I was their neighbor, and have lived here among them for years, etc., but they began pelting me with bricks, rocks, and anything else...  I ran into the car, locked the door shut, and somehow was able to get through the roadblock.  I was hurt very badly.  I got to a police checkpoint, but they couldn't help me because the ambulance was not able to get through the Arab roadblock."

Adani said, "I was among those who believed in co-existence and the like.  But now, I don't know, something has really changed in my thinking...  I don't know if we can go back to what it was like before...  I am not optimistic about the future."

Erez Kreisler, head of the Misgav Regional Council in the Galilee,
responded to the above:
        "In the past few days, there have been 170 incidents here: 30 attacks on Jewish towns, 10 firebombs and shooting, 20 roadblocks, 40 cases of rocks and bricks, and 70 cases of arson.  This is a real war situation - our children didn't go to school, and we were stuck inside our towns.  Only after it was understood that there was an existential danger to the towns did we get help from police and army.  [Regarding the future of Jewish-Arab relations:] We worked hard for years to plant the seeds of cooperation and harmonic co-existence, and what we have harvested is hatred.  I believed that we could live together...  I knew that there would be disputes, but I never dreamt that it would reach such an existentially-dangerous extent as actual attempts to burn our towns down to the ground."

Journalist Amnon Lord of Makor Rishon, a former Peace Now member, discussed his reaction, and that of his left-wing friends, to the present Israeli-Arab violence:
        "What is clear is that something very serious is happening, true seismic shockwaves...  It has even surprised me to a certain extent, because though I have changed some of my opinions [over the years], I never thought I would come to this conclusion:  Israel's Arabs are our number-one enemy.  Some of my friends on the left have also come to this conclusion, but they are surprised, and say that it is a bitter truth."

My father in law has distant relations on a kibbutz in the south, a kibbutz in which is politically very left-wing, and he was called by that relation who is very concerned by the present situation.  This man who once espoused the most consolatory views and sympathy to the Arabs has now concluded that he had been duped and is convinced that we are all in great danger from the Palestinian enemy.  Many others have made such 180-degree switches in opinion.  We have a friend at Kibbutz Beit-Rimmon in the Galilee who has business contacts with other kibbutzim in his area.  One of his contacts is  an extreme left wing kibbutz of the Shomer-Hatza’ir Movement, which welcomed giving the PLO extensive concessions and gifts of land in exchange for peace.  When my friend asked his associate, what should be done about the Arab community in light of the ongoing violence, the response from this liberal was a curt and definite, “Kill them all!”

The following is a translated short editorial from Ha’Aretz daily newspaper, the country’s most popular, left-wing daily, (Courtesy IMRA Newsletter  [email protected] ):

Dan Margalit:  Will Arab Israelis turn the Wadi Ara region into a Middle Eastern Sudetenland? Reaction to Sharon visit unjustified, Arab Israeli rioting can't be compared to Zu Artzeinu protests

By Dan Margalit - Ha'aretz 5 October 2000

Some serious, public soul-searching is required in the wake of the grim, tragic casualty list produced by the recent riots: four Israeli soldiers and police officers and dozens of Palestinians including ten Israeli Arabs. The Palestinian leaders should listen to this soul-searching in a level-headed manner, despite the fact that Arab members of Knesset played a key role in the escalation of the violence. Opposition leader and Likud chief Ariel Sharon fanned the flames of hysteria by visiting the Temple Mount. However, it is in the nature of Israeli democracy - under whose wing the Arab citizens of Israel are so anxious to seek asylum - to allow activity the sole purpose of which is to amass political capital.

For the time being, Prime Minister Ehud Barak is prepared to discuss international sovereignty over the Temple Mount, while Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is adamantly opposed to such an arrangement. It is particularly important for the Palestinians to understand that we will never permit any place in this land to be Judenrein - "clean of Jews" or "Jew-free." Therefore, Sharon has the right to visit the Temple Mount.

The chain of events following the visit clearly indicates that the Arabs wanted this ghastly confrontation. It is easy to secure the sympathy of the world with the photograph of a dead child; however, the responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of the Palestinian leaders, who so cynically dispatch children to the frontline. The only person deriving any political gain from the pictures is Arafat, whose hands are stained with the blood of
the sons of the members of the Four Mothers movement, which pressed for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon.

The same can be said about the demonstrations by Israeli Arabs within the pre-1967 borders. A stable state cannot allow demonstrators to hurl rocks and fire weapons at police officers. The results, which have been expressed in the loss of human lives, are painful, yet Barak and Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami managed to maintain the delicate balance betweensensitivity to human lives and a steel determination to enforce the principle of law and order. Their approach deserves praise, even though there were some places in which this balance was tragically violated. It should be noted that these violations will be investigated and will require the assumption of personal responsibility.

The Arabs are right in saying that the Israel Police did not open fire on demonstrators from the right-wing Zu Artzeinu movement who burned tires at traffic intersections. However, it must be pointed out that these demonstrators did not endanger the lives of police officers by throwing rocks or using live ammunition. In contrast, the price tag of the sporadic shots fired from the home of militant Uzi Meshulam ended in the death of one demonstrator.

Beyond the recent riots, Israeli Arabs would be wise to carefully consider the serious question marks that have been produced by their overall position. On the one hand, all Israeli Jews understand that their Arab compatriots identify with the Palestinian demand for an independent state. On the other hand, there is a serious question that must be asked: Why, in every dispute with Arafat, do Israeli Arabs never find even one point in favor of the government of Israel? This total identification and the absence of any voices in the Israeli Arab community publicly calling for an end to the violence gives rise to the suspicion that the members of this community constitute a fifth column.

In the face of the continuation of the violence, hope is fading that once their situation improves, Israeli Arabs will be satisfied. In fact, there is a growing fear that the Israeli Arab minority will want more, that it aims for autonomy within the context of the State of Israel, for a State of Palestine beyond the pre-1967 borders and for a binational state within these borders.

Many of us remember the achievements of the subversive minority in Czechoslovakia of the 1930s. There is the fear that within a very short period of time, there will be an attempt by the Arab Israelis to take advantage of the split in Jewish Israeli society and to turn the Wadi Ara region into a Middle Eastern Sudetenland.

The leaders of the Arab minority adopt a uniform attitude when they come to the Knesset. As citizens in a democracy on the defensive, the Jewish majority in Israel should learn from the Arab minority, which openly challenges its position by means of predetermined decisions by the High Arab Monitoring Committee for Arab Affairs.

Imagine what would happen if there were a Jewish covenant - based on an agreement between all the political parties of the Jewish majority – that said that all internal decisions on political and security matters would be made in advance by the Israeli branch of the executive committee of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Imagine if such a branch consisted of the leaders of the parties in accordance with their respective electoral strength and if all decisions made on vital issues by the Israeli branch were binding for all political parties in the Knesset and the coalition.

It is a horrifying thought that a democracy on the defensive could end up in such a situation; however, this scenario could materialize if the present emergency situation continues

The above was written by a left-wing commentator just the other day.  I made bold his statements that, only 2 or 3 years ago, were considered heinous expressions of racism against Arabs.  Only a few years ago those who made identical sentiments about how the Arab citizens of Israel were becoming a fifth column, how their loyalty toward the State  Israel was called into question, and how they might wrest a portion of the State of Israel for their own state,  were denounced by both the center & left of the political spectrum.  Years ago Rabbi Meir Kahane promoted these very same ideas and was condemned by virtually every politician for blatant racism.  Now it appears that R. Kahane’s assessment of the mentality of the Arab citizens of Israel was accurate even 25 years ago.  Those who denounced and condemned him are now the very ones who are, in objective terms, agreeing with him.  R. Kahane even predicted that the political left would eventually agree with him.  Rabbi Kahana was, sadly, correct on all counts.

In other parts of our area things are not as quiet as they are with us. In Hebron the other night IDF solders were stationed on the roof tops of a Jewish neighborhood of Beit-Hadassah.  One of our soldiers was looking out into the darkness with special night-vision equipment and saw a thousand Arabs massing on the hill surrounding them obviously preparing to overrun the neighborhood.  He alerted his CO and the government contacted the PLO and said that our boys saw them massing.  The PLO called off their operation and violence was averted.  Last night shots were fired from 50-caliber sniper’s rifles into the windows of Jewish homes.  These shoot projectiles that are ½ inch in diameter and about 1½ inches long.  They have the power to hit targets accurately 2 miles away.  These bullets came crashing through the windows of Jews and the army returned fire while the male residents quickly took defensive positions on their rooftops with the soldiers.  PLO machine gun fire raked their buildings and fire was returned.  By 2:00 AM things quieted down and the men returned home, to bed.  No one was hurt.

Despite this very gentle treatment of Arabs who would have massacred the Jews of that neighborhood in Hebron, the news media and various countries have already condemned the Jewish victims for violently and mercilessly dealing with civilians. But Barak insists that even soldiers in life threatening situations act gently and not open fire even when well justified.  In every other country in the world if a weapon is pointed at a person the one who is aimed at has every right to fire back without hesitation to defend himself.  Here the government has forbidden our soldiers to defend themselves in this way.  Standing orders are that Israeli soldiers are not permitted to open fire even if an Arab is aiming a weapon at the Jew and verbally announces his intent to kill.  Our soldiers are only allowed to fire back when fired upon first.  The Oslo Accords has a provision that joint IDF & PLO security patrols will together insure the security of the area. Patrol jeeps containing both fully armed Jews and Arab had been circulating the areas.  The news here mentioned that through the course of several years of such patrols the PLO soldiers would often deliberately aim their assault rifles at the Jewish soldiers threatening them with death.  The government here told our soldiers to just ignore this and carry on with the patrols.   Well, at the very start of the riots, on Thursday September 28, a joint patrol finished their shift and the PLO soldiers opened automatic fire on the Jewish officer and filled him with more holes than good Swiss cheese and the Arabs fled to PLO territory where they were given sanctuary and a hero’s welcome. The  government told the army to ignore the implications of this, as it was just some crazy Arab who went off his nut.  So the joint patrols were resumed the next day.  Not surprising, at the end of the shift on that Friday the PLO soldiers repeated their action and murdered another Jewish officer in cold blood.  The government finally took the hint and announced that they were “temporarily suspending” the joint patrols.   This is precisely the kind of stupidity on the part of Israeli government that drives the violence. Government policy stilldisplays the delusion that with good will and cooperation by Jews will bring peace.

Government policy here continues to be generous to the Arabs often to the severe disadvantage of our own forces.  A small contingent of IDF soldiers was stationed at Joseph’s Tomb in Schehem deep within PLO territory.  The Arabs attacked the tomb relentlessly and continuously.  One of our soldiers was seriously wounded and had to be evacuated.  The PLO wouldn’t allow our forces in to remove him.  The army readied a tank that was ready to blast it’s way into Schehem and blast its way out if need be. But the Israeli government came up with a plan.  The government called one of the PLO representatives and asked for the PLO to evacuate him in one of their ambulances.  The PLO agreed wholeheartedly and the government was satisfied.  However, hours past and the PLO simply ignored their agreement – not surprising as the PLO has refused to honor nearly every other agreement in the “peace” deals that they have signed, but the Israeli government still functions under the delusion that peace has come.  The soldier was never picked up and so bled to death.   OK, but that’s not all!  Within a day after this incident one of the sons of the mayor of Schehem was involved in the fighting with our forces and was seriously wounded by out gunfire. The PLO called the Israeli government to provide emergency medical treatment and evacuate him to a Jewish hospital, as they wanted the best care for the mayor’s son.  The government agreed and three Jews dressed up as Arabs, two Jewish doctors and a Jewish paramedic and were taken to the man and he was secretly transported out of PLO territory.  The man died – he bled to death.  But this Israeli government spared no expense and risked three other Jews to save the life of an enemy soldier but would not do the same to save a Jew.  That’s despicable and, unfortunately characteristic of this government’s policy to be magnanimous toward the enemy but will not do the same for our own people.

In any other country in the Arab world the violence that the Arabs are displaying would be met with crushing blows from an iron-fisted reaction from the government.  All the other Arab countries would open up on “demonstrators” and rake them with machine-gun fire to the to teach them the ultimate lesson and then the matter would be settled and over with.  The gentle way Barak handles it only tells them that Israel is weak afraid to dominate in this conflict, and that only encourages more violence from the Arabs, but Barak doesn’t understand this. At this point we have nothing to loose by actually employing genuine violence, once and for all, and ending the madness.  Yet Barak still wants to “be nice” to those who want to kill us.

Friday October 7, 2000:
Arafat has been demanding the Temple Mount in J’lem as part of Israel’s concessions to him. Barak has been unwilling to give it over as a concession on paper but today he gave it to Arafat as a defacto gift.  This from Arutz Sheva News Service  http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com Friday, Oct. 6, 2000 / Tishrei 7, 5761:

 ISRAEL RETREATS FOR A DAY; ARABS CLAIM IT'S PERMANENT
Israel decided to entrust full control over the Temple Mount today to the hands of the Moslem Waqf and Arab security personnel.  The Barak government decided that no Israeli policemen would be stationed on the Temple Mount or in the alleys leading to it, in order not to avoid a clash that could lead to bloodshed.  Police leaders said their presence on the Mount would have led to dozens of Arab deaths, as well as another week of violence.

For the first time, armed PLO policemen guarded the gates of the holy site and oversaw the entry of Muslim worshippers - whom they did not limit in any way, despitte an Israeli police recommendation that teen-aged Arabs not be allowed to enter.  "Protection of the gates and sovereignty of the Mount was given to PA Security Chief Jibril Rajoub," in the words of MK Benny Elon (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu), who was an eyewitness to today's events in the area.

Elon also said that it was agreed beforehand between Rajoub and the Israelis that Arabs on the Mount would be allowed to throw stones "in a supervised manner, for 3-5 minutes" from the Mount over to the Kotel [Western Wall] below.  The police had originally announced that Jews would not be allow to the Western Wall area today, but in actuality, a relatively small amount of Jews did pray there.  The police evacuated them from the Wall when the stone-throwing started; the Jews returned to pray there after a few minutes.  MK Elon said that he refused to leave, and in fact suffered a small wound from a rock that hit him.

It wasn’t enough that the Arabs now control the Temple Mount, the Israeli government now allows to throw rocks over onto the Western Wall – oh, but in a supervised manner! –  so that makes it ok!!!  We listened to the news and Israel Radio had their reporters at the Western (“Wailing”) Wall after prayers were finished on the Temple Mount. The Arabs were, indeed, permitted to heave rocks for 5 minutes from the Temple Mount down onto the Wall plaza and the Israel police were at the site and passively allowed this to happen.

So what’s to happen in the future? Well, not being a prophet of God I can’t be certain but I’ll give it a go:  I think that Barak will continue to restrain the Israel Defense Forces in such a way that will encourage the Arabs to continue fighting by giving the Arabs the impression that we are too weak and haven’t the will to put down their insurrection.   The PLO has been holding back as they have from 40,000-60,000 men at arms that can be brought to bear on Jewish communities and the IDF.  Arafat will most likely escalate the action into a higher level of conflict and Barak will respond by granting him more concessions without any agreement or negotiations – despite the fact that Barak has already said that Arafat is NOT a partner in peace.  It’s very probable that Arafat will declare a Palestinian State within the next month or two and Arafat will dare Barak to apply force to change that.   I think that such a declaration will trigger a full-scale war within a few months.  I think that the liberals and leftists will be utterly enraged at having been duped and disappointed at not having gotten peace in exchange for land, weapons and vast sums of money.  As a result, they will vent their boundless fury on the Arab population.  I think the liberals will perform ethnic cleansing on the Arab population, which will mean massacring portions of the Arab population and driving substantial numbers of Arabs out of the State Of Israel.  I think their previous love for the Arabs will turn to the most impassioned and bitter hate and they will not be able to restrain themselves when they are face to face with their enemy.

Well, that’s it for now.  We’ll see what the future will bring, and I’ll keep you posted on developments as they arise.

My best,

Dale
 
 
“Genuine Jewish leaders have always been prepared to sacrifice their lives for their country.  This is the first era in Jewish history which finds our leaders prepared to sacrifice their country for their lives.” Gary Cooperberg: The Fruits of our "Peace" Process, October 3, 2000.