ISRAEL UPDATEApril 14, 2002 – This past week in Phoenix, there was a demonstration against Israel and the Sharon government, because of the Israeli’s strong reaction to Arafat’s suicide bombers.
In New York City, eight state leaders from across the political spectrum stood in support of this same Prime Minister and his country – in opposition to Arafat and his thugs.
Unfortunately, the media is trying to make this a Sharon vs. Arafat battle – hinting that if Sharon were gone, peace would return.
With the signing of the Oslo Accord in 1993, the violence has only intensified. Sharon or not, more Israelis died between 1993 and 1998 than in the previous ten years. After a bus attack in 1994, Yitzhak Rabin gave Arafat 80% of Gaza, while Shimon Peres handed over five towns to him in 1995.
When 1996 brought a series of deadly blasts in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv that were encouraged by Arafat himself - Netanyahu as prime Minister gave in to U.S. demands and pulled Israeli troops out of Hebron – the second most holy site of Judaism. 1997 and 1998 were relatively calm years.
After he became Prime Minister in 1999, Ehud Barak consented to withdraw from southern Lebanon. They were shocked by Israel’s offer to hand over the Golan Heights near Syria, even though they never legally possessed it.
In the year 2000, Arafat refused Barak’s offer of 90% of Judea and Samaria, the dismantling of Jewish settlements, and the return of 100,000 Palestinian refuges. Instead, Arafat started an intifada in September of that year – it is still going on…
So we can see that Rabin, Peres and Netanyahu have all made concessions of land, while Barak’s offer was spurned. They have showered Arafat with many opportunities to make peace and truly work to develop a Palestinian state.
A Palestinian contingency that has received millions upon millions of dollars from the Arab world – has not used these funds to improve their education, sanitation or medical facilities.
Instead, what they have done is develop a complex of installations, hideouts, and safe houses, along with terrorist networks – that threatens to draw the whole world into a huge war.
Arafat’s official career in terrorism actually began with the PLO in 1964 – so for nearly four decades now, he has persecuted and murdered, directly and indirectly – hundreds of thousands of Christians, not to mention Jews and Palestinians. I’m sure the death toll is staggering.
He has proven to be a barbaric dictator – continually violating human rights, extorting money, and forcing his concept of nationalism down the throats of the world.
Ariel Sharon has been a political and military leader who has espoused in his philosophy the exact opposite of Arafat. He has been reviled for commanding men who died or were wounded, while seeking to protect the children in the area of battle.
As a leader of Israel, he is considered to be Pro-American, loyal to democracy, and desiring to help the peace process come to a fruitful reality.
His resignation would only loosen the grip on Arafat that has been needed for almost forty years. No one will win should that happen…
To be continued…