“…At the head of the Israeli government stands a man who only a year ago was ‘Mr. Security’ - a man who has failed the test of bringing results… If Palestinian terrorism were an uncontrolled malignancy in a civilized environment, it would be possible to conduct a “tweezer war” against it, but the war is against an enemy whose natural environment is itself the uncontrolled malignancy.
“The population, the media and the government institutions of the Palestinian Authority provide backing and support for terrorism. The distinction between the PA, and Hamas, and Islamic Jihad - which the Sharon-Peres government still preserves as a future partner - is a failure. It is a joke to demand that the PA combat terrorism - the PA is the terrorism. About 50% of the attacks have been carried out by its members and its apparatus, and many of the remaining 50% have benefited from its assistance or from the fact that it has turned a blind eye.
“The PA media preach terrorism, PA Chairman Arafat and his associates praise the shahids [Islamic martyrs - the suicide bombers], and PA schools educate for hatred and murder of Jews. Despite all this, the PA has not been defined as an enemy, or as an “authority supporting terrorism.” With his partner Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has totally failed to create any of the deterrence he has talked about so much. There is no strategy of transferring the fighting to enemy territory. Even the PA’s official voices of incitement, its radio and television stations, enjoy immunity…
“The solution to this cannot be political. A political achievement will only encourage terrorism to continue striking at us so as to chalk up additional political achievements. Anyone who tries to turn the PA into a state will quickly discover he has exchanged a terrorist authority for a terrorist state. The Oslo concept will look like a small failure compared to the concept of a Palestinian state. It will have access to better means of carrying out attacks and to more protection and immunity on the part of the world, and the obstacles to an Israeli military operation against it will only become even greater.
“The unpopular solution, especially among those who still have a hard time letting go of the Oslo illusion, is a military solution - even at the price of “unity,” which is becoming more of a liability than an advantage… The PA has to be overthrown, even at the price of a reoccupation of some of its territories. The Israeli public has found it hard to let go of the Oslo concept, and has paid a high price for it. It must understand that the more we delay making this vital decision, the higher the price we will pay in the future.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2001 and is filed under opinion.