By:Morton A. Klein
In all the discussion about the Arab-Israel conflict or the policies of the new governments in Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), there has been strikingly little discussion of the fact that the two sides are clearly in the middle of a war and what Israel must do to win it. This is, after all, a vital issue because Israel's aim is to live in peace and recognition from her neighbors whereas the Palestinian goal was and remains the elimination of Israel. Therefore, if Israel is to survive, Israel must win this war and that will happen when Palestinians give up their aim of eliminating Israel.
Historically, societies give up their war aims only after suffering decisive defeat. It is true that sometimes societies in a war have given up their aggressive ambitions without suffering an outright defeat, but the Palestinians show no sign of falling into that category. On the contrary, not only are Palestinians still adhering to their original war aims, but over the past 12 years of the disastrous, failed Oslo peace process and since, Palestinians have become even more radicalized.
Since being established, the PA has allowed terrorist groups and armed gangs to establish themselves in Palestinian society and incitement to hatred and murder of Jews is commonplace in the PA controlled media, mosques, schools and youth camps. PA official maps and atlases do not show Israel, which is replaced by the word 'Palestine,' textbooks do not educate Palestinian youth for peace, only for hatred of Israel and streets, colleges and sports teams are named after suicide bombers. This is not a society that has given up on its war with Israel and the desire to destroy it which lies behind it.
If Palestinians and at least some of Israel's neighbors felt capable to destroy Israel by war today, they would surely launch a war to destroy Israel just as they did in 1948, 1967 and 1973. However, today Arab states and the Palestinian movement realized they cannot at the moment destroy Israel in a war, so they have used other strategies - terrorism and extremism, propaganda campaigns in their own societies and internationally and other techniques of warfare short of conventional war. The aim of this campaign of hatred and siege is to weaken Israel internally and externally so that one day the country will either collapse or be defeated in an all-out war.
With the decisive election victory of Hamas in January's Palestinian elections, it is even clearer that Palestinian society rejects Israel . Hamas calls in its Charter for the destruction of Israel (Article 15) and the murder of Jews (Article 7). It has also murdered almost 500 Israelis and maimed thousands more in five years of suicide bombing and other terrorist attacks. It is therefore puzzling and worrying that in the recent Israeli elections, no contender for Israeli prime minister spoke about defeating the Palestinian goal to destroy Israel or winning the war on Palestinian terrorism. Politicians spoke of withdrawals or of urging Palestinians to negotiate despite the victory of Hamas. No one spoke of a vague plan, let alone a specific program, for victory.
In all wars that have been won by democracies, the articulation of clear war aims and relentless pursuit of these until the result has been achieved has been essential to success. In World War Two, President Roosevelt demanded "complete and unconditional surrender" of Germany and Japan and America kept fighting until this was achieved. Without this, it is inconceivable that Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan would have given up their aggression, war crimes and fanaticism and eventually become peaceful societies.
Yet there is no sign in Israel's political debate that Israel's policy should be to dismantle the terrorist Hamas/PA and cause the Palestinians to understand that their goal of destroying Israel damages them and is the source of their problems.
Some people say that Israel cannot simply move in and destroy the PA without massive international consequences, but it has not even been tried. During the first three years of the Sharon government, Israel fought terrorism with increasing strength and success without losing American support. But then Israel withdrew unilaterally last year from Gaza. Palestinians, who were thinking they were losing, started again to think that they could win, increased terrorism again and elected Hamas. Israel now seems weak and exhausted, is under pressure to release funds to the Hamas/PA and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaks of carrying out more unilateral pull-backs and of being "tired" of fighting and winning.
This is a mistake. The leader of Revisionist Zionism, Vladimir Jabotinsky, understood well what was needed - Israeli resolve and strength that makes its enemies give up its attempt to destroy it. Jabotinsky wrote, "As long as there is a spark of hope that they can get rid of us, they will not sell these hopes, not for any kind of sweet words or tasty morsels, because they are not a rabble but a nation, perhaps somewhat tattered, but still living. A living people makes such enormous concessions on such fateful questions only when there is no hope left.
Only when not a single breach is visible in the iron wall, only then do extreme groups lose their sway, and influence transfers to moderate groups. Only then would these moderate groups come to us with proposals for mutual concessions. And only then will moderates offer suggestions for compromise on practical questions like a guarantee against expulsion, or equality and national autonomy."
To get Palestinians to reach that day must be Israel's policy and that means winning the war.
(Morton A. Klein is the National President of Zionist Organization of America)
