The evolution of Yasser Arafat from terrorist, murderer, and thug, to Nobel Prize peace partner with Israel was a gradual one. After so many years as a career murderer of innocent Jewish men, women and children, the transformation of Arafat didn’t happen overnight. The Jewish public would never be able to digest such an archenemy in one gulp. Slowly but surely a sequence had to be played out. It would be impossible to take a villain and his entire organization, which called for the total annihilation of the Jewish State and suddenly stamp them with the label of “kosher”.
ROUND 1: CAMP DAVID
First there was Camp David. Not only did Israel give up its only oil wells and thereby commit herself to more United States dependency for oil purchase guarantees, the Israeli government led by Menachem Begin gave away huge amounts of land for a promise of peace. Those were the big headlines of that era. Unfortunately a couple of things not so big then have turned out to be very relevant now; Yamit the Jewish settlement in Sinai was dismantled under the direction of the right wing ‘hawk’ Ariel Sharon and for the 1st time an Israeli government finally recognized a ‘Palestinian’ People. Of course a People must have a place to call their own. Begin and Sharon and many other Herutniks of the right wing Likud offered autonomy to the ‘Palestinians’.
ROUND 2: THE LEBANON WAR 1982
After getting constantly harassed from south Lebanon, Israel had no alternative in 1982 but to go into Lebanon and put an end to the growing terror against her residents in the North. It looked easy at first. The Israeli Defense Forces smashed through Lebanon, killing terrorists and the occasional civilian all the while seizing huge arsenals of military equipment from you guessed it, Arafat’s PLO army. It was later revealed that Yasser Arafat was under the telescope of an Israeli sharpshooter. He asked the great hero, Rafael Eitan for an order to shoot. Eitan declined and Arafat’s life was spared. Eventually both Arafat and his men were surrounded in Beirut. Under international pressure not only was his life spared, Israel allowed him and his band of murderers to leave with a victorious send off carrying their weapons. It is very worthy to note that the Arab world noticed that for the 1st time the Israelis were ready to risk their men to sniper attack by conducting door to door searches instead of blowing up entire buildings and possibly injuring or killing ‘innocent’ civilians.
ROUND 3: THE INTIFADA AND THE MADRID TALKS
At the end of 1986 after many terrorist attacks against Israelis Arafat and his followers developed a new game called the “Intifada” or “Uprising”. This time the innocents were not just supporters of the PLO. They were ‘innocent’ stone throwers. The Israeli government once again bowing to international pressure began to do less and less to restore law and order. New precedents were set when Israeli soldiers and settlers could no longer use their weapons unless their lives were clearly endangered. Often that meant being maimed or killed 1st. With the Israeli leftist press and the international anti–Semitic press behind them, the newly recognized Nation of ‘Palestinians’ were encouraged to keep up with their valiant struggle against so called Israeli oppression. This led to the Madrid talks where former Stern gang hero Yitzhak Shamir came as close as one could come to begin the process of giving away Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. The election loss of 1992 saved Mr. Shamir and his right wing coalition from doing the dirty work.
ROUND 4: RABIN TAKES THE BIG STEP
Of course Yitzhak Rabin lied to the Jewish People. He said he wouldn’t talk to the PLO and that certain things were not negotiable. Many other Israeli politicians have lied before and since including Ben Gurion, Begin, Sharon, and Netanyahu to name a few. The people on the inside knew that many of Rabin’s peers and perhaps he himself had been talking to the PLO for quite a while. Interesting being that speaking with them was still a criminal offense in Israel in those days. With no way to stop the Intifada short of killing and perhaps expelling many Arabs, the Rabin government took the bold step of making friends with Yasser Arafat. No referendum was ever held. The media went into high gear and before you knew it Gaza and Jericho were 1st on the chopping block. Oslo was the utopian answer for Israel’s left. Most of Israel’s right had no alternative to offer because they believed and still believe 1st and foremost in what the world will say or do and not in our G–d given exclusive right to the Land of Israel. The peace process or what has turned out to be the ‘terror process’ intensified quickly as Rabin, Peres, and Arafat shared a Nobel Peace Prize. The huge number of Israeli casualties combined with the assassination of Rabin did nothing to derail the process. Arafat was now an international player loading up on weapons as he was amassing bigger and bigger parts of ancestral Eretz Yisrael.
ROUND 5: BIBI BLOWS IT
Although the 1996 election was close Benjamin Netanyahu was elected with a 59% Jewish majority. When push came to shove, Arafat outmaneuvered Bibi by murdering 14 Israeli soldiers and burning down Joseph’s tomb. Instead of going right out and destroying Arafat, Bibi finished the Hebron give away and helped him build the airport in Gaza. When it was rumored that Arafat may have been extremely ill, Bibi reportedly commented that “A healthy Arafat is good for Israel”. He soon followed up with the Wye agreement and tried to sell a tired Jewish public ‘reciprocity’. He said, “They give, they get”. I always meant to ask him what that meant? In other words, if they don’t commit terror we give them more of our land. That could be interpreted as being willing and flexible enough to give them everything. Similar to the case of Shamir the 1999 election saved Mr. Netanyahu from further humiliation by dismissing him from office.
AND NOW: FROM BARAK TO SHARON AND BACK TO PERES, THE BEAT GOES ON
Barak offered Arafat the unimaginable, yet he said no. He even told him to go to hell. Most Jews in Israel lack guidance and leadership. Many have been brainwashed for years that we have no alternative or worse that we are robbers and that the Arabs deserve large chunks of Eretz Yisrael. Many of our youth don’t see a reason to stay here. Except for areas with horrible economies and/or serious anti–Semitic threats, most Jews in the Diaspora wouldn’t dream of aliya today. Our peace partners (tear us to pieces partners?) are shooting at us, bombing us, and stoning us all over this land. The so–called Israeli Arabs in large part have joined in the struggle to free Palestine. None of today’s Israeli political elite are willing to do what must be done to save our country from complete destruction. Only a new class of leadership with vision, Jewish pride and belief in our G–d given destiny to be here as ‘a nation that shall dwell alone’, will be able to overcome the obstacles which we face.
AVRAHAM ALON A VICTIM OF ARAFAT’S PEACE
Avraham Alon was shot several times as he drove his van outside his settlement in the Shomron about a half a year ago. He was supposed to die. He didn’t. He is alive and goes with his wife almost every day for therapy in Tel Hashomer hospital. His wife can no longer work, as she must assist him to do the most basic of tasks. His income has been destroyed now that he is handicapped. Our wonderful national–insurance program known as Bituach Leumi is giving him and his wife the runaround. They are giving them 2,300 shekels a month to live on (approximately $575). We at B’Ahavat Yisrael have taken on their case. We have begun to pay for their electric and gaz bills. Shortly we will send an attorney to fight for their rights so that they may live in some sort of dignity and not as paupers. The guns used to shoot Avraham Alon and many other people in our country were patriots loyal to Yasser Arafat. Shimon Peres still thinks that Arafat is our partner. Being that Peres helped get him the guns, perhaps they are partners. They certainly are no partners of Avraham Alon and the mounting victims of Jews daily on our beloved soil.
Dear Jew, as Shabbat approaches here in the holy–land I ask you to think. Wherever you are and whatever you do. If every time a Jew is attacked resulting in death or injury, does it hurt you inside? If it does, please help us to help them. If it doesn’t you can always join another partnership. Shabbat Shalom
