MESSAGE
| DATE | 2006-07-18 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] current politics
|
Hunker Down With History
By Richard Cohen Tuesday, July 18, 2006; Page A19
The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that
Israel itself is a mistake. It is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned
mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating
a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims (and some Christians)
has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing
now. Israel fights Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, but
its most formidable enemy is history itself.
This is why the Israeli-Arab war, now transformed into the Israeli-Muslim
war (Iran is not an Arab state), persists and widens. It is why the
conflict mutates and festers. It is why Israel is now fighting an
organization, Hezbollah, that did not exist 30 years ago and why Hezbollah
is being supported by a nation, Iran, that was once a tacit ally of
Israel's. The underlying, subterranean hatred of the Jewish state in the
Islamic world just keeps bubbling to the surface. The leaders of Saudi
Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and some other Arab countries may condemn Hezbollah,
but I doubt the proverbial man in their street shares that view.
Fighters and Freeloaders ยป Sebastian Mallaby | Chinese, Russian and
Western European foot-dragging is undermining diplomacy on every major
security challenge we face, from North Korea to Iran to the Middle East.
There is no point in condemning Hezbollah. Zealots are not amenable to
reason. And there's not much point, either, in condemning Hamas. It
is a fetid, anti-Semitic outfit whose organizing principle is hatred
of Israel. There is, though, a point in cautioning Israel to exercise
restraint -- not for the sake of its enemies but for itself. Whatever
happens, Israel must not use its military might to win back what it has
already chosen to lose: the buffer zone in southern Lebanon and the Gaza
Strip itself.
Hard-line critics of Ariel Sharon, the now-comatose Israeli leader who
initiated the pullout from Gaza, always said this would happen: Gaza
would become a terrorist haven. They said that the moderate Palestinian
Authority would not be able to control the militants and that Gaza would
be used to fire rockets into Israel and to launch terrorist raids. This
is precisely what has happened.
It is also true, as some critics warned, that Israel's withdrawal from
southern Lebanon was seen by its enemies -- and claimed by Hezbollah --
as a defeat for the mighty Jewish state. Hezbollah took credit for this,
as well it should. Its persistent attacks bled Israel. In the end,
Israel got out and the United Nations promised it a secure border. The
Lebanese army would see to that. (And the check is in the mail.)
All that the critics warned has come true. But worse
than what is happening now would be a retaking of those
territories. That would put Israel smack back to where
it was, subjugating a restless, angry population and
having the world look on as it committed the inevitable
sins of an occupying power. The smart choice is to
pull back to defensible -- but hardly impervious --
borders. That includes getting out of most of the West
Bank -- and waiting (and hoping) that history will
get distracted and move on to something else. This
will take some time, and in the meantime terrorism
and rocket attacks will continue.
In his forthcoming book, "The War of the World," the
admirably readable British historian Niall Ferguson
devotes considerable space to the horrific history
of the Jews in 19th- and 20th-century Europe. Never
mind the Holocaust. In 1905 there were pogroms in
660 different places in Russia, and more than 800
Jews were killed -- all this in a period of less than
two weeks. This was the reality of life for many of
Europe's Jews.
Little wonder so many of them emigrated to the United
States, Canada, Argentina or South Africa. Little
wonder others embraced the dream of Zionism and went
to Palestine, first a colony of Turkey and later
of Britain. They were in effect running for their
lives. Most of those who remained -- 97.5 percent
of Poland's Jews, for instance -- were murdered in
the Holocaust.
Another gifted British historian, Tony Judt, wraps
up his recent book "Postwar" with an epilogue on
how the sine qua non of the modern civilized state is
recognition of the Holocaust. Much of the Islamic world,
notably Iran under its Holocaust-denying president,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stands outside that circle,
refusing to make even a little space for the Jews of
Europe and, later, those from the Islamic world. They
see Israel not as a mistake but as a crime. Until they
change their view, the longest war of the 20th century
will persist deep into the 21st. It is best for Israel
to hunker down.
cohenr-at-washpost.com
--
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