PEACE − IS IT POSSIBLE?

This is a loaded question. While we have tried to be honest in this article we know that our objectivity is tinged by our being Israelis. But all the claims in this website can be checked. Please let us know if you have any comments. The purpose of this article is to search for a way to peace that will benefit all peoples in the region.

TWO main factors have fueled the Israel-Arab conflict since its inception over three generations ago, which most people everywhere choose to ignore. They are:

• Widespread Arab refusal to accept Israel's right to sovereignty in any part of the Middle East.
• The use of half-truth, falsehood and omission on the part of the Arabs, international mediators and commentators − which ignore Arab instigation of tension and war while always making Israel look like the "bad guy."

The conflict had begun at least one generation before Israel's claim for independence was granted by the United Nations. Israel's declaration of independence in 1948 (which should have coincided with the establishment of an independent Arab state for the Palestinians living in Judea, Samaria, and parts of Galilee and the Negev) precipitated an immediate invasion by all the surrounding Arab countries who repeatedly declared their intention of utterly destroying the new Jewish state.

But the Jews didn't feel obliged to repeat Auschwitz. The Arab armies were routed, only to begin preparing for the next round.

In the last 58 years since that war of intended annihilation, there have been another two major wars and numerous serious campaigns to destroy or weaken Israel. Ever since then the hapless Arab Palestinians (Jews here were once referred to as Palestinians) have had a number of opportunities to set up their independent state of Palestine. In 1948, according to the United Nations decision, the Arabs of Palestine were to be given independence of their half of the Land, in conjunction with Israel's independence.

But Jordan, while carrying out its part in the attempt to destroy Israel, simply annexed what should have been Arab Palestine.

Then in 1967, following yet another pan-Arab attempt to destroy Israel, Jordan was repulsed from Judea and Samaria. The Egyptian and Syrian armies were similarly thrown back from Sinai and Golan Heights. Israel sent out feelers for dialogue. But the Arabs refused to discuss any armistice terms with Israel. However, subsequently, when Egypt stated its readiness to sign a peace treaty with Israel the whole of Sinai Peninsula was handed back to Egypt.

In the mid-nineties Yasser Arafat was given a golden opportunity to set up not just an autonomous Palestinian Authority (which Israel had helped forge) but an independent State. Yet in the year 2000 he opted for war. So that was another opportunity for an independent Arab Palestine down the drain. It also brought back the Israeli army into the Arab towns and villages (from which they had happily almost completely withdrawn a few years earlier ).

But Israel is so eager to live in peace that in 2005 its super-hawk Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, withdrew completely from the Gaza Strip, with the talk of subsequently doing the same in a large part of Judea and Samaria. The immediate response of the Arabs of Gaza was to burn down the structures of the remaining synagogues − thereby showing their attitude regarding peace with Israel. Also they increased their daily rocket barrages on Israeli towns and villages that are completely within the internationally recognized borders of Israel.

And so once again the Israeli army is operating in the Gaza Strip in order to try and stop their attacks.

In July 2006 Hassan Nasrallah launched his huge arsenal of rockets at the whole of northern Israel from his fortified strongholds in Lebanon. Why? For what purpose? After all there was no Israeli presence in Lebanon.

The answer is, among other reasons, to weaken Israel in every way possible until eventually Israel's economy will be in a shambles from the huge military outlay needed to cope with terror and the disruptions caused to its industry and labor. The Arabs also reckon that the spirit of the people of Israel will eventually break because of the continuous pressure, and finally the great day will come when the Israelis lose the will to continue to fight − or even continue existing as a state. After all, how long can six million Jews stand against 250 million Arabs plus another billion Muslims?

Shortsightedness and falsehood

But world leaders continuously pressure Israel to be magnanimous, to refrain from retaliating to attacks on her people and her territory, to cede more land that had been repeatedly used to launch war against Israel, to do whatever possible to satisfy Arab demands and help set up an independent state of Palestine.

Ironically the only thing that has prevented further truncation of Israel and the establishment of an independent Arab state called Palestine has not been Israel's stubbornness, but the impulse to kill Jews. The impulse to kill Jews is so great that even the mothers of suicide bombers rejoice at their sons' deaths.

The other major factor perpetuating the conflict is the use of falsehood. Almost every Arab premise is based either on half-truth, falsehood or selective omission, which world leaders, the news media and the United Nations choose to ignore.

Two or three generations of Arabs have repeatedly been told by their leaders that the Jews stole their land; that the Jews created the Arab refugee problem; and that the Jews have compounded these heinous crimes by invading and stealing yet more Arab lands in 1967. However numerous documented sources that are neutral to the Israel-Arab conflict, as well as Arab sources. testify to Arab determination to destroy the Jewish state at its very inception in 1948.

Also the Arab refugee problem could have been avoided had the Arabs not began their war against Israel. But the refugee problem, having been created, could have been solved within a short time, using the methods employed in rehabilitating many tens of millions refugees in Europe and Asia since the Second World War (including over 700,000 Jewish refugees who were forced to flee from Arab lands).

Later, the Israeli presence in Gaza and Judea, Samaria (the West Bank) was the direct result of a second Pan-Arab attempt to destroy Israel in 1967. This attempt to once again destroy Israel is seldom mentioned by anyone nowadays. (Even Israelis hardly ever mention this salient fact.) Israel is made to appear totally culpable for the whole conflict from its inception − for the Arab refugees, for their lack of independence, for all their poverty and misery. This is what most Arabs everywhere have been taught about Israel. So it is no wonder that they should hate Israel so completely. Tragically, no one tells them that their hatred of Israel is based on a big lie. No one tells them that the wretchedness and repeated calamity that has bedevilled their lives for generations is fed and sustained by falsehood. Similarly the inclination in the Arab world of not a few young people blowing themselves into smithereens so as to kill others is based on a lie of daemonic proportions.

So what's all this got to do with peace?

Simply, had the Arab people been informed of the facts as they really were, they might have accepted the idea of a Jewish state at least after the first Arab-Israel war in 1948. Furthermore, the international community's failure to condemn repeated Arab aggression and casting blame on Israel for defending itself, has actually worked to the detriment of the Arabs − it has encouraged them to continue their quest to destroy Israel, and thereby prolonged their own misery and forestalled the independence of Palestine.

If world leaders, mediators and the media really want to promote peace they must inform the Arabs that real peace will come only when the Arabs fully renounce their quest to destroy Israel. Real peace will come only when they are able to recognize falsehood for what it is and question the validity of their attitudes regarding killing for the sake of religion.

War in its different methods is waged when there is a motivation (but not always for a moral or logical reason.) The motivation to destroy Israel has always been based on the premise that the Jews have no right to sovereignty in any part of the Middle East. The 3500-year Jewish connection with this Land is totally ignored by the Arabs. So is the fact that seven-eighths of Palestine was alotted for the Arabs. At the time of that United Nations partition plan seven-eighths more than covered the Arab proportion of the population in this region. As long as Arabs are not informed of these facts by the international community, they will not let up on their quest and the wars will continue until ...

Arabs have many positive qualities − like any other nation. They have a sense of honor; they are hard-working; they are concerned about their families. Encouragingly, there are signs of a new openness in their media. Democratic structures are being introduced in some Arab countries. But the poor masses that constitute the vast majority of Arabs in the world are readily enraged − at the "others" for their wretched lives − at Israel, the USA, Britain, the Pope or anyone else who questions the merits of their religion. And the Shiites are upset with the Sunni and vice versa. It's probably going to take a long time till people in this region learn to adopt different modes of thinking, living and governing. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs have been killed since 1948 − by other Arabs. Serious, gut-wrenching soul-searching is the most urgent need for the Arab people today.

And what about Israel's part in the peace equation? Israelis with Left-wing sentiments think that Israel has not been sufficiently pliant to Arab demands; that Israel has reacted all too frequently to Arab violence with far too much power; that many of the measures to prevent terror have been counter-productive. Many actually participate in Arab demonstrations against certain Israeli policies. Their actions could indicate a deep concern for morality. Sadly, however, in many cases their active oppostion to Israeli policies, when waged shoulder to shoulder with Arabs demonstrating physically, only strenthens Arab convictions that Israel has no right to exist. Naturally Right wing Israelis have opposing views on the various issues. Meanwhile all Israelis yearn for peace. Most Israelis, except for a small fringe group of extreme Left-wing Jewish apologists for the Arab stand, agree that to survive Israel must remain a regional power with the necessary deterrence.

Israel cannot do much to change Arab society and it would be wrong to try. The quest for peace in Israel must be kept on a back burner till greater sobriety, morality and common sense filter into the region. Israel must treat its own Arab citizens with respect and ensure they have all the rights of their fellow Jewish citizens. Also Arabs in territories under military control should be treated as fairly as possible. Meanwhile, apart from maintaining a powerful armed force, Israelis must also concentrate on becoming a society that is generally honest, hard-working, considerate and responsible for its actions. It needs an efficient form of governance and intelligent, dependable leadership.

Ralph (Rafi) Dobrin