The kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, and an 18-year-old civilian, by the Palestinian group Hamas is not merely another incident in the long conflict but a turning point of tremendous importance.
Why this is so should be very clear:
– First, the attack was carried out directly by Hamas, which also happens to be the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority (PA). It is, therefore, not merely one more terrorist action but an act of war by the Palestinian government, which advocates continuing battle until Israel is destroyed.
As one Hamas member of parliament put it, “The fantastic operation came at a suitable time, and it is of a pride for Arab and Islamic nations.” In staging the attack, the partner of Hamas was the Palestinian Resistance Committee, a group which killed three American government employees and may have links with Usama bin Ladin’s al-Qaeda group. Palestinian political leaders, including the PA’s ministers of foreign affairs and of the interior, have made public statements in recent months advocating the seizure of Israelis as hostages.
– Second, the attack shows that the political leaders of Hamas, who pose as moderates for the Western media, are either powerless or uninterested in doing anything in practice to moderate the situation. This is exactly parallel to the policy of Mahmoud Abbas, the PA’s chief executive and a leader of the nationalist Fatah group. Both Hamas and Fatah through the PA act continually to facilitate terrorism and carry out racialist incitement against Jews.
Thus, for example, Hamas claimed to be observing a ceasefire but it never stopped those carrying out terrorist attacks and often actively helped them to do so. In the last ten months, 660 missiles fired from the Gaza Strip have hit Israeli territory while additional rockets fell short. Eleven Israeli civilians have been killed and scores wounded. This assault forces Israeli retaliation against launchers and those staging these operations, sometimes unintentionally killing Palestinian civilians. If the PA stopped the raids, there would be no Israeli counterattacks. But if Israel refrained from any military action, the Palestinian side would continue, and even step up, their operations.
Not a single person has been arrested by the PA for carrying out terror attacks or rocket launches. On the contrary, those doing so are officially celebrated as heroes by the PA and in the media it controls. The PA has also named high schools and soccer tournaments after suicide bombers to honor them.
In interviews with the Western media, Palestinian leaders sometimes claim to support various peace plans. Yet these proposals have large loopholes, in which a partial or temporary recognition of Israel is used as a way to cover up a program for destroying that country in two stages. Even as it launches attacks on Israeli territory, some Hamas officials now claim to have accepted a proposal to stop such attacks.
Despite some Western reports that Hamas has recognized Israel, in fact Hamas officials continue to state explicitly that they reject this idea and also refuse to stop attacks on Israeli territory.
– Third, and extremely important, it is now clear that Hamas’ response to Israeli withdrawals is to see them as signs of weakness and inspiration for an escalated military effort. Israel pulled all of its forces out of the Gaza Strip and dismantled all settlements, only to see some of these former settlements turned into Palestinian bases for attacking across the border. A plan for large-scale withdrawals from the West Bank is now being questioned because of the apparent results of such measures.
Events show that the hope for a negotiated resolution of the conflict, although admirable, is misplaced. Indeed, efforts for peace only lead to escalation as the Palestinian extremists, who form a vast majority of the political activists, are determined to sabotage any such efforts. For example, the attack on the Israeli village of Kerem Shalom (whose name means “vineyard of peace”) took place just after the first meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Palestinian public opinion polls show a widespread support for radical policies, going far beyond a demand for an independent West Bank-Palestinian state to seek Israel’s destruction. Equally, there is a strong majority backing terrorism. The irony here is that Israel is not refusing to withdraw from the territories it captured in 1967 or to accept a Palestinian state. The violence and extremism is actually preventing such an outcome.
It seems likely that Israel will have to respond to the Kerem Shalom attack by strong military actions in the Gaza Strip.
There is no intention to recapture this territory, but only a temporary offensive to seize terrorists and capture missiles since the PA refuses to do anything to stop the waging of war from its territory. Any country in the world faced with officially-aided attacks on itself would act accordingly.
The West has already begun to face the current situation by denouncing Hamas and freezing aid to the PA. Now, however, further action is required. By its leadership, policies, and propaganda, the PA has become the only state in the world openly carrying out terrorism and aggression against its neighbor. The official doctrine of the PA regime is genocide and the elimination of another country.
It is worth recalling that the PA was created in the first place due to the urgings of Western countries, including Canada, asking Israel to take risks and make concessions in the hope of attaining a real peace. Israel was told that if this peace process failed, the democracies would be there to recognize its efforts and assist it in surviving the consequences.
As a result, Canada and other countries must recognize that the past mode of even-handed neutrality in order to mediate a peace agreement is outdated. Helping Palestinian moderates is a worthwhile strategy but finding them is extremely difficult. It is time to side with Israel against a state which acts in an outlaw fashion, as the West could be expected to align clearly in other such cases.
Barry Rubin is Director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Interdisciplinary Center university. He is a visiting faculty member at American University and a member of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. His co-authored book, Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography, (Oxford University Press) is now available in paperback and in Hebrew. His books, including, The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East, are available at SPMEMart at spme.org/spmemart.html Prof. Rubin’s columns can now be read online at: http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/column.html.
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