Israel is Not Czechoslovakia: by Jerrold L. Sobel

Israel is not Czechoslovakia although Obama, his envoy George Mitchell, and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wish to portray her as such. As if this were September 30, 1938 all over again, Mitchell had the unmitigated gall while meeting with Mahmoud Abbas this week, to articulate that a, “two state solution is the only solution” to peace in the region. The question begs, for whom, certainly not Israel. Unfortunately, without even representation at the Munich meeting which saw the dismantlement of their country; the Czechs allowed themselves to be bullied by the Western powers. Is this not what Obama is attempting to do with Israel, particularly when the President states that he’s also in favor of the “Saudi Initiative” of 2002? Well, let’s examine this initiative and see if it’s a true basis for peace or the road map to suicide for the Jewish State:

(a) Complete withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the 4 June 1967 line and the territories still occupied in southern Lebanon; (b) Attain a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees to be agreed upon in accordance with the UN General Assembly Resolution No 194. (c) Accept the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since 4 June 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital. In return the Arab states will do the following: (a) Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict over, sign a peace agreement with Israel, and achieve peace for all states in the region; (b) Establish normal relations with Israel within the framework of this comprehensive peace.

Many people forget, or wish not to remember that it was just these pre-June ’67 precipitously indefensible borders which emboldened the Arabs to attack Israel in the first place. At the time there were no settlements, no “occupation,” none of the so called impediments to peace which the Palestinians and the surrounding Arab states prevaricate about now:
The Golan Heights? This mountainous range belonged to Syria prior to the Six Day War and they sure made good use of it. Hardly a day went by for nineteen years when rockets and mortar shells didn’t reign down upon Northern Israel. As proxies for the Iranians, are the Syrians any less radical today?
Establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its Capital? Based upon the imbued hatred of Jews generations of Palestinians have grown up with, why would Israel ever allow themselves to be surrounded by a state that would comprise elements of Hamas whose covenant expressly calls for her destruction; whose leadership just this week renounced any peace efforts with the Jewish State? What benefit has Israel received from dismantling the settlements in Gaza and withdrawing from that territory? What peace would she likely reap from a Palestinian unity government containing Hamas? Would it be worth the risk having Hamas throw Fatah out of such a government as it did in Gaza? Likewise, Does the Saudi Initiative speak for the Iranian sponsored Hezbollah or any of the other terrorist groups that Israel has to contend with?

East Jerusalem as the Capital of a Palestinian State? For thousands of years Jerusalem was the Capital of the Israel. The Jews were driven away from it first by the Babylonians, then by the Romans and hadn’t returned for two millennia. Prior to the Six Day War Jordon controlled East Jerusalem and prohibited Jews from visiting their most holy site, the Ha Kotel HaMa’aravi, the Western Wall; or the Mount of Olives; The Tomb of Samuel the Prophet; or the Cave of the Patriarchs.

As if these concessions wouldn’t be enough, the initiative also calls for the right of return of millions refugees and the descendents of Arabs whose ancestors left Palestine during the 1948 War of Independence. As it stands now, the Arabs comprise 20% of Israel’s population. Coupled with a much higher birthrate, it’s not hard to imagine the effect such a return would have on the demographic of Israel. In return for her acquiescence to all this, the King promises a hypothetical unenforceable peace agreement with Israel and a normalization of relations. He seems to leave out one important point, the recognition of Israel as a Jewish State; the homeland of the Jewish people. I imagine that would have to be negotiated at a later date.

What a load of nonsense, what a bill of goods the Saudis, the Obama Administration, and the left wing in Israel itself are trying to impose upon the Netanyahu government and the Yishuv, the people of Israel. After paying proper homage to political correctness and deference to American power, it may behoove Bibi Netanyahu to suggest Obama concern himself with piracy, Darfur, and Iran, and not force Israel into another Munich Pact.