Los Angeles Times Article

[This article is cited (early in the development of this website) as an excellent example for the parent essay, The Matter of Forensic Integrity -the point being that the article (writer's argument) has none, an excellent example of the human condition fueled by religion, ethnicity and simply profound general ignorance.]

September 2, 1993 Los Angeles Times
PERSPECTIVE ON MIDEAST PEACE
A Green Light for Israel's Enemies
The Palestinians are as duplicitous as ever; whatever agreement they sign, their goal is to eradicate the Jewish state.
by ZEEV BENJAMIN BEGIN

JERUSALEM -In order to understand the implications of the agreements between the government of Israel and the terrorist organization of the PLO, one must scrutinize Israel's position in this region. It is a tiny speck on the map, somewhere between Marrakech and Bangladesh. It is the Jewish democracy, faced with 1 billion Muslims, all of whom see Jerusalem as their holy city, all of whom view Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, as the sacred Muslim Arab Land of Phalasteen. We know better; Eretz Yisrael belongs to the Jewish people, period.

This is the source of a long-standing dispute, and the political structure of modern Arab society is the source of the violence. Among the 20 independent Arab States, none of whom has produced a democracy. Rather, they are all armed autocracies, applying varying degrees of violence to retain power.

It is sheer fantasy to assume, as some do, that if the PLO assumes control of the Gaza district and Jericho area, it will suppress the fundamentalist terrorist movement of Hamas. Israel is now combatting Hamas because it has the will and because it keeps a foot on the ground: effective intelligence supported by trained army units. It is important to note that the Israeli military see tremendous difficulties in securing Israel and its citizens. Once the area is relinquished to the PLO and Israel evacuates, hell will break loose and Hamas will take over.

I concur with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's long-standing observation that the acronym of the terrorist mafia call the PLO stands for the organization for the liberation of Palestine from the Jewish presence. This gang is not changing its nature or goals; it changes only tactics.

Let us remember that back in 1988, PLO commander Yasser Arafat publicly and emphatically renounced terrorism; let us not forget that, since then, hundreds of Arabs and dozens of Israelis have been killed by direct order of this moderate "chairman," and that the US government refused to accept Arafat's political bid for legitimacy.

Two years after attempting to delude people that he "recognized" Israel, when we were viciously attacked by Iraqi Scud missiles, Flying Henchman Arafat warmly embraced Saddam Hussein, who promised to scorch half of Israel. "A horse that can count to 10," observed Samuel Johnson, "is a remarkable horse, not a remarkable mathematician." A disguised terrorist, seeking the annihilation of Israel, who signs an agreement with it, is not a remarkable peace champion. He is a remarkable impostor. Are we going to be remarkable fools?

For many years, Western politicians were parroting that the "PLO is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people." Suddenly they realize that a financial crisis within that corrupt gang threatened the PLO's stature in the Arab street. There goes the money -and the legitimacy goes with it.

This gang will never be able to withstand the tide of the fundamentalist Hamas puritan murderers. For a butchered Jew or Arab, a knife is a knife, whether wielded in religious or secular terror.

The consequences of the agreement are not easy to predict, but they must be viewed through the greedy eyes of the victorious terrorists. For them, "Gaza and Jericho First" is exactly that; a foothold, a bridgehead, to be extended later through the joint efforts of further violence and diplomacy. Their goal has never changed, and they have repeatedly stated it clearly: a two-phase strategy to do away with the Jewish state.

The words of Faisal Husseini, a "moderate" Arab resident of Jerusalem, must be taken seriously. A year ago in Amman, he emphasized (in Arabic, of course) that "our goal is to bring about the dissolution of the Zionist entity, gradually."

This incompatibility of long-range goals, destruction versus coexistence, is the crux of the issue. Yielding to terrorism is morally wrong and is practically of no avail. Under the slogan of "peace at any price," Israel this week paid a dear price while peace remains elusive.

Zeev Benjamin Begin is a leading member of the Likud Party and political heir to his father, the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who signed the Camp David Peace accords with Egypt.