The 'I Told You So'
View Makes Israel's Case

GARY ROSENBLATT

Editor

George Bush
and James Ba-
ker are busy
men, but I hope
they'll consider
what I call the
I Told You So
analysis of the
Gulf war, a basic primer for
assessing vital lessons
already learned.
Virtually all of these im-
portant lessons originated
with arguments Jerusalem
has been making to Wash-
ington for years, but many of
them, it seems, had fallen on
deaf ears. Hence the I Told
You So title.

1. The Mideast is not the
Midwest. As the only democ-

racy in a vast region, Israel
must deal with an Arab
mindset that is often tribal
and violent. In the Mideast,
it is strength that is
respected.
Having seen Israel's
civilians under attack for no
military reason, perhaps the
U.S. can now appreciate
Israel's vulnerability as a
tiny country surrounded by
hostile neighbors.

2. The Mideast conflict is
not just one of Arab vs. Jew.

The current war was
precipitated by one Arab
ruler taking over the
sovereign land of a fellow
Arab state. This is nothing
new. The rivalries between
and among the various Arab
states have kept them at war
with each other for decades.
Lebanon may be the most
compelling example. But too
many Americans continue to
see the Mideast conflict as
one that simply pits Israel
against the Arabs.
This war is further proof
that "solving" the Palestin-
ian problem is not a panacea
for Mideast peace.

3. The PLO cannot be
trusted to promote a peaceful
solution. Yassir Arafat was

the darling of Washington a
year ago, hailed as a diplo-
mat who was ready to bury
the hatchet and make peace
with Israel. Now Arafat is
urging his fellow Arabs to
join up with Saddam Hus-
sein and fight the coalition.
Has Arafat changed, or
Washington's perception of
him?
Arafat is still ready to
bury the hatchet. In Israel's
heart.

4. The Palestinians are not

the innocent pawns they
would have us believe. The

Palestinian response to Iraqi
missile attacks on Israel's
population centers has been
one of great joy. Yet the con-
ventional wisdom is that as
soon as the military conflict
is settled, Israel must make
peace with the Palestinians.
Is it less than suicidal to
relinquish territory to
neighbors who want you
gassed?
That is not to say that
land-for-peace is out of the
question. Only that it is not
a given, either.
If the PLO and the Pales-
tinian people see Saddam
Hussein as an Arab hero,
standing up to the Western
infidels, that speaks vol-
umes about the attributes of
an Arab hero. Our response
to those who praise a tyrant
who wages war against his
own people should be one of
revulsion rather than sym-
pathy.
The Palestinians are
waiting to be saved. But
their salvation will only
come about when they are
prepared to live with —
rather than seek the
destruction of — a Jewish
state.

5. The Arab states can
make pragmatic decisions.

The long-held myth of Arab
unity has been shattered by
this war, but there is further
proof that the Arab states,
when their best interests are
served, are capable of revers-
ing tradition.
Saudi Arabia was long
opposed to having Western
forces in its midst, but when
faced with the prospect of be-
ing swallowed up by advanc-
ing Iraqi armies, Riyadh
allowed the U.S. army in.
Similarly, Egypt and Syria
recognized the danger of
Saddam Hussein to the en-
tire region and joined,
however tenuously, with the
U.S.-led coalition.
These new realities
enhance the prospect that,
when the war is over, the
Arab states could be per-
suaded by Washington to sit
down and negotiate peace
treaties with Israel, as
Egypt has done.
The key question here is
how the Bush administra-
tion interprets these devel-
opments.
Does Washington still
think that Israel is the
stumbling block to a peace
negotiation with the Pales-
tinians, that such a peace

treaty would solve the con-
flict, and that Israel can be
pressured into giving up ter-
ritory for the promise of
peace?
Despite the improvement
of Israeli-American relations
of late, aided chiefly by
Israel's refusal to be baited
into military action by Iraq,
there are lingering signs
that all is not well.
American pressure on

Yassir Arafat has
dispensed with
talking out of both
sides of his mouth,
for now, while King
Hussein does little
else.

Israel not to respond to Iraqi
missile attacks has been in-
tense. Washington has not
shared intelligence data, in-
cluding aircraft identifica-
tion codes. Clearly, keeping
the coalition together is
more important to the U.S.
than bringing in a trusted,
experienced and strong
military ally like Israel.
More disturbing than
squandering a key strategic
asset is the administration
insistence on pleasing the
Arab coalition states. How

grateful must Washington
be for permission to save
Saudi Arabia from annihila-
tion? And why is the ad-
ministration working so
hard on this score, if not to
put the squeeze on Israel
later? In addition, Washing-
ton still has not approved a
$400 million loan guarantee,
long in the works, to help
Israel settle Soviet Jews.
The administration wants
guarantees that the
newcomers will not be set-
tled beyond the Green Line,
Israel's pre-1967 borders.
Israel insists that's all been
explained — that Israelis are
entitled to settle wherever
they choose, that Soviet
Jews are not encouraged to
settle in the territories, and
that in fact less than one
percent are settling there.
What's unsettling is the
core of this dispute: Wash-
ington's insistence that
Israeli land beyond the
Green Line, including east
Jerusalem, is not really and
permanently part of the State
of Israel.
As with each of the other
issues mentioned above —
the behavior of the PLO, the
Palestinians and the Arab
states — the truth lies in
how the "facts" are inter-
preted.

To Israel and to many of us
American Jews, the lesson to
be learned here is clear and
demands attention. It is to
believe Israel when she says
the Arabs seek her destruc-
tion.
YasSir Arafat has dispens-
ed with talking out of both
sides of his mouth, for now,
while King Hussein does
little else. Credibility is not
their strong suit. But when
Saddam Hussein said last
spring that he would wage
war on Israel, Washington
ignored him.
Track records are impor-
tant. The Arabs not only in-
sist that they cannot abide
by a Jewish state in the re-
gion, they have waged war
on her since the day Israel
was founded.
Israel not only says she is
ready to make peace with
any Arab neighbor that sits
down face to face to broker
with her honestly. She al-
ready has, with Egypt.
Before it is too late, it is
time for the Bush ad-
ministration to listen to
what Israel has been saying
for the last 40 years, to re-
view the lessons already
learned from this war.
The words "I told you so"
are meaningless when it's
too late to act. D

Winning The War
And Losing The Peace

IRVING GREENBERG

I

n the past few weeks,
George Bush has given
the United States a
masterly and courageous
presidency. He correctly iden-
tified the Iraqi threat to im-
mediate national self-interest
(control of vital oil and
destruction of American
allies) as well as to long-term
national security (eventual
chemical and nuclear
assault).
He skillfully steered bet-
ween the urge to "go it alone"
and the temptation to allow
the European nations to buy
peace by appeasement. He
declined to evade responsibili-
ty for action by offering the
empty hope that sanctions
would move Saddam Hussein.

Rabbi Greenberg is president
of CLAL — the National
Jewish Center for Learning
and Leadership.

The United States is well on
the way to winning the war.
Yet, unless the fundamental
aims of this war are upheld,
there is a real danger of los-
ing the peace.
America's goal is larger
than liberating Kuwait; it is
to achieve a post-Cold War
world order with the promise
of peace and security for all

nations. That promise is bas-
ed on two factors:
• The end of a bi-polarized
world in which each side sup-
ported dictatorships and ag-
gression to protect its own in-
terests. (Russia, being a dic-
tatorship, sinned far more
grievously and frequently.)
• The emergence of
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