Opudon
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Dry Bones
The Inevitable Decision
ith a lot of help from Yasser Arafat him-
self, Israel has convinced most people
who matter outside of the Mideast that
the Palestinian Authority leader is not a
credible partner for negotiating a short-term
armistice, much less a long-term peace deal benveen
the Jewish state and the Palestinian people.
Now, it is up to the Palestinians and the leaders of
the Arab states to decide whether they want Arafat
to remain as even the nominal leader of the
2.5 million people. Israel and its American
ally can, and must, step back from the
process and not try to control the outcome
of that decision.
We need to understand how wrenching that deci-
sion will be to the Palestinians because of what the
72-year-old Arafat has done to change the
Palestinian image — from refugees to people who
need a state. Of course, his main tactic for doing
that was terrorism, but it served his purpose in the
late 1960s, and he remains an idol in most
Palestinian homes.
But he failed to grasp how the times were chang-
ing and to develop a new tactic more suited to the
21st century. He did not understand that negotia-
tions and their necessary adjunct — that you carry
out the agreements you strike — were more likely
to produce a thriving Palestinian nation than his
formula of talking about peace while arranging to
strike at Israeli civilian populations.
He misunderstood the world support for a
Palestinian state in Gala and on the West Bank as
support for a Palestinian state in Israel, which would
be the demographic consequence of the unlimited
right of return he demanded. Nowhere was his fail-
ure more apparent than in his handling of the
Karine A arms shipment, a final straw even for the
U.S. State Department.
For the past month, Arafat has been a virtual pris-
oner in his own office, with Israeli tanks stationed
menacingly nearby to reinforce Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon's demand that Arafat take meaningful
and sustained action against the leaders of terror
organizations, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad,
whom he had unleashed 17 months ago to wage
the current intifizda (uprising). The tanks are
meant to humiliate him, and they probably do.
Recent weeks have produced a constant flow of
speculation in Jerusalem about whether Sharon
means to oust Arafat and whether President
George W. Bush would assist that
process by severing relations with
Arafat and the Palestinian Authority.
It's been a long way down for the
"partner for peace," whom former Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak and former President Bill
Clinton wooed at Camp David.
It feels like a real turning point not just for
Arafat, but also for the Palestinian people.
A variety of scenarios have been advanced for
what happens next. Some think a new leader
may emerge from the half dozen or so top fig-
ures next to Arafat; others warn of anarchy, with
competing factions unable to rally to a single
leader. Some talk about Jordan swallowing up
the West Bank — others about the Palestinians
taking over Jordan. Whatever happens, the con-
currence of the leaders of the Arab states will be
as immediately important as any expression of
the "democratic" will of the Palestinian "street."
For now, it is vital that both Israel and the
United States not try to make the decision for the
Palestinians. A solution overtly crafted by Sharon or
Bush — or in any way attributable to them —
would almost certainly be an anathema.
By the same logic, the United States should not
rush to cut off relations with the PA. We don't
need to keep the lines open because we believe
that there is an effective Palestinian leader who
could or would work toward a meaningful
armistice. But we don't want to be put in the posi-
tion of having to decide months from now to
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resume relations with whomever comes after
Arafat because that would appear, to Arab eyes, as
if we were dictating the outcome.
When Sharon and Bush met in Washington,
D.C., last week, they seemed in almost total agree-
ment about the processes and in agreement that
Arafat has been unmasked. Now they need take the
pedal off the metal just a bit and let the Palestinians
and the Arab states do what they must do. The only
lasting way to end the violence is for the
Palestinians themselves to say "enough of that" and
enough of Yasser Arafat, the terrorist-in-chief. El
on farms in a productive New World of
South America. Moises Ville, which is locat-
ed in the Santa Fe province, was the birth-
place of the new Argentinean cowboy, the
been working every day until midnight to
Jewish gaucho.
process this enormous wave of applicants.
Jews who founded Moises Ville in 1889,
Agency officials anticipate that in the year
with other agrarian communities,
alono-
2002, 3,000 Jews will actually make their
came
from Russia and brought with them
b
exit from the land that their grandparents
a
progressive socialist ideas that led them to
embraced at the end of the 19th century;
and by the year 2007, the prediction is that RABBI DAVID establish agrarian cooperatives. They estab-
NELSON
lished four synagogues and Jewish bakeries
the total will be 20,000. Most of those
Community
and a Jewish seminary that trained more
applying are young professionals who see
than 200 Hebrew teachers. Moises Ville is a
Views
no future in their country.
unique Jewish community that plays a sym-
The song "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina"
bolic
role
in Argentinean history.
is the antithesis of the actual situation, for there is a
Located seven hours from Buenos Aires by car,
great deal to cry about. Argentina has a proud and glo-
much of Moises Ville is on a two-lane highway domi-
rious history of welcoming Jews. In fact, Buenos Aires
nated by trucks. It is a challenge to get there, but I suc-
assigned special agents back in the 1800s to solicit
ceeded. Moises Ville is home to four synagogues,
Jewish immigrants from poor and pogrom-plagued
Eastern Europe.
4 A.
NELSON on page 34
Baron Maurice de Hirsch envisioned Jews settling
2/15
In Support Of Argentinean Jewry
t has an economy teetering on the edge of col-
lapse. It has been described as "economically
ravaged" (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 31, 2002).
Formerly prosperous, many people are selling
their cars and their family jewelry, and trying to sell
their businesses and homes, in order to leave the
country for Israel or Spain or Italy — wherever they
have family roots.
The Jewish community has been definitively altered.
Aliyah from Argentina has been steadily growing, from
936 in 1999 to 1,500 in 2001. Applications to the
Jewish Agency offices for aliyah have dramatically
increased, fueled even more so by the rioting — to the
staggering number of 6,000 in the last 12 months. The
18 Israeli shlichim (liaisons) and 50 local staff have
Rabbi David Nelson is spiritual leader of
Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park.
2002
33