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EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
seeing
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The Influence Of Honor
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alestinian extremists gravitate to terrorism not so
of victory and honor, thus giving the U.S.-brokered road map
much to destroy Israel, an outcome they wouldn't
for Mideast peace one last gasp.
lament, but rather to achieve their brand of justice.
"The Egyptian people actually wanted their honor to be
In the God-forsaken world of Palestinian militancy,
restored," Plesner said. "They were more than willing to
saving face on the streets of the disputed territories is fore-
absorb Sadat's message."
most.
It didn't matter that the message was suspect. "In politics,"
Militants aren't necessarily looking for a military victory.
Plesner said, "there is no tangible script for how to retrieve
And nonviolence isn't part of their lexicon.
your honor, unlike in other social realms of life."
What baffles us about their predilection with suicide bomb-
In short, you need to understand how to market. Sadat
ings is that they're not looking to win in the Western sense.
marketed a non-victory.
They're looking to restore their honor, which is their justice.
"You need a competent leadership to pitch the idea that
This salient impression punctuated an
restoration of honor indeed has occurred and you need a con-
impromptu Jewish Community Council
stituency that, consciously or subconsciously, wants to hear
breakfast meeting that featured one of Israel's
the message in order to move on," Plesner said. "This is what
rising young stars, Yohanan Plesner. He's
happened in 1973, and what has not happened in the
smart, articulate and engaging — and not
Palestinian case."
afraid to provoke.
A combatant and officer for the Israeli
Challenge For Israel
army's special forces from 1989 to 1994, he's
completing work toward a master's degree in
If you think about what Plesner is saying, you realize the folly
ROBERT A. public administration in the John F. Kennedy of Arafat's leadership and why Jews are so befuddled by his
SKLAR
School of Government at Harvard
seemingly endless dispensing of terror: The suicide bombings
Editor
University. He has a concentration in inter-
proved a strategic surprise for Israel and often hit inside the
national security policies.
Green Line, a victory of sorts that Arafat could have calculated
Arab honor dominated the Oct. 24 discussion over break-
into restoration of Palestinian honor.
fast in Franklin. "Many people don't acknowledge its
Clearly, gaining land is an essential part of honor
importance," said Plesner, a frequent speaker for
— the Sinai in Sadat's case. Arafat has yet to make his
North American Jewish communal organizations
case despite the Israeli offer of land for peace. Instead,
while he's living in Cambridge, Mass.
he has let his people continue to feel humiliated to
Three years of Palestinian terror has killed at least
incite them, ostensibly in protest of the Jewish settle-
900 Israelis and foreigners. More than 2,500
ments.
Palestinians have died in Israeli defensive strikes or as
Standing as an equal partner with Israel gnaws at
suicide bombers, snipers or co-conspirators.
Egyptian hard-liners, who assassinated Sadat in 1981.
As long as Israeli troops patrol Gaza and the West
"Maybe they have such hatred for Jews and for a
Bank, the situation there won't be honorable. "The
secular society," said JCCouncil Executive Director
Plesner
Palestinians will always perceive it as humiliation,"
David Gad-Harf during the breakfast, "that honor
Plesner said. "We're there and we're controlling —
doesn't play a role for them.
and we should be as long as we need to protect our-
A parallel might be drawn with Palestinian terror
selves. So there's no honorable way; we'd have to
groups like Islamic Jihad, Hamas and the Al Aksa
leave."
Martyrs Brigades of Arafat's Fatah movement.
And we can't.
Two days after the insightful breakfast talk, I
Eighty percent of all Israelis live within a 10-minute
attended the opening performance of John Patrick
drive of Palestinian population centers, Plesner said.
Shanley's Midwest premier of Dir t y Stogy at the Jewish
So Israel can't afford for terrorists to have a free hand.
Ensemble Theatre in West Bloomfield. The dark,
Shanley
thought provoking comedy about the Middle East con-
flict
depicts Israel, Palestine, Britain and America as
Making Words Resonate
eccentric loners living in contemporary New York.
Plesner's resume includes service as a think-tank policy plan-
International conflict is played out against an interpersonal
ner for the Israel Democracy Institute, as a vice president in a
backdrop.
London-based strategic consulting firm and as a co-founder of
I didn't buy the playwright's take that the conflict is "a wel-
an enterprise software firm that operates in San Francisco,
tering sore at the center of the human psyche" because that
Toronto and Israel. He plans to return to Israel next summer.
implies equal blame. Israel's defensive strikes pale in contrast
Plesner is just 32, but is already spoken of as a future Israeli
to Palestinian terror. Also, Palestine doesn't exist as a sovereign
political leader. That's why I was intrigued by the way he con-
state.
trasted the current terror with the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
However, I thought Shanley, in post-performance com-
President Anwar Sadat quickly got his people to believe
ments to the audience, spoke to the notion of Arab honor
their honor had been restored after Egyptian forces crossed the
when he argued that Eretz Yisraeh whose values mirror the
Suez Canal into the Israeli-occupied Sinai as part of a surprise
West, must get the two sides together.
attack on the Jewish state by Egypt and Syria. The war killed
"Either Israel is going to give birth to something new or its
nearly 2,700 Israeli soldiers and led to Egypt regaining the
going to die," Shanley said. "It's a high-stakes game. But it's
Sinai, which it had lost in 1967. But the fighting also killed
one certainly worth playing."
7,700 Egyptian soldiers and yielded little lasting political hay
I don't agree that Israel's survival is at risk. But Shanley and
for Egypt.
Plesner are right: Somehow, Israel must persuade Arafat to
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has shown no
pitch honor over terror as the pathway to a better life for his
propensity for parlaying the bloody intifida into a declaration
people. Eli
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