EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
Galvanized And On Guard
D
on't downplay the power that Yasser Arafat still
doom Israel.
wields over the Palestinian people even though
What's not clear is why Sharon didn't bend six months ago
their living conditions are desperate. "He is cast-
when he had a peace partner of sorts, Abu Mazen, then the
ing a malevolent shadow over every effort to
Palestinian prime minister. An Israeli pullout would have been
change things for the better for his people and for ours," said
seen as a victory for moderation, giving more weight to
Jerusalem Report Editor and Publisher David Horovitz, 41,
Mazen's demand that the intifada stop.
whose political persuasion is centrist.
I echo Horovitz's concern that a hasty retreat now would
"You have hundreds of people running around preparing
give well-funded terrorist groups like Hamas the leadership
bombings in an atmosphere where the leadership is actually
reins by default. "You will be telling the terrorists that because
encouraging them," Horovitz said. "Arafat's calls for a million
they've killed enough Israelis, Israel capitulated," Horovitz
martyrs to march on Jerusalem were carried out as suicide
said. "You will be encouraging more attacks. You'll be discred-
bombings. He doesn't control everything, but
iting Palestinian moderates who say killing Israelis is counter-
he sets the tone: to kill Israelis."
productive — well now, these moderates are a laughingstock.".
Besides resorting to lies and distortions to
Yet the leftist call to resume negotiating is hollow insofar as
spur hatred of Jews, Arafat blames Israeli
there's no credible negotiator in Gaza City or Ramallah.
aggression for the curfews and closures
"This is the dilemma were grappling with now -- how to
imposed on his people.
.
separate in a way that best secures Israeli odds," Horovitz said.
"Ordinary Palestinians are suffering and
Most Israelis favor leaving Gaza. What's in dispute is how to
they overwhelmingly blame us," Horovitz
get out. Options include paying settlers to relocate or having
said. "They were told by Arafat that we don't
the army force them out. A backlash is certain in either case.
ROBERT A. want any peace and now life is hell and it's all
Horovitz isn't giving up on prospects for civilized Palestinian
SKLAR
the Israelis' fault."
leadership. He doesn't endorse
Editor
I spoke with Horovitz at the JN
the left-championed Geneva
offices in Southfield on March 15,
Accord, but feels it could foster
six days before Israel took out Sheik Ahmed Yassin,
dialogue because it doesn't
the Hamas founder and both a rival and consort of
demand that Palestinian refugees
Arafat. Horovitz was in the state promoting his new
and their descendants be allowed
book, Still Life With Bombers, which chronicles ter-
to return to Israel.
ror's impact on Israeli life. The Jewish Community
Like Horovitz, I fear giving up
Council, with funding from the Max M. Fisher
large parts of the territories,
Jewish Community Foundation and the Irwin and
which Israel captured in a pre-
Bethea Green College Life Fund, hosted his appear-
emptive war against it, without
ances at the University of Michigan and Michigan
concurrent progress toward nor-
State University.
malization in the Middle East.
Clearly, Arafat's long shadow is why Israelis are dis-
The captured land should be a
David Horovitz
illusioned and depressed in the wake of a 3 1/2-year
prized bargaining chip.
intifada that has murdered more than 950 innocent
Meanwhile, Israel must stay vigilant as the
people allied with Israel. It's why Israeli Prime
Palestinian threat becomes more potent and
Minister Ariel Sharon is rethinking military occupation of the
splintered. The March 14 double suicide blast at the Ashdod
territories. "We're galvanized by the actions of Arafat, who
industrial port could have killed 20 times the 10 people it did
plainly, when the truth came, was not prepared to legitimize
kill had the teenage bombers carried out their attack as
Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East," Horovitz said.
planned by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of Arafat's Fatah
The truth came following a 1993 handshake between Arafat movement and by Hamas.
and Israel's 'Yitzhak Rabin on the White House lawn. Rabin's
"These are people that 9-11 proves categorically will use
hesitation affirmed his uneasiness with the Oslo Accords and
whatever weaponry they can get their hands on and kill
with Israel's uncertainty over its new partner.
whomever happens to be in their way," Horovitz said. "This is
Rabin bet in vain that Arafat wanted peaceful coexistence.
not some kind of minor political skirmish. This a struggle for
Sharon's luck isn't any better, but he presses on because he
the cause of maintaining life on this planet."
must. Says Horovitz, a Rabin co-biographer, "If we cannot
I understand why Horovitz is troubled by Sharon's policy
find an accommodation one way or another with the -
swings. And I understand why he tempers criticism of the
Palestinians, we lose Israel as a Jewish democratic state."
prime minister, for whom he admittedly has no magic solu-
Demographers say non-Jews will outnumber Jews between
tions.
the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea before the decade
Ilorovitz made aliyah from London in 1983. He and his
ends. "So we need to separate from the Palestinians," Horovitz
wife, Lisa, have three young children, who they strive to shield
said. "It's not as if time is on our side. We have an urgent need
from the violence. He won't bet that he'll one day see peace.
for separation."
"I think if we had a Palestinian leader with an element of
Complicating matters is Israeli political turmoil. Sharon,
humanity in him," Horovitz said, "we could have done it. But
father of the settlement movement, has floated the idea of a
we've slipped so far now, there are no guarantees that it will
unilateial pullout from Gan and, later, much of the West
turn around in the near future."
Bank. He calls the settlers a liability. "He has become the very
Despite the pale, Horovitz guardedly calls the current situa-
prime minister that he warned against," Horovitz said.
tion — the matsav — "eminently solvable." Many Israelis
Influencing Sharon is the Palestinian dream of one bi-
share his glimmer of hope. That's why the bargaining table
national state from the river to the sea, a scenario that would
will remain set should a partner emerge from the wreckage
that is the Palestinian Authority. ❑
"Still Life With Bombers" reviewed, page 58
PAVOSSOSfaMM;
3/26
2004
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