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Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Dealing with the core of Mideast terror
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Posted on Sat, Jul. 23, 2005
Dealing with the core of Mideast terror
By ERNEST F. HOLLINGS
Guest columnist
The children's program "Big John and Sparky" constantly admonished, "All the way through life, make this your goal: Keep your eye on the doughnut and not the hole." When it comes to terrorism, our leaders insist on keeping their eyes on the hole.
After the July 7 London bombing, both President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed "our determination to defend our values and our way of life." Yet when a Senate delegation last year called on King Abdullah of Jordan, he counseled, "to stop terrorism the U.S. has to settle the conflict of Israel and Palestine." Again to the same delegation, the prime minister of Kuwait ended the conference warning that "the U.S. must settle the conflict of Israel and Palestine." And President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan ended an hour-long conference by stating to the delegation: "Settle the Israel/Palestine conflict and 85 percent of terrorism in the world will disappear."
It's not our values and way of life causing terrorism; it's our policy of support for Israel. Let there be no doubt: The United States will never abandon Israel. But to effectively support Israel, the United States needs to revert to its policy of the honest broker in the Mideast.
We maintained this policy with successes from Menachem Begin to Yitzhak Rabin - and almost Ehud Barak. Israeli leaders realized that Israel is an island of freedom in a sea of Islamic hostility. Survival depends upon the peoples learning to live together rather than to kill together. But Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Bush changed signals. Sharon, the architect of settlement policy, ignored the agreement to negotiate borders based on the 1967 cease-fire. Sharon is always confident of the military solution.
In the Six-Day War, Maj. Sharon reported to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol: "The army is ready . . . to wipe out the Egyptian army. A generation will pass before Egypt threatens us again." Eshkol replied: "Nothing will be settled by a military victory. The Arabs will still be here."
Sharon thought overwhelming retaliation would stop terrorism. And Bush let Sharon run free. Now the United States is no longer looked upon as an honest broker.
We've been in Iraq now for two years. If the United States stays too long, we will be looked upon as an occupier. Occupation causes resentment. Israel's occupation of Palestine for 38 years not only causes resentment, it creates terrorism. Being dependent on your adversary for light, water and jobs for 38 years breeds resentment, then terrorism. Everybody with any get-up-and-go has got up and gone. Those left are embittered.
When one has no uniform, no army and no weapons, attacks upon one with tanks and helicopter gunships cause terrorism. One only has to watch Palestinian youngsters throwing rocks at the helicopters. Bulldozing homes causes terrorism. Bulldoze my Daddy's home and you can count on having created me a terrorist. I'll get you back wherever and whenever the opportunity presents itself.
And yes, blowing myself up to do it is not out of the question. Building walls causes terrorism. Preventing me from working for a living causes terrorism. Invading Iraq without cause causes terrorism.
We'll never win the war on terror without a better understanding of Islamic culture. In the Arab world, there's one thing stronger than democracy - that's religion. We liberated Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia years ago, and they have yet to opt for democracy. We liberated Kuwait 14 years ago, and it has yet to opt for democracy. Ayatollahs are the best politicians. The only reason we had an election in Iraq is that Ayatollah al-Sistani told them to vote. The Kurds in the north voted for autonomy - keeping their own army, paying no taxes to Baghdad. The best we can hope for is an Islamic democracy like Iran.
Send a team of negotiators like former President Clinton and Dennis Ross to Tel Aviv to negotiate. An international peacekeeping force would be better than a wall. Support Sharon in the withdrawal from Gaza. Negotiate the West Bank boundary. Then oversee the G-8's giving $3 billion to build a Palestinian state.
Finally, spread democracy through example rather than invasion. No more "with us or against us" and "bring 'em on" childishness. The terrorism war will be won by mature diplomacy supported by economic and military measures. But mostly diplomacy.
Mr. Hollings retired from the U.S. Senate in January.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/state/news/opinion/12217382.htm
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