Israel: "America's Next Battle" That Will Never Be
Jeremy R. Hammond
September 6, 2003
In his article "The PLO: America's next battle" on WorldNetDaily, Mike Evans says that "America's next battle in the war on terrorism should be fought against the PLO and its founder, the godfather of world terrorism, Yasser Arafat."� Evans' first fallacy is in thinking that America has been waging a war on terrorism.� His second assertion, that Yasser Arafat is "the godfather of world terrorism", is equally erroneous.
Long before Yasser Arafat came onto the scene in Palestine, before there was even a state of Israel, Jews were committing terrorism in the Holy Land.� Take, for example, the bombing of the King David Hotel and other attacks against civilians by the Irgun Zeva'I Le'umi (also known as Etzel).� The leader of Irgun at the time of the Hotel bombing was Menachem Begin, who later became Prime Minister.� Then there was the infamous Lavon Affair of 1954, in which Zionists had perpetrated terrorism against American and British interests in Egypt in an attempt to frame the Muslim Brotherhood for the attacks.� And let's not forget the assassination of the U.N. peace mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte by Lehi, of which Yitzhak Shamir--who, yes, later went on to become Prime Minister--was a member.
Following this, Evans explains that America can help Israel "win its war against terrorism" (another grand myth) by shutting "off the economic support that pours in weekly by the millions."� I would propose that the contrasting hypothesis is true: that by shutting off the economic and military support for a nation which is defined by its human rights offenses against and oppression of the Palestinian people, its illegal occupation of their land, and its defiance of UN resolutions calling for it to recognize and comply with international law, America could win its first victory against terrorism.� American aid to Israel is upwards of $3 billion dollars (which is probably a low figure since much of the aid is hidden in forgiven "loans").� Cutting off this flow of aid (illegal according to U.S. law, which forbids aid to nations who commit consistent violations of human rights) would undoubtedly be the first strike in any true war on terrorism.� It follows to reason that if the U.S. would stop supporting the illegal Israeli occupation, oppression, and murder of Arabs, then the Arab nations would find much less reason to despise America, and hence a great victory in any true war on terror would be won. �Regrettably, such a war does not exist today.
Evans describes the PLO as a "terrorist organization".� Interestingly, I am not familiar with any countries who list the PLO as such.� I am also unfamiliar with any evidence that the PLO today commits, funds, or supports terrorism, and Evans fails to share any such evidence with his readers.� In order to support this claim, Evans asserts that Arafat "has utilized Hamas and Islamic Jihad as his weapons of choice", but fails again to provide any evidence.� Evidence is due, since any serious analyst of the Palestinian situation who has even a mustard seed of moral integrity, recognizes that individuals and organizations who commit terrorism are the PLO's greatest enemy in its struggle for liberation.
And let us not forget how Israel has played that card.� Arafat, who has said that "Hamas is a creature of Israel", is aware that Hamas was early on supported by Israel in an attempt to create an organization which was, in Arafat's words, intended "to create an organization antagonistic to the PLO."� Arafat is not alone in recognizing this fact.� U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer has also acknowledged that the Islamic movement in Palestine had grown "with the tacit support of Israel".� A study published at Tel Aviv University reported that the Islamic movement had received a permit from the Israeli Civil Administration in 1979, "apparently consistent with the Israeli policy of strengthening Islamic bodies as a counterweight to Palestinian nationalist groups."� It's the old "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" logic.
And let's not fail to mention Israel's attempt to create a phony "al-Qaeda" cell in the Palestinian territories, in order to "justify" Israeli aggression in the name of the equally phony "war on terror".� In December of 2002, Palestinian officials announced that they had uncovered the plot.� The Israeli paper Ha'aretz reported that the Palestinian Security Services "had identified a number of Palestinian collaborators who had been ordered by Israeli security agencies to 'work in the Gaza Strip under the name of al-Qaeda.'"� Officials provided detailed evidence of the plot, which was turned over to several countries, including the U.S.� Not surprisingly, the U.S. has not responded to the documents.
Evans next writes that Islamic nations "have brainwashed their populations into believing the West, in general, and Israel, specifically, is the root of all of their problems."� I am saddened by the realization that Evans is not actually trying to be humorous here, but that he is just that ignorant regarding the situation in Palestine and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.� Such ignorance, it must be assumed, could only be self-imposed, since the truth about Israel and the U.S. being "the root of all of their problems" is plain for all to see, for anyone who has eyes to do so.� Only by shutting them tightly is it possible for humans to maintain such delusion.
"Israel is the only nation", Evans writes, "in modern times that has been pressured to give a terrorist organization part of its territory."� Well, the error of the first assertion has already been addressed.� The fact that Evans regards territory that is not part of Israel as "part of its territory" is simply more clear proof of Evans' radical alternate reality, and reveals the enormous proportions of that self-imposed delusion.� Perhaps if Evans, and people like him, ever come to realize the fact that the Palestinian territories are not a part of Israel, progress towards peace might actually be achieved in the Middle East.
But so long as Israel, with its Zionist and Christian supporters, continue to insist that Israel has a "right" to violate human rights, and that it is "lawful" to continue to violate international law, and that it is perfectly "justified" in violating dozens upon dozens of U.N. resolutions, and that it is "justice" to murder innocent Palestinians in the streets, or in their homes, bulldozed in on top of them, then it remains quite clear there can never be any peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Of course, as any serious moral analyst of the situation is aware, peace with the Palestinians is not what Israel desires, so we can expect the oppression and murder to continue unabated.
Evans speaks of "Israel's attempts to comply" with "road map" for peace, which "attempts" can only be regarded as a mythical notion intended for an audience of the uninformed and self-deluded to ingest, much like the "war on terrorism" itself.
Relying on another widely reported myth, that Israel had offered Barak "95%" of the West Bank, Evans suggests that the PLO's struggle for independence, which he calls "terrorism", "is not about land", because "If it were, then the PLO would have accepted the Barak-Clinton Camp David proposal."� Ignoring the fact that Israel actually wanted to keep nearly 40% of the best land, to divide the territories with highways only available for use by Jewish settlers, to build fenced enclosures segregating the Jews from the Arabs, to have Jewish control over such things as water utilities, and, finally, to have Palestine rescind the position maintained by most of the world and the U.N. that the settlements are illegal, Evans proposes that Arafat's rejection of the Oslo accords was really "about eradicating Zionism and the Jewish state" and not about "land".� Such is the consistency of Evans' arguments.
And perhaps it is noteworthy to point out that as early as 1978, Arafat had renounced "all violent means to enlarge the territory of" the Palestinian state.� In 1993, Arafat wrote Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to say that "The PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security."� Rabin called Arafat and the PLO "a partner for peace".� He was killed shortly thereafter by an Israeli assassin.
This does not mean that some Arabs don't desire the eradication of "Zionism and the Jewish state", and there certainly are some who maintain this position.� But then, there are also many orthodox Jews who maintain the same position, such as Neturei Karta, otherwise known as Jews United Against Zionism, whose mission statement declares, "In addition to condemning the central heresy of Zionism, we also reject its policy of aggression against all peoples.� Today this cruelty manifests itself primarily in the brutal treatment of the Palestinian people.� We proclaim that this inhuman policy is in violation of the Torah."
Evans recognizes that "there is no justification for terror", but then seems perfectly willing to condone terror, so long as it is committed by someone other than an Arab or a Muslim, such as the daily terror committed by Israeli's against Palestinians.� Ironically, he then writes about Arafat having "redefined" the meaning of "terrorism".
Following this, Evans reveals more proofs of his total intellectual ineptitude by stating that Arafat was responsible for "destroying states" such as "Jordan and Lebanon in the '70s and '80s".� The fact that Israel was solely responsible for that destruction seems entirely inconvenient for Evans.
He next flexes his intellectual muscles by suggesting that "thousands of Palestinians would not have fled his regime to become American citizens" if "Arafat were truly loved" by his people.� It never occurred to Evans, it seems, that Palestinians might be fleeing the daily oppression and terror from Israel, and not the leader whom they have chosen for decades to represent them.
Evans, in closing, expresses his desire to see that Arafat, whom he alleges "has killed innocent civilians throughout the world", is "extradited and brought to justice" by America, since Israel "cannot mobilize a global coalition" to do so.� Evans has failed to realize, it seems, the fact that Israel has mobilized the current "global coalition", primarily through the very prominent Zionist influence in the Bush Administration.� After all, in the words of Ariel Sharon, "We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it."
I would also be curious to learn whether Evans is as anxious to see Ariel Sharon brought to justice for crimes he is known to have committed, such as the slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, or more recently, the massacre in Jenin, as he is to see Yasser Arafat "extradited" for crimes he is alleged to have committed by people who like to propagate fairy tales regarding the situation in Palestine, such as that the Palestinian territories belongs to the Jews and that the occupation of those territories is not illegal.
I would greatly like to know, indeed, if he thinks that "justice" is also something the Palestinians deserve; or whether that ideal is reserved for Jews alone.� I would venture a guess that Evans regards Palestinians as being "unworthy" of receiving such things as "justice", or "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".
It seems quite apparent that in the mind of Evans, as with so many other supporters of Zionism and Israeli oppression, all men are not created equal.
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