Israel Has Nothing To Do With Violence In Iraq

Iraq Study Group Links Israel to Violence in Iraq

Sunnis and Shiites massacring one another have nothing to do with Israel. Nor do despotic regimes that trample on human rights, economic stagnation, terrorism, Islamicist extremism or any other of the problems plaguing the Middle East. Israel has always been a convenient scapegoat for Middle Eastern leaders unwilling and unable to face the real problems and for those people seeking an easy answer. If the Palestinians were to sign a peace plan tomorrow it would have no impact on what is happening in Iraq. So why does the report try to link two distinct and separate situations? Perhaps it is an attempt to deal with issues beyond its mandate.

Co-chairman of the Iraq study committee, former Secretary of State James Baker organized a conference in 1991 similar to the one proposed in the Study Group’s report. Bringing together all the parties in Madrid who had refused to meet was one of his great diplomatic victories. Unfortunately, no concrete diplomatic gains resulted from that conference. The Israel and the Palestinians held secret negations in Oslo that did result in a treaty.

Every single Israeli withdrawn has resulted in more violence. Why does this occur? The culture of the Middle East is different from the West. Concessions are viewed as a sign of weakness rather than a willingness to work for peace. Israel's recent withdrawal from Gaza was celebrated as a great military victory and even after a truce has been arranged, Kasam rockets still hit Sderot, the nearest Israeli city. The schools have reinforced areas to which the children and staff have less than two minutes warning before rockets fall. Children are suffering from Traumatic Stress syndrome. Would we consider that a truce?

Hamas has repeatedly declared that under no circumstances will it ever recognize Israel or accept that it can exist as a sovereign state. The Palestinian Authority, while negotiating with Israel, does not recognize that Israel is a Jewish State.

Israel has accepted the UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 as the basis for a peace agreement. Israel has always been open to negotiations and has made countless concessions. When Israel offered 94% of the land captured in the 1967 war for the establishment of a Palestinian State, the Palestinians respond by blowing up Israelis on buses, in restaurants and in their work places. After Israel uprooted 8,000 settlers from Gaza, the terrorists used it from which to launch more missiles against Israel. The Palestinians have yet to demonstrate that they are willing to accept Israel. The Palestinians, most of who never lived in Israel, are not allowed to get on with their lives, as have all the other tens of millions of refugees this century. Unlike other refuges, the UN has set established a special organization for the Palestinians alone, which has a mandate not to help them find new homes. Instead, their leaders continually promise them that one-day they will "return". When India and Pakistan separated into two nations, 15 million refuges fled their homes and resettled within the bounties of the new nations. The Palestinians have not been allowed to settle down in their new homes, they are sustained by a UN organization, UNRWA and are the only refugees in the existence of the UN who are not helped to resettle in their new homes, but are maintained as permanent refugees.

Negotiating with terrorists and the States that sponsor them is a mistake. Not abiding by the rules of international law in the first place, they are unreliable partners. In 2003, Syrian President Bashir Assad promised Secretary of State Colin Powell he would close down the offices of the Popular Front or the Liberation of Palestine, Islamic Jihad and Hamas but never did. Earlier he had promised to close down the oil pipeline from Iraq, also which he did not do.

Arab and Muslim countries have been blaming nearly every Middle Eastern crisis on Israel. Most all of them originate from problems far removed from Israel. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote “that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility.” Before Israel became a State, blame was laid on the Jews for all types of problems. Certainly the Palestinians have suffered as refugees. But it is not Israel that keeps them in that status. If the Arabs really cared about the Palestinians, they would welcome them into their countries instead of keeping them permanently as refugees, political pawns in the war against Israel.

Israelis are desperate for peace and leaders from Peres to Barak to Sharon have made dramatic offers, land for pace, and unilateral withdrawals, only to be rebuffed. Israel is willing to do almost anything for peace except commit national suicide.