08.04.2006 Nowhere is the dismal record of peace processes clearer than in Israel's case. I happened to be in London last week when the Independent newspaper ran a front-page petition calling for "a cease-fire now," signed by a cross-section of the smoked-salmon socialist set — various retired ambassadors, human rights lawyers and creative geniuses such as Peter Gabriel and Harold Pinter. Which conflict were they trying to end? Not the one in Iraq, where fighting among sectarian militias is killing 100 people a day. Nor the one in Darfur, which continues to claim countless victims notwithstanding the signing of a peace accord. Nor any of the many other bloodlettings going on around this unhappy planet.
The war they're exercised about is the one that Israel is waging after suffering unprovoked attacks on its northern and southern frontiers. Their petition calls on Prime Minister Tony Blair to force Israel "to end its disproportionate and counterproductive response to Hezb'allah's aggression." The petition also calls for bringing "all pressure possible on Hezb'allah to end its attacks on Israel," but of course the result of a cease-fire now would be to end all pressure on the terrorists. The signatories are smart enough to know that, but they don't care.
Some of those hellbent on a cease-fire are no doubt animated by sheer animus against Israel, a nation that is held to a standard different from anyone else. (Note the "disproportionate" outrage over Israel's bombing of a building in Qana, Lebanon, that accidentally and tragically may have killed civilians, compared to the relative lack of outcry over the deliberate bombings by Muslim terrorists that killed more than 200 commuters in Mumbai.)
But there's more at work here than a Mel Gibson-esque bias ("Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world"). There is also a palpable sense of self-satisfaction among those who advocate peace at any price. It is all too easy to bask in your own virtue while castigating someone else as a warmonger, even though few peace treaties have achieved much unless preceded by decisive military action. The greatest peacemakers in modern history were generals like the Duke of Wellington, William Tecumseh Sherman, Curtis LeMay, George S. Patton and Ariel Sharon, who ruthlessly waged war on behalf of Western democracies.
However, such "militarists" win no Nobel Peace Prizes. Those accolades sometimes go to brave dissidents such as Lech Walesa and Aung San Suu Kyi, but more often they go to ineffectual peace activists such as Pugwash-founder Joseph Rotblat and U.S. Secretary of State Frank Kellogg, author of a 1928 treaty that purported to outlaw war. On two occasions, the prize was even granted to cynical aggressors — the PLO's Yasser Arafat and North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho — for whom a peace treaty was merely a tactical step on the way to achieving their ultimate aims by force.
Architects of unsuccessful wars are rightly held responsible for their actions, as Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara were for the Vietnam War and as George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld may be for the Iraq war, but there is no comparable settling of accounts for those responsible for failed peace pacts. Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung still has his 2000 Nobel Peace Prize, notwithstanding North Korea's continuing development of nuclear weapons and missiles. Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres still has his 1994 prize despite the collapse of the Oslo accords. And United Nations peacekeeping forces still have their 1988 prize even though they have become better known for committing sex crimes than for keeping the peace. (The current fighting has exposed the ineffectuality of yet another set of blue helmets — those deployed in southern Lebanon.)
Nowhere is the dismal record of peace processes clearer than in Israel's case. Over the years, the "international community" repeatedly has stepped in to prevent Israel from finishing off its enemies — for instance, following its 1982, 1993 and 1996 incursions into Lebanon. Unrelenting pressure even led Israel in 2000 to leave Lebanon altogether. The result? Not peace, but a stronger, more dangerous adversary on Israel's border. The only real peace that Israel got, as a result of the 1978 Camp David accords, came after it had decisively defeated Egypt in two wars.
You would think that some lessons might be learned from this history. But no. Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, architect of the 1993 and 1996 Israeli pullouts, is demanding yet another cease-fire that will allow Hezb'allah to keep holding Lebanon and Israel hostage. And he is joined in this demand by the great and the good across the world.
Samuel Johnson's famous epigram needs to be amended. In the 18th century, patriotism may have been the last refuge of the scoundrel. Today, it's peace activism.Jewish World Review Khamenei: 'America Can Expect A Resounding Slap'  Iran's Khamenei: 'America Can Expect a Resounding Slap and a Devastating Fist-Blow From the Muslim Nation'; Hizbullah is the Muslim Nation's 'Front Line of Defense'; 'There is No Way to Confront... the Zionists... and the 'Great Satan' Except through martyrdom.
On August 2, 2006, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a communiqué to the Islamic nation, which was published by the conservative Iranian news agency Fars.
The following are excerpts:
"...What happened in Lebanon has showed everyone what America's [idea of] 'human rights' [really] is, and has revealed the [true image of] the Middle East that the American government aspires [to create].
"Today, everyone realizes that the attack on Lebanon was planned in advance, and was a Zionist-American operation - a first step towards taking control over the Middle East and over the [entire] Muslim world.
"Bush and his American partners, who are to blame for the tragic events in Lebanon, will be considered just as responsible and accountable [for these events] as the evil and depraved leaders of the Zionist regime... The silence of the U.N. and most of the Western countries, and the support [provided by] some [Western] governments - such as the despicable and notorious British government - turns them into accomplices to the crime, to varying degrees. When humanity places them on trial, today and tomorrow, in demand for an explanation... and when they are required to account [for their conduct] before God, they [too] will be punished."
"The American Regime Can Expect a Resounding Slap and a Devastating Fist-Blow From the Muslim Nation"
"Today more than ever, the Muslim peoples are disgusted and furious with the Americans. The Muslim governments, including those governments whose political statements stem from restrictions [that are placed upon them], are disgusted by the insolent and arrogant oppression and are opposed to it. The American regime can expect a resounding slap and a devastating fist-blow from the Muslim nation for its support of the Zionist crimes and criminals, after it has so brazenly violated the rights of the Muslim peoples.
"The Lebanese people's [resolute] stand and Hizbullah's heroic fighting, and their power to resist, which [is grounded in] faith, patience and trust in God, [all] constitute additional proof of the [spiritual] awakening in the Muslim world, and of its steadfast determination in the face of the vengeful enemies. The iron fist of the believing, brave and oppressed young men of Lebanon has now struck the hideous face of the aggressors, and has broken the cup of their intoxicated arrogance.
"The policy led by the Americans generates insecurity, crisis and war in this region. It is a well-known [fact] that the more insecure nations become, the more angry the peoples [feel], and this makes the world itself increasingly unsafe.
"America's and Israel's aggressive character and conduct revives the spirit of resistance in the Islamic world, [now] more than ever, and make the value of jihad clearer than ever."
"There is No Way to Confrontthe Barbaric Zionist Wolves and the Aggression of the 'Great Satan' Except Through Martyrdom"
"The Islamic world, and the Muslim youth in all the Islamic countries know that there is no way to confront the barbaric Zionist wolves and the aggression of the 'Great Satan' [i.e. America] except through martyrdom. Capitulation and obedience to the American politicians, and to those who instigate quarrels and internal strife [in the Muslim world], only increase their avarice and insolence, making their actions against the [Muslim] peoples more severe.
"If Lebanon had surrendered to the Israeli and American aggression, and if the fighting young men of Hizbullah and the oppressed people of South [Lebanon] had not taken upon themselves the anguish of this holy war, then the entire Lebanese people would have been threatened by more prolonged agony and by ever-increasing suffering, and this attack would have eventually engulfed the entire region."
"Hizbullah is the Front Line of Defense for the Muslim Nation and for all the Peoples of the Region"
"Today, Hizbullah is the front line of defense for the Muslim nation and for all the peoples of the region, regardless of religion and faith. As far as the Zionist enemy is concerned, there is no difference between a mosque and a church, or between Shiites and Sunnis. It is a racist, aggressive and bloodthirsty regime. If it encounters no obstacle, it will not refrain from [perpetrating] any crime against any sector or people. The peoples of the region, the [various] Islamic sectors, and the followers of the various religions in Lebanon and in all Muslim countries should unite and [stand] shoulder to shoulder, rather than allow internal disputes to bolster the enemy's strength.
"The Islamic [Republic of] Iran knows its role in resisting the aggression and belligerence of America and the evil of the Zionist regime - it will stand by any oppressed nation, and especially by the beloved Lebanese people and the fighting Palestinian people.
"America is the one responsible for these tragic disasters, owing to its blatant support of the killing of Lebanese citizens, its firm opposition to a ceasefire in Lebanon, and the military, financial and political aid [it provides] to the Zionist aggressors. Now, by imposing its terms on the government and people of Lebanon, it means to oppress them doubly.
"There can be no doubt that this rebelling nation and these courageous fighters will not tolerate this type of oppression any longer, and will reject any decision except one that is based on their interests."Memri'Israel's destruction is the solution'  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday the solution to the Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel, state-media reported.
In a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Malaysia, Ahmadinejad also called for an immediate cease-fire to end the fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed group Hizb'allah.
"Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," Ahmadinejad said, according to state-run television in a report posted on its Web site Thursday.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev accused Ahmadinejad of trying to rally the region to support Iranian-backed Hizbullah.
"Our operation in Lebanon is designed to neutralize one of the long arms of Iran, Hezb'allah," Regev said. "Hizb'allah is their proxy, being used as an instrument of Teheran to advance their extremist agenda and the blow to Hezb'allah is a blow to Iranian interests and a blow to all extremist Jihadist forces in the region.
Ahmadinejad called on all Muslim states to "cut their open and secret political and economic ties with the fake and outlawed Zionist regime" in response to its attacks against Lebanon.
He also urged Muslim states to "isolate" the United States and Britain for supporting Israel's military attacks against Lebanon.
Ahmadinejad also rejected deploying international forces on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
"Peace and security in Lebanon and its borders has to be preserved by the Lebanese government and people. Deployment of foreign forces is not acceptable in any shape unless it is just, based on UN rules and preserves the unity and territorial integrity of Lebanon," he said.Jerusalem Post
Article List
|
