A few days ago, former Israel Defense Force (IDF) chief of staff Lieutenant-General Moshe Ya’alon laid out an impressive case in an address to the Zionist Organization of America about the perils of a Palestinian state, further concessions to the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the need for Israel to achieve a clear victory against Palestinian terrorism.
Speaking to an overflow crowd at Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan, Ya’alon explained from his 37 years’ military experience – especially his term as chief of staff (2002-2005), during which the IDF greatly reduced Palestinian terrorism – why he, a former kibbutznik from the Labor movement who had initially supported the Oslo process, completely changed his mind.
As a senior military figure during Oslo, Ya’alon said that it became obvious to him by 1995 that Yasir Arafat and the PA, rather than preparing Palestinian society for peace and reconciliation, were indoctrinating it with murderous hatred and glorifying jihad and suicide terrorism.
As he puts it, “I needed no sophisticated intelligence to reach this conclusion – I only had to look at their textbooks, posters and so on. We should not be surprised, but we ignored it . In 1999, I was commander of Central Command and I said then that we would face a war with Arafat in 2000. I knew it when Barak said that he would have a settlement with Arafat within 15 months, which meant by September 2000….”
Ya’alon believes Israel started to win the war against the PA by methodically cutting down the terrorists and taking the war to them, but then lost many of the gains it had made. He speaks of Operation Defensive Shield in 2002 and especially the clearing out of Jenin as “a very necessary operation.” The result was that the terrorist organizations, including Hamas, were on the run. But the announcement in December 2003 that Israel would unilaterally withdraw from Gaza and northern Samaria changed all that. Hamas and others concluded that their terrorist campaign was working, that no concessions had to be made, and that more terrorism would bring about more unilateral withdrawals from Israel.
Ya’alon stressed that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza was a major factor in the Hamas election victory because it was perceived as a surrender to Islamic terrorism.
“What we are doing is leaving a legacy for the next generation who will deal with Palestinians who believe that terrorism pays, that Israel cuts and runs under pressure,” Ya’alon said, adding that Israel is fighting a “war,” not merely dealing with an uprising.
Worse, while Israel left Gaza saying it would fiercely retaliate against continued terrorism launched from there, it did not follow through on the threat. “After the Gaza withdrawal,” said Ya’alon, “I would have recommended after the first Kassam rocket fired into Israel that there should have been a strong and immediate retaliation.”
But Israel did not follow this path. Instead, it is following the path of facilitating the creation of a Palestinian state.
“The establishment of a Palestinian state,” Ya’alon warned, “will lead, at some stage, to war. Such a war can be dangerous to the State of Israel. The idea that a Palestinian state will achieve stability is disconnected from reality and is dangerous.” Israelis, he said, must maintain a military presence in Judea and Samaria as long as the Palestinians refuse to make a serious peace deal, and that “Israel must brand into the Palestinians consciousness” the notion that terror will bring them no benefits.
In line with that, Ya’alon called for a proactive anti-terrorist campaign. “The best defense is a good offense, not a fence. The best way to deal with terrorists is to arrest them or kill them in their beds . Without dealing with the roots, we can cut down the weeds – to deal with the roots would be to force them to reform their education and culture. I am not sure we will succeed but we should be under no pressure to make any concessions until this changes.”