By Ted Belman (also published in American Thinker)
Islam divides the world into the Dar al Harb (the land of war) and Dar al Salaam (the land of peace). In Israel, the great divide is between the “Peace” Camp (PC) and “War” Camp (WC). Of course there are many people who are not part of either camp. Let’s call them the uncommitted.
The reason I put “peace” in quotation marks is that peace, in this context, is a misnomer. The PC works towards an illusory peace. Better to call it the “Let’s make a deal Camp”. “Peace” also denotes a moral high ground which is a debatable attribution. For this camp to use this word, it amounts to self aggrandizement.
War is also put in quotation marks because the WC is not seeking war but the absence of war. It does this by preparing for war and maintaining deterrence. Thus it can rightly be called the “Let’s not make a deal Camp.”
Beyond that, the WC wants to keep what it believes is rightfully theirs i.e., Judea And Samaria, and the PC, either doesn’t believe it is theirs or believes it is more trouble than it’s worth.
In order to make a deal, it is necessary to make love not war. And we all know, love is blind. The PC thus paints a rosy picture of its peace partner and turns a blind eye to reality. It distinguishes between the bad guys and the good guys and ignores that the bad guys are in charge and are supported by the good guys. In order to believe that peace is possible it must ignore 100 years of its peace partner rejecting peace and must ignore what it says and does and must ignore what it teaches its children.
On the other hand, the WC is fully cognizant of what the PC ignores and is guided by it. No illusions for it. So it argues that there is no peace partner to negotiate with. It is content with the status quo and entertains annexing all or part of Judea and Samaria.
Both camps have different agendas. The PC understands that real peace is not possible but nevertheless wants to end the occupation. The WC doesn’t believe there is an occupation and wants to keep all of Judea and Samaria, if possible.
The PC understands that any possible deal will require the expulsion of over 100,000 Israelis from their communities in Judea and Samaria. To win over the uncommitted to its agenda, it demonizes the “settlers” and falsely claims they are a financial drain on the other Israelis. Similarly, it realizes that the eastern part of Jerusalem and the Old City, save for the Kotel (Wall) and the Jewish Quarter will have to be ceded to the Palestinians and it is prepared to do so even if it is not possible to do. Firstly, the Arab and Jewish communities are very much intertwined and cannot be neatly separated. Secondly, a wall would have to be built along the separation line in order to prevent infiltration into Israel. Not only would such a wall not suffice to keep a determined enemy out, it certainly wouldn’t suffice to prevent sniper fire.
The WC is not willing to cede its heartland, to expel tens of thousands of Israelis or to divide Jerusalem. Such a price for an illusory peace, or even a real peace, is unacceptable. Some things are worth fighting for.
The WC, in order to win over the uncommitted often describes the enemy as a community that doesn’t want peace, that wants to destroy Israel, that honors terrorists, that doesn’t pay taxes, that isn’t loyal to the state, that is a financial burden to the state and so on; all of which is true. The PC counters by accusing the WC as being racists for condemning a whole society for the wrongs of a few. Nor is it willing to stigmatize this community as a thorn in the side of the state.
These camps are divided ideologically as well. The PC wants Israel to be a state of all her citizens whereas the WC wants Israel to be a Jewish state. In part the PC does this for self preservation. Since it is a largely secular camp, they are fearful of being the citizens of a Jewish state. As a consequence it fights for the rights of Arabs whereas the WC fights for the rights of Jews.
The ongoing tent protests in Israel are a reflection of this divide. Polls taken in the last year, show Israelis to be a very happy lot. The economy is booming and unemployment is very low. So where does this discontent come from? First of all this protest is driven largely by the media which is predominantly in the PC. It reports protest numbers in the hundreds of thousands whereas in reality it is a tenth of what they represent. Also it is being organized and funded by various NGO’s who number prominently in this camp and who in turn are funded by foreign governments and foreign philanthropists and organizations such as the New Israel Fund and the Ford Foundation. All these entities have as their primary agenda to defeat the WC and undermine Israel. Their rallying cry of Peace Now, has been abandoned as it has largely lost its steam and instead they embrace a new rallying cry, “social justice now”. That resonates better now and serves the purpose of returning the PC to power.
As demography favors the WC, the PC is getting desperate. It is backing Obama’s efforts to force Israel to capitulate, all in Israel’s best interest of course. NYT, J-Street, and the whole PC are weighing in. Even Tzipi Livni, leader of Kadima, added her voice this week to this chorus. PM Netanyahu has been wilting under the pressure. Fortunately he has the WC and the American people as represented by both houses, standing with him.
Link to Usenet thread is here.
We need to exterminate the sand Nazis down to the last fetus.
Latest News:
That’s just a tidbit. I liked it, because it so plainly shows what’s really going on with the “Arab Spring” — one rich robin working to beat out the other rich robins to get the first Libyan worms. That’s 2011 European morality in a nutshell. Meanwhile, the UK police are arresting Brits by the thousands, trying to deter them from rioting and destroying their own country — which is an uphill battle, because the vast majority of Brits don’t know right from wrong nor up from down. Norway, meanwhile, is still trying to make sense of what’s happening in their country, and just as unlikely as the UK to be likely to succeed.
And in Israel? There’s one country that’s a chicken with its head cut off, if I ever saw one. These are the people who gave Torah to the world; yet more Israelis believe in reincarnation than believe in God. “Iron Dome is 90% successful!” Whoopie doo!
Honestly, the only news I really care about just now, is that there’s a deer in the neighborhood with only three good legs. Deer are so simple, so quiet, and so honest. I really respect and admire them, and I hope and pray the best for them. But people? The latest I read in the “Independent”, was about how some scientists discovered some fossilized slime from Australia, and the commentators are declaring,
“Behold your gods!”
Yeah, God have mercy on the deer — and the hummingbirds. They’re good people.
Ted deserves to be congratulated on his analysis regarding the PS/WC divide. Contributing my two bits worth, I would just state that I hate pacifists with a passion, not because I advocate war, but because by not acting while one considers the bleatings of such people, the war that surely follows costs more lives. Only idiots delight in war, but only war answers the challege to reasonableness posed by idiots like the islamofascists. The PC camp must wake up and realise that
the conflict is not political or territorial but one of religion, i.e. it is ideological and hence is insoluble through negotiations. Israel must beat the enemy hard enough to make it sue for peace or commit communal suicide. That will require Israel to act with such speed that the international community will not be able to save the Arabs again as it has done repeatedly. The PC camp should cease deluding itself that a mohammedan’s word to a Jew is worth anything and instead heed an Iraqi politician’s (Maliki, I think – on SBS TV several weeks ago) who said that his way of negotiating with an enemy is to break the enemy’s back and when he is lying on the floor, put a knife to his throat and say “now we negotiate”.
Comment # 17 can be linked through this link for the whole article;
A collection of the week’s news from Israel
A service of the Bet El Twinning Committee of Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto
28 Tishrei 5761 October 27, 2000
Issue number 297
Commentary
The Barak Paradox:
The Most Pro-Peace Leader in the Country’s History, and What Does He Get? War
By Charles Krauthammer
Arnold, that’s a lot of bravado for someone from the land of the supper club.
@ Bill Narvey:
BB should do what he promised to do. Nothing else will suffice.
@ Bill Narvey:
With livny and the other member of the coalition we knew where they stood. BB, on the other hand his stated aims did not match with his performance. In order to get elected he took a tough stance. However once safely esconced in office , he softened like a sated penis. In other words he turned out to be a two faced, two bit phoney politician-like all the other fakes.
According to Ch 10 new here since BB got practice apologizing to Egypt he is now agreeable to apologize to Turkey. Obama will come in second to BB in the apologizing game. Yuuck.
my comment reply to Narvey #8 is in moderation. This is fun!
Narvey
That’s a stupid comment. If I criticize Obama does that mean I support any of the republican jerks ?
Besides all Polls here 2 weeks ago 300k people demonstrated against him. They say for every one demonstrator there are ten supporters of the demonstration who didn’t demonstrate. There is is talk radio editorials and comments by every method there is in determining public opinion BB is at lest in the high 20% favor-ability by the whole public.
It’s not just because of his statements, he is weak, he is incompetent, he is no leader, he is a pathological liar, and he has no record of positive accomplishments in the over 2 1/2 years into his second term as PM. He has weakened Israel in every category except fiscal but in maintaining fiscal disipline he is screwing everybody bit the rich oligarchs who really run this country (14 families).
Take Barak who is a political liability to him and yet he keeps that sociopathic idiot on as DM. Ever wonder why? If not, why not?
Who cares what you find.
Apparently you don’t read the comments. Lots of advice by lots of commenters. You are trying too hard to be fair and balaced was phony attempts at reasonableness. I don’t think you have ever taken a hard principled stand on anything in your life.
That is a tedious and mostly fallacious statement. List all of the terrible things that would happen to Israel were BB to stand up to Hussein Obama. List them all everything you mind can conjure up. lets see how disastrous for us it will be.
You fear the world and are too concerned with what they think and say about Israel and Jews. I say Those who stood by during the Holocaust and when Israel faced destruction in 1948 and 1967 have nothing to tell us. That includes the Jews, especially the Jews who fit that description and those who advocate what they did.
That’s easy just do the opposite of what you advocate.
Comment to Narvey disappeared it was in reply to # 5, not even moderation. What was the bad word Narvey?
@ Bill Narvey:
Bill Narvey Said:
So do you Narvey the difference is he is my PM and not your. His errors for you you are tinder for academic dbate for me and the rest of us here in Israel the price of his errors are taxed on us and not you.
Finally I am right and you are wrong and about 75% of all Israelis agree with me and not you. see my comment #2. That poll was taken two months ago, if it were today his support would be between 10-15%.
If my opinions of BB for you are tedious and repetitive so is your criticism of my comments on BB. Tell you what wise guy next time we come under attack why don’t you hop on the first plane to Israel and I will direct you to a front seat in the BB and Barak theater. I’ll get you front seats in the BB game version of Russian roulette, Come and sit in an out door cafe and wait for the show to begin. After a week or 2 of just sitting and waiting never knowing if you are going to get get blown to pieces and if you and your nerves survive, go back to Canada and write essays and comments about how tedious Yamit’s antipathy to BB and his Sancho Panza dwarf Barak are.
Abie, thx for your 2 cents. Do those who feel betrayed by BB, are they activists for Livni? Someone else?
Do Israeli advocates/activists who feel betrayed by BB, seek to inform him of their feelings and what it would take for him to get back into their good graces?
Abie, I hear a lot of bitterness, antipathy and even anger towards BB by Yamit and a few others for vascillating and weakness after stating strong positions.
I find all this criticism and negativity towards BB beyond tedious and repetitive.
What I don’t hear from all these dissatisfied critics, is their views on what Netanyahu can and should be doing. When I say can do, I have in mind Netanyahu’s challenge like that of his predecessors to navigate the rocks of despair and the shoals of disaster, being negative world opinion and an Arab/Palestinian world with hair trigger tempers and guns loaded at the ready.
I have in mind an American President who has provided all the evidence one needs and then some, to prove that as between Israel and her Arab/Palestinian enemies, his heart is not in Jerusalem/Tel Aviv, but rather Ramallah and other Arab cities.
So Abie, why don’t you let us all know what you believe Netanyahu can and should do to advance Israeli interests and protect her citizens.
@ Bill Narvey:
@ Bill Narvey:
Narvey. Go to Israel and you will find the most people feels quite betrayed by BB.
Any surrender or accommodation gesture on the part of Israel simply leads to more pressure for more of the same. That, plainly is the road to national suicide.
Go to war now, while you still have the power to do so. And this time, clean out all the rat-nests.
1) Annex Shomron and Yehuda. Give them only local autonomy on an individual city by city basis. Then start seriously filling up these territories with strictly-Jewish cities, villages, farms, indusrial parks, nature reserves and military bases.
2) Re-occupy Gaza with whatever military force is needed to take the place from one end to the other. Where resistance is encountered, use the super-bulldozers to flatten the entire building and bury the bastards alive. As for any captured terrorists, use the opportunity to question them while beating the living shit out of them. Then fry their brains with electronic lobotomies, if something like that is possible. Then expel what is left of them to Jordan or Syria. Chances are, the secret services of these Arab states will quietly kill them. Which is exactly what we ought Israel should want. Then rebuild all the Gush Katif settlements and begin the process of expelling the Arab population of Gaza, Rafiah, and the other urban centers there.
3) Let the coming war with Egypt happen. Then fight them on Israel’s terms. Once again open the show by destroying their entire air force. Then use massive force to destroy whatever armored and/or motorized military units they send eastward deep into the Sinai. After that, the infantry is helpless out in the desert. Just round them up and ship them directly back across the canal to the African side. Then annex the whole peninsula, and start rebuilding Yamit and the other Jewish settlements from 1967-1982. Let the Bedawi of El Arish have local autonomy, the same as for the Shomron-Yehuda Arab cities.
4) The first time Hezbollah begins firing rockets into Israel again, send Zahal northward in massive force, re-occupy southern Lebanon at least as far south as the Litani River gorge, and begin expelling the Arabs to north of that line. Then annex it.
Whenever any neighboring state begins attacking Israel either with their armed forces or with their terror gangs, the response must be the same: Attack them in force, destroy their cities and villages, expel their populations, annex the taken territories, and populate these territories with Jews. Any complaints about that policy from anyone anywhere in the world should be answered with a Jewish national “Fuck You!”
In any case, a whole new set of likely allies such as China, India and Russia won’t really give a damn. Keeping Islam from expanding — and one day rolling it back — is in their deepest national interests. And in the world of the future, contireis such as these, mostly led by their own brand of nationalists, will be the only ones who will count. Because Europe is on its way out, and the USA is declining into national sloth, non-productivity and borrowing that we can never pay back. Just like the Greeks, Spaniards, Irish and the rest of the beggar states.
Ever since the break-up of the Jewish united kingdom, the Jewish nation weakened. And for a couple of thousand years now, Jews have been trying endlessly to act like Mr/Mrs Nice and Sweet, rather than working to coalesce for purposes of achieving national power. All that ever resulted was derision, contempt, expulsions, pogroms and mass murder. Payback time has come. Otherwise you and all your coming generations will accomplish nothing but to relive the degradations of the past three millenia.
All there is in this world is power on one side, and the victims of that power on the other side. I don’t really know what ha-Shem purportedly thinks of all this, and frankly, I no longer give a shit. All I know is that the only thing that can ever bring you relative peace is power. And as for trying to negotiate peace with Arabs is like trying to make pets of wild animals.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Good comparative analysis Ted. Yamit, re: antipathy towards BB – you sound like a broken record.
The Peace Camp: May they rest in peace.
Stupid Israelis are publishing on facebook the exact addresses and locations of grad hits allowing the Arabs to zone in on exact coordinates.
Stupid Jews
PM Netanyahu has been wilting under the pressure. Fortunately he has the WC and the American people as represented by both houses, standing with him.
I don’t think BB has the (WC) behind him, or almost anybody else, especially now with all his blundering , vacillating and more capitulating to the Egyptians and Hamas, in the face of the current attacks on us.
Case in point:
6 in 10 Palestinians reject 2-state solution, survey finds. 73% support killing Jews
[Dr. Aaron Lerner – IMRA: