Gary Cooperberg, October 25, 2007

It is interesting to note that Condoleezza Rice seems to realize now that the likelihood of a two state solution is disappearing. Clearly she hopes to rescue this untenable goal, but she is beginning, perhaps, to see its futility. It is truly amazing to watch as world leaders choose to try to fight terrorism with negotiation and reason. It is like trying to cut an iron bar with a butter knife. It may seem like a possibility, but it is truly a waste of time, especially when the lack of success is likely to lead to world conflagration.

The PLO, in spite of all of our utopian wishful thinking to the contrary, is not interested in a two state solution. They want a one state solution where the Arabs are in control. They will not settle for less than that. Thus, when Israel sits with such people, all they do is encourage them to hope to achieve their goal.

The State of Israel is nearly sixty years old. Over this period of time, owing to its refusal to be honest about its own identity, it has birthed two absurd realities. One, the Israeli Arab, clearly a contradiction in terminology. And two, the Palestinian Arab, another contradiction in terminology. Both Israel and Palestine had always been expressions of Jewish identity. There are many Arab nations. Palestine has never been and never will be one of them. Yet, owing to our own unfathomable cowardice and stupidity, our own government has played a significant role in lending credence to the lie of Arab palestine.

For any Israeli government to as much as consider the possibility of creating yet another Arab enemy state within our own borders is, at the very least, treason. Even were there a possibility of such a state bringing peace to the region it would be treasonous. But there is absolutely no reason to assume that such a state will bring us anything other than another nail in our national coffin. What state in the world would ever voluntarily cede any part of its sovereign territory to any foreign entity, much less one that is sworn to destroy it, and is not even a legitimate national entity? Are we all fools? Are President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert all idiots? How is it conceivable that such intelligent people can convince themselves that appeasing terror will bring peace?

Our greatest sacrifice for peace was the expulsion of Jews from Gaza and giving it to the PLO as a free gift. The peace we got in return has been daily firing of missiles into Israel. Rather than admitting that this folly was a tragic mistake and simply driving our enemies out of Gaza and repossessing it, our military leaders have decided to turn off the lights in Gaza for two hours every day to show our enemies that we mean business. Perhaps during those two hours of darkness the Arabs will reflect upon the kindness of Israel, stop shooting missiles at our civilian populations and become sincere peace partners. Now that is creative thinking.

Had we a genuine leadership it would know exactly what kind of sacrifices must be made for peace. In all of world history peace has never really been achieved. But the closest we have come to real peace has always been as a result of war. Only after a war has shown clearly who is the winner and who is the loser has the closest thing to peace possible been achieved. In the short history of the reborn Jewish State it has been the consistent refusal to definitively win a war which has caused our nation to live with terror. Had we the courage to win even one of the wars which we chose not to finish, we would have the kind of peace most nations presently enjoy and would have prevented thousands of needless casualties, on both sides.

No, Mr. Bush and Mr. Olmert. We do not need more conferences nor diplomatic gestures. We need to destroy our enemies and get on with our lives. Anything less only guarantees more bloodshed.

Gary Cooperberg, a resident of the Jewish community in Hebron, Israel, is the founder and director of Project Shofar.

Copyright © 2007 Gary Cooperberg