n It strikes me that some supposedly peace-loving liberals can endorse an ideology that pursues no peace. Perhaps the fantasized, watered-down version naïve college students enjoy writing about is acceptable; however, the Palestinian movement for the past 54 years has been a totalitarian one. And that is the very essence of why it has failed.
On May 15, 1948, Azzam Pasha, the Secretary General of the Arab League, stated, “This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacre and the Crusades.” The day Israel announced her independence, she was attacked by six Arab armies they succeeded only in producing refugees.
Before the 1967 war, Arabs again rallied for the destruction of Israel. The Voice of the Arabs broadcast this statement that typified Arab thinking on May 18, 1967: “The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.” After the Arabs were dealt an embarrassing defeat in just six days, they refused to negotiate peace or recognize Israel. This rejection marks the official abandonment of Palestinians by their Arab brethren, who were more concerned with dismantling Israel than creating a Palestine state. This remains the source of conflict.
Just two years ago, Arafat’s top advisor, PLO Executive Faisal Husseini, revealed the masked purpose of the Oslo Process in his famous Trojan Horse interview: “If we agree to declare our state over what is now 22 percent of Palestine, meaning the West Bank and Gaza, our ultimate goal is the liberation of all historic Palestine from the River to the Sea … We distinguish the strategic, long-term goals from the political-phased goals, which we are compelled to temporarily accept due to international pressure.”
If the movement for Palestinian statehood were as pure and simple as some claim, then I would be at the table, too, fighting for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (and 70 percent of Israelis would agree with me no one likes the occupation). The problem is that Arafat, and all Arab leadership thus far, have not been fighting for this end; they have been fighting for the destruction of any Jewish state in the region.
Children today are taught to kill Jews, textbooks omit the state of Israel and religious leaders encourage violence. Foreign aid has never gone toward anything constructive, like building Palestinian infrastructure or stimulating economic growth. Instead, it has gone directly into the hands of terrorists who indiscriminately wage war against Israeli women and children.
Until a new leadership emerges that can make a cohesive policy decision to build a state in the West Bank and Gaza strip rather than to destroy the one next door, then Israel will be forced to defend itself. Peace must be founded on reconciliation and diplomacy, not violence and hatred (sponsors of the divestment don’t seem capable of understanding that). The day the Palestinian leadership accepts Israel is the day their future begins. End of story.
Manny Benhamou COM ’04 Vice President, BU Students for Israel