Christopher Ruddy
Monday, April 1, 2002

This weekend I listened to Yasser Arafat's interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

Israeli tanks barreling through his offices must have flustered Arafat, but he seemed to think all of this has happened in a vacuum.

Blaming Israel for his predicament was expected.

Arafat doesn't want to assume blame for the wave of terrorist acts hitting innocent Israelis.

The Isrealis insist Arafat is the mastermind behind the attacks.

Either way is problematic for Arafat. If he is behind the attacks on civilians, he is a cold-blooded murderer who needs to be removed.

If he is not behind the attacks made by groups who exist under his authority, then he is not really the leader of the Palestinians and cannot negotiate on their behalf.

Cornered, Arafat wants to place blame elsewhere. In his interview with Amanpour he also cited a laundry list of American military equipment he said was being used by the Israeli military to attack his Palestinian state. (During the interview, he did refer to his Palestinian Authority as a state.)

His clever effort to blame America, which he no doubt included during his interview on al-Jazeera, will only justify more al-Qaeda terrorism against the U.S.

America is to blame for everything because we supported the creation of a Jewish state in 1947.

When speaking to those sympathetic to the Palestinians and their cause, it is clear that there is no sense of time boundaries to discuss current problems.

While Americans are reeling from the recent horrific suicide bombings, including the seder massacre, the Palestinians and their friends are still angry about some event that happened 20 years ago (Sabra and Shatilla) or some earlier Israeli "atrocity."

But in any discussion with a friend of the Palestinians, the argument always leads back to the fact that Israel was a state created in modern times in what Arabs believe was Arab land – the House of Islam. Their view is that Israel itself is an "invasion" that must be repelled.

As a result of the rebirth of Israel and the war that begot the state of Israel, many Palestinians were displaced and they still want their homes back.

Every act of Palestinian terror is, in their eyes, justified by this fact.

Since most of the Western world agrees that Israel is a state, that it has the right to exist, the West can never accept the infinite demands of the Palestinians.

The "right of return" of Palestinians to Israel proper is not a concept embraced by the West as a moral justification for war. After all, Americans displaced the native Indians here in North America.

Nor does the West accept the methods used by the Palestinians and their supporters, like al-Qaeda, to achieve their means.

Perhaps the continued and unending friction is caused not by political differences, but by a clash of cultures and civilizations.

• Westerners find suicide, even for the worthiest of causes, absolutely repulsive. Apparently, large segments of the Islamic world embrace this method of action.

• Westerners find the use of women and children as combatants repugnant. The Arab world apparently sees no problem putting women and children at the front lines of the armed struggle in the West Bank.

• Western society has long cultivated the idea of a "just war" and certain rules of engagement. Among these is the idea that civilians as military targets should be avoided, especially if one side in a conflict agrees to the principle.

  But the Arab world sees no compulsion to keep such rules. Palestinians revel in attacks on ordinary civilians in their terror campaign.

  (And yes, Israel, America and other Western nations have, from time to time, killed civilians. These instances, however, are accepted as operating procedure by the Arab world.)

• Westerners also believe that violent means should be the absolute last resort in a conflict between two parties. Even during the "peace process," the Palestinians have used violence as a primary method.

Still, there has never been a cessation of Palestinian terror, while there have been clear periods of Israeli cease-fires and concessions.

But there it should not surprise anyone that Arafat and the Palestinians continue their terror war. After all, their experience has been that it works.

The current wave of Palestinian terror began with the Intifada – the uprising of rock-throwing Palestinians in 1988.

I was in Israel during the early period of the Intifada. Like many democracies, Israel seemed unable and unwilling to deal with the uprising – and the international sympathy the Palestinians received.

From the Palestinian view, the Intifada worked like a charm. Instead of dealing directly with the violence, Israel went to the negotiating table and gave the Palestinians the making of a state – that is, the Palestinian Authority.

The Israelis, even as the terror campaign against Israel continued, went on to arm the Palestinian Authority and to give them not only weaponry but also enough autonomy that more weaponry and explosives could easily be brought into the Palestinian areas – for use against Israel.

(Yes, that's right, the Palestinians were armed by Israel.)

As a result of silly policies, the numbers of Israeli casualties have continually climbed since Oslo. Almost every Israeli concession has been met with higher levels of terror.

Who is to blame for this?

Mainly Israel, of course. The Israelis should have demanded that the Palestinians have a leader able to negotiate for his people and to keep the terms of agreements.

But that has not been the case, and Arafat is either ineffectual in stopping, or complicit in, the terror campaigns.

Sadly, Israel has followed the easy path of appeasement. Appeasement never brings peace. Yet Israel, despite all of the tough rhetoric, continues on this path. Israeli reprisals have almost always been more symbolic than real.

America also shares blame, as it has reined in Israel from taking substantive action to end the waves of terror.

Still Israel, like any free country, must be responsible for its own security and people, and it must take the necessary steps to protect itself.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Israel
Middle East
War on Terrorism

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