Altalena 2011…
by Gerald A. Honigman
Even though the Egyptian ghoul has been out of the picture for years now, polluting the soil from Jerusalem sprinkled onto his coffin in Ramallah, nothing has really changed.
The problem, of course, has always gone far beyond Arafat himself. He was simply carrying a local banner of an age-old Arabism which rejects the rights of any of the numerous millions of non-Arab peoples conquered in its name to a share in what Arabs have declared to be purely Arab patrimony and the Dar ul-Islam. No “partitions” or “compromises” either.
As I’m prone to remind folks (especially those who specialize in singling Israel out for moral scrutiny), whether the subject is black Africans in the Sudan, Kurds in Syria or Iraq, Copts in Egypt, the Amazigh people (“Berbers”) in North Africa, native kilab yahud “Jew dogs,” or anyone else who dared to claim a small slice of the Middle East pie after the collapse of the centuries-old Ottoman Turkish Empire in the wake of World War I, Arabs have treated all would-be national competitors similarly–with, admittedly, a bit more disdain for Jews, who were singled out for special vilification in the Qur’an and other religious teachings of Islam as well.
The past years of President Clinton’s “gift” of the Oslo “peace,” in which Israel was pressured to yield hard tangibles like disputed territory, to Arabs who were supposed to in turn curtail terrorism and prepare their people for acceptance of a Jewish State in the neighborhood, were spent doing the exact opposite by Arafat and his buddies instead. Indeed, the “moderate” Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas proved to be no different than Hamas or Islamic Jihad on these crucial matters. The schools, mosques, media, websites, and other potential sources for good have continued to simply be used to nurture a rabid hatred of Jews instead.
That brings us to Arafat’s two Fatah colleagues who are now largely running the show.
Mahmoud Abbas–Abu Mazen–and Ahmed Qurei’–Abu Alaa–are former and present chief marionettes of the now dead master puppeteer. But even though he has now been gone for quite some time, his legacy still works the strings.
Both Abus have been referred to by a wishful-thinking West as “moderates.”
True, at times they have nominally condemned suicide/homicide bombers…but so did Arafat. Yet they have been a bit more vocal about this and openly admitted their reason: bad press. Deliberately disemboweling and blowing apart Jewish babes and other innocents was not the concern, nor living up to the terms of Oslo. The bad public relations that these incidents cause (in at least some circles) was and is the issue yielding any relative “moderation” here.
Yet, when Arabs of the Palestinian Authority territories slit the necks of five members of the Fogel family in their sleep, on the one hand, PA President Abbas went on Israel Radio to condemn the March 11 killings of the infant, other young children, and parents, but, on the other hand, a day after the attack, members of Abbas’ own Fatah faction participated in an official dedication ceremony in the West Bank town of Al-Bireh for a town square dedicated to Dalal Mughrabi, an Arab involved in killing 37 Israelis in a 1978 bus hijacking on Israel’s coastal road.
Keep in mind that Abu Mazen is a Holocaust denier, and–also like Abu Mazen–Abu Alaa refuses to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish State. Both worked closely along side of Arafat for decades for the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel.
In 2011, Abbas, Qurei’, & Co. still think that they’re going to flood Israel with millions of alleged “returning” Arab refugees. Recall, please, that said refugees were created as a result of the invasion of Israel by a half dozen Arab states in 1948, and that half of Israel’s Jews were refugees from “Arab” lands but without some two dozen other states of their own–as Arabs have–to potentially choose from.
Now, please understand that nobody accuses the Abus of stupidity. So they tell the West what it wants to hear–even if most really don’t care but want to a least go through the motions…so that after Auschwitz and Munich they can feel better about themselves and the consequences of their actions.
As is well known, the alleged model moderate that the two above Abus’ Palestinian Authority showcased was the late Faisal al-Husseini. He spoke of any peace dealings with the Jews as being merely a Trojan Horse that would lead to Israel’s total destruction as a Jewish State and the creation of an Arab Palestine “from the River to the Sea.” Take a close look at the maps of “Palestine” on and in the PA’s websites, insignias, maps, textbooks, and so forth. They cover all of Israel–not just the disputed, non-apportioned lands of the original 1920 Mandate on the West Bank and in Gaza. Arafat and others have repeatedly called Oslo a modern “Peace of the Quraysh,” the temporary hudna the Prophet Muhammad agreed to until he gained enough strength to deal the final blow to his enemies.
Unfortunately, nothing has changed with Arafat gone. Any leader who truly wants peace with the Jews–not that the above Abus actually fit into this mold–will not long be of this world in this rejectionist, bloodlust milieu. Shots had been fired at Abbas, killing others instead, not long after Arafat’s funeral…despite the denials. Just the perception that a leader might be contemplating something beyond rejection of Jews is enough to get him killed.
While the predicament of such leaders is understandable, Israel cannot be asked to do what any other nation would not be expected to do to accommodate these folks. National suicide is not an option.
Whether they like it or not and despite their current United Nations games, the ball is–or at least should be–now in the Arab court.
Given the murderous mindset–polls have shown that even if Israel would withdraw from every inch of the disputed territories, most Arabs would still support terrorism and Israel’s destruction–Israel can yield no further concretes on the ground until the Arabs’ own leaders display a willingness to deal forcefully with the rejectionists in their midsts. If they do not, then they likely reveal their own rejectionism as well. Other nations are not expected to yield strategic assets to enemies sworn to their demise for the sake of sometimes nice but confusing, empty words backed up with no action. It is unreasonable to expect Jews, in their sole, microscopic nation, to do this either.
If the two Abus and future Arab leaders are serious about ending this tragic conflict and creating a better world for their own people–instead of just trying to butcher more Jews–let’s take a look at what really needs to be done…
Early in May 1948, surrounding Arab countries, armed to the teeth with weaponry left over by the British in World War II, invaded a reborn Israel to nip it in the bud. Transjordan’s army was even led by British officers. And since we’re on the subject, it needs to stated yet once again, for the sake of any newcomers on these matters, that purely Arab Transjordan was created itself in 1922 from almost 80% of the original 1920 Mandate of Palestine. Arabs next rejected the 1947 partition plan which would have given them about one half of the 20% of the Mandate that was left after having already received the lion’s share in 1922. The isue today involves the creation of the Arabs’ second, not first, state in “Palestine”… almost two dozen total to date.
So much for the Arab claim that Jews got all the land. So the Jews had no choice but to immediately emerge out of the shock of the Holocaust in order to deal with yet another harsh reality…
David Ben-Gurion, leader of the new state, made countless historic decisions, but one particularly controversial and painful one that haunts Israel to this very day involved the ship Altalena–a pen name for his Labor Zionist Party’s rival, the late Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky. Unlike many of his Labor critics, Jabotinsky was less head-in-the-sand and starry-eyed about what could and couldn’t be achieved with the Arabs, who were as rejectionist back then as they are today regarding any compromise over “purely Arab patrimony.”
Jabotinsky’s heirs were determined to repay the Arab slaughter of Jews in kind and to hasten the end of British rule and anti-Israel policies by any means necessary. Among other things, they purchased an American ship and landed it near Marseilles, France. It was expected that the vessel would be making repeat trips between France and Israel carrying arms and new recruits gathered from the survivors of Europe’s nightmare and the frightened mellahs of “Jew Dog” existence in North Africa and the Middle East.
Israel desperately needed the arms and manpower aboard the Altalena. But Ben-Gurion insisted that there would be but one unified command.
On June 20th, Ben-Gurion made a highly controversial, heart-wrenching decision to resist the Irgun’s challenge concerning the ship’s precious human and material cargo. In the ensuing tragic battle (which some today insist was not really warranted) Jews were killed by Jews for the sake of shaping the infant state’s future and character.
Up until recent years, Hamas was Hamas and Arafat was Arafat…Both played a game of good cop/bad cop with the Jews to yield unilateral Israeli concessions which only resulted in the deliberate spilling of more innocent Jewish blood. Neither had any intention of arriving at a settlement in which a viable Israel would exist on the morrow. That has been proven over and over again, and there’s no need to repeat the evidence about Camp David 2000 and Taba, etc., etc., and so forth. Sadly, Arafat’s Fatah and PA successors have proven to be chips off the old block…
A better tomorrow for both Jew and Arab alike–and, hopefully, other peoples abused in the region by Arabs as well–will not arrive unless new leaders arise in the would-be 22nd Arab state with the power and will to make the decisions a stateless and millennially persecuted people and its leaders–at the end of their collective rope–made some sixty-three years ago.
What will such leaders do the day after the next Israeli bus is blown up loaded with innocent Jews aboard, or another father is murdered having dinner with his children or family slaughtered in their sleep? Unfortunately, as recent history has shown…probably nothing.
Even during the alleged current “ceasefire,” numerous mortar rounds, Qassam rockets, and missiles have been launched from Arab-controlled territories against towns in Israel proper–causing injury, death, and destruction. Hitchhiking and hiking Jewish teenagers have been attacked and gunned down, a father and his baby son were recently murdered in cold blood, etc. and so forth. And the Abus continue to do nothing.
The more honest Hamas leopard will not change its spots. So merely “chatting” with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa, and their likes won’t solve the problem…and this is all that Arafat’s successors still say that they’re willing to do. The various Abus are still demanding unilateral concessions from Israel without offering anything of substance in return. Israel is simply expected to give up all the hard tangibles in exchange for some iffy words and wishful thinking.
Until Arabs make clear their intention to live peacefully–not in just a temporary hudna designed to further their retained destruction-in-phases goals–alongside a secure, Jewish Israel with concrete measures that are actually taken to stop the murder of Jews, promotion of hatred and violence among their masses, and so forth, then Israel should not be expected to become a party to its own demise by caving in to Arab demands and those of the hypocrites elsewhere who support them. Nothing short of a true compromise between the parties will bring about peace–and that must involve a meaningful and effective territorial component as well.
America must resist the temptation to cave in to its European allies and their Arabist Foggy Bottom supporters on these matters by putting all of the pressure on Israel.
No other country would demand less under the circumstances Israel has been faced with. Indeed, most of those European and Russian “Quartet” sponsors of the roadmap and such would have leveled Gaza and Ramallah a long time ago if they had been subjected to what they expect Jews to continuously tolerate. Think about Russia and Chechnya–for starters. Not to mention what America itself has done to its own enemies. Do the words Powell Doctrine ring a bell–and that’s just in recent times.
The lesson of the above story dating back to the days of Israel’s rebirth is that peace will come only when Arabs are willing to confront their own rejectionist attitudes and problems the way millennially-persecuted and decimated Jews did over six decades ago…
What’s missing, you see, is one Arab Altalena.