Jewish World Review May 19, 2003 / 17 Iyar, 5763

Greg Crosby

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A road map in search of a road

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Prevailing diplomatic wisdom determines that before one can move toward peace one first needs a road map. It sounds good, but remember -- before one uses a road map, it is imperative to know the condition of the roads. The current condition of the Mideast roads are undrivable, actually worse than that, there are no roads. And without roads, road maps are about as useful as buttermilk biscuits at a Passover seder.

It is high time to get real about the Middle East. Diplomacy has a value in our complex world, no doubt about it. But when diplomacy gets in the way of truth, it can be dangerous. Let's examine some facts.

Fact: In order for a permanent peace to work, both sides have to want peace -- not only for themselves, but for the other side.

Israel has proven time and again, through her actions, that she truly wants peace in this way. The "Palestinian" Arabs, on the other hand continue to blow up babies on buses, children at pizza parlors and families sitting down to holiday meals.

Fact: Most "Palestinian" Arabs want to see every and all Jews completely out of the region or completely annihilated.

Until this fact is acknowledged by all concerned, nothing substantial can ever be achieved. Let me state this once again, because it is perhaps the most important fact in the problem of reaching some sort of Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. Fact: Most "Palestinian" Arabs want to see every and all Jews completely out of the region or completely annihilated. How does one talk peace with someone who desires to see you dead? What sort of concessions and compromises can be reached with an enemy unwilling to accept anything less than your total demise? When one side wants to annihilate the other, it's really hard to come to terms across a peace table.

Fact: There are no such people as the "Palestinians." The term never even existed until the state of Israel was established in 1948. So the entire concept of "Palestinians returning to their homeland" is bogus.

Fact: The Left would have you believe that the Israelis and the "Palestinians" are morally equivalent in this "dispute over land." This is patently false on three counts.

Number one, the Israelis and "Palestinians" are not morally equivalent in this dispute -- not even close. Does Judaism sanction the killing of innocent women and children? Does Judaism encourage suicide bombings? Does Judaism call for a "holy war" on those who happen to have different religious faith?

Number two, the dispute is not really a dispute over land -- it never was. It is simply the latest incarnation of the centuries-old Arab hatred toward Jewish people in the Middle East.

Number three, the dispute is not a narrow "Palestinian" versus Israeli discord -- it is much broader -- it is Arabs versus Jews. The so-called Palestinian Arabs are just the convenient "victim" right now that the larger Arab world is using to demonize the Jewish people.

Fact: Most Arabs, certainly all Arabs who follow militant Islamic teachings, want nothing less than the destruction of the state of Israel.

When the Arab world speaks of "right of return" they mean the right for Arabs to take back ALL land that makes up the country of Israel. All of it. Not just the Gaza Strip, not just the West Bank, not just the city of Palestine -- but ALL of what is now Israel. This, of course, is never said or admitted to out loud, but it is taught to tens of millions of Muslims in the Wahhabi mosques and schools throughout the world.

Fact: Every day millions of Islamic children are being taught that Jews are evil people who wish to kill them and use their blood to bake their bread. Growing up with this insane brainwashing, it's no wonder Arabs want to destroy Jews. Jewish people living in close proximity to Arabs can never be safe as long as this hate-filled propaganda is being taught.

"A road map to peace" makes a good sound-bite and a pithy bumper sticker, but it is folly of the most perilous kind. The basic idea is flawed and will never work until Arab minds and hearts can be changed -- not only in the Middle East, but throughout Europe and the rest of the world. This change may very well never happen at all or, at best, take generations to accomplish. But first there must be a desire in the Arab/Islamic world to WANT TO CHANGE. As it stands now, and as body counts continue to mount from the latest bombings in Saudi Arabia and Casablanca, I just don't see that desire.

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JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. A freelance writer in Southern California, you may contact him by clicking here.

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