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Tal Ben-Shahar is a Graduate Fellow at Harvard University's Center for Ethics,
and the author of .
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By Tal Ben-Shahar
November 26, 2003
The Geneva Accord, signed between a group of Israeli and Palestinian politicians, calls for transferring Jews out of Judea and Samaria in return for recognition of Israel's right to exist. The agreement is gaining much support within Israel and, even more so, from the international community. Various European countries have offered financial aid to promote the accord; Russia endorsed the initiative and the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed it; even United States Secretary of State Colin Powell has publicly come out in favor of the document.
While former Israeli justice minister Yossi Beilin and many other champions of the Geneva Accords are motivated by a strong desire to end the bloodshed and violence, their good intentions alone will not bring about peace. The wide support for the latest peace initiative provides international legitimacy to the Palestinian terrorist organizations, perpetuates the conflict, and hence the suffering of both Jews and Arabs.
Vladimir Lenin referred to western liberals who defended his cause as "Useful Idiots." Long after the crimes of communism came to light, many intelligent and well-meaning liberals continued to support Marx's henchmen, refusing to allow reality get in the way of their wishful thinking - not realizing that the liberties that they so cherish would fast disappear once communism prevailed.
With the virtual demise of communism, descendants of Lenin's unsuspecting accomplices have found a new immoral cause to support: Islamic fundamentalism in general, and, in particular, the Palestinian leadership's commitment to the destruction of the Jewish state. Not
realizing that destroying Israel is a first step in a global effort to impose Islamic law and do away with civil society, they continue to believe the Islamists who say that the cause of their aggression is Israel's refusal to give up the disputed territories and dismantle the settlements.
The Geneva Accord provides international legitimacy to the Palestinian Authority's (PA) actions over the last ten years, and hence encourages terrorism from the PA and other terrorist organizations - for if intentionally targeting civilians worked until now in gaining sympathy and financial support from the world, why stop? Without the financial and
ideological support of the European Union, western intellectuals, world public opinion, and influential Israelis, the PA and its allied organizations - such as Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad - would be powerless. But rather than categorically denouncing,
isolating, and cutting the funding for terrorist organizations, supporters of the Geneva document are enabling terrorism, and preventing any possibility of a new and different leadership for the Palestinians - one committed to the welfare of its own people rather than to the elimination of its neighbor.
Beilin, the chief architect of the Geneva Accord, was also the primary force behind the Oslo Accords. In 1993, with the support of world public opinion, Beilin and his loyal partner Shimon Peres, deceived the Israeli public into believing that they have a real peace partner in the
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Beilin and Peres led the campaign that ultimately convinced the majority of Israelis to accept the PLO's written commitment to give up on its raison d'etre: the destruction of the Jewish State.
Today, the written commitment signed in Geneva is held up to the eyes of the public, obscuring the reality - the terrorism, the incitement, the calls for ending Israel - that lies beyond. Thousands of innocents on both sides of the conflict have lost their lives as a result of the naivete and detachment that brought about the Oslo War. How many more need to die before those who support a terrorist regime come to their senses? One person's useful idiot is another's dangerous idiot.
It is not surprising that the likes of Yossi Beilin and Shimon Peres continue to promote their vision of a New Middle East, in the face of reality. Few people, Beilin and Peres certainly not among them, have the courage and integrity to admit that the cause to which they dedicated
themselves has failed. But for others - who are less invested in the Oslo Accords and who truly want to see an end to the violence - to agree to be led by those who have time and again demonstrated their inability to see beyond paper commitments, is irresponsible and inexcusable.
Rather than encouraging terrorism with further concessions, it is about time that politicians and the general public recognize that evil cannot be pacified, only fought and defeated. The blind followers of Beilin and Peres are going to find themselves on the wrong side of history - useful idiots to evil regimes - just as the millions of apologists for communism have.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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