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Jan Willem van der Hoeven , a native of The Netherlands, has been living in the Middle East for over 30 years. He is the founder of The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and is today the director of The International Christian Zionist Center.
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By Jan Willem van der Hoeven
January 22, 2004
Labor MK Efraim Sneh said yesterday that the 12,000 Hizbullah missiles deployed in southern Lebanon deter Israel from taking strong military action in the north. Sneh, who was Deputy Defense Minister when the IDF unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon under then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak in May 2000, said, "I warned Barak that withdrawal from southern Lebanon without an agreement [with Lebanon] would create a vacuum that would be filled by Hizbullah, but I didn't imagine that the consequences would be so grave."
Syria has completed chemical warheads for its arsenal of Scud-based missiles, Middle East Newsline reports. U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said that Syria, with help from North Korea, has succeeded in designing and installing chemical warheads for its various Scud missiles, with a range of 250 to nearly 700 kilometers.
The chemical agent deployed in the CW warheads is sarin, regarded as a most toxic material. "Since the 1970s," Bolton said, "Syria has pursued what is now one of the most advanced chemical weapons capabilities [in the Arab world]. It has a stockpile of the nerve agent sarin that can be delivered by aircraft or ballistic missiles, and has engaged in the research and development of more toxic and persistent nerve agents such as VX."
If Hizbullah and the Syrians unleash these awesome weapons of mass destruction on Israel's northern towns and villages, the result would be devastating. We might well pray that, as the United States and Britain dealt with Iraq, Israel will have the fortitude to deal with this life-threatening danger before it is too late.
But not, as Shmuel Katz - an advisor to Prime Minister Menachem Begin and a former Knesset Member - so clearly and convincingly explains, by another withdrawal (like Israel's unilateral withdrawal from South Lebanon) -- this time from the Golan Heights!
"Does the sane nation exist which would, after that threefold experience [of being attacked from the Heights], hand back the Golan to Syria on any terms? It is all the less likely when, throughout the years, the Syrians have been one of the most important backers and sources of terrorism against Israel - harboring some of its leading perpetrators; sowing, spreading and teaching its children murderous propaganda, demonizing not only Israel, which it threatens to destroy, but the Jewish people as a whole...."
"The undignified decision of Israel's president, in a knee-jerk reaction to a seemingly softer tone from Damascus, to honor President Bashar Assad with a visit to Jerusalem indicates once again the ease with which Israeli political leaders constantly ignore the painful lessons of 50 years experience with the Arabs. They seem to forget Israel's national policy and the Golan's status as a part of Israel."
"Three prime ministers in turn acted out of the deluded belief that Syria would make peace with Israel if the Golan was given back. They did not grasp that Syria needs the Golan primarily as a base against Israel. They forgot the reasons why the Golan was incorporated into Israel and why it must remain there for good."
"Israel can offer Syria peace and, indeed, economic and cultural cooperation - but Syria must first put an end to the promotion of terror and the harboring of terrorist organizations, the anti-Semitic politicization of children, and its virulent anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda.
But these are not matters for negotiation; putting an end to them is a normal basis of civilized behavior. Otherwise it is useless, indeed counterproductive, to call for negotiations for the sake of negotiating."
The Golan Heights, or Bashan as it is called in the Bible, was part of the Promised Land Joshua allotted to the Israelite tribe of Manasseh. Israel should never squander it again.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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