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By Bruce S. Ticker
October 5, 2004
Dorit Aniso, 2, and Yuval Abebeh, 4 -- both from an Ethiopian immigrant family -- became the 996th and 997th fatal Israeli victims on Wednesday, exactly four years after this senseless war between Israel and the Palestinians began. The death toll on the Israeli side rose to the 1,000-mark on Thursday when terrorists killed a soldier and a jogger along with an army paramedic who came to the jogger's aid.
I had waited with anxiety the past few weeks for this tragic, sobering moment since I checked the Israel Defense Forces Web site, which as of Sept. 13 reported that 989 Israelis died in the last four years. Eleven Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed during the last two weeks in six attacks - four in Gaza, one in Jerusalem and one in the border town of Sderot.
It is a war because, though one was never officially declared, two peoples have been killing one another in every bit as brutal a manner as any war in my lifetime.
What has it left us? To start with, 1,000 Israeli lives were snuffed out. An estimated 3,000 Palestinians have died, though official figures of Palestinian casualties are unclear. Thousands more have been wounded on both sides. The Palestinian economy is a wreck. Israeli society is not in much better shape.
Diplomatically, neither Israel nor the Palestinians are taken seriously by most people in the world. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been proven to be a blunderer in war and domestic matters, a hypocrite and a political manipulator rather than a statesman, and has been under a cloud of suspicion for corruption. Far worse, Yasser Arafat was exposed as a total sleaze who at best facilitated this war, lied about Israel's offer in July 2000 and stole millions, if not billions, of dollars which should have helped his own poverty-stricken people.
The Palestinians elected Arafat, know very well that he is responsible for their troubles and yet persist in supporting him as their ruler. They have squandered all trust on the Israeli street -- i.e., that ordinary Israelis do not take anything the Palestinians say or do seriously. There is no peace movement in Israel, at least none with any clout.
Israelis would rather have nothing to do with the Palestinians, and they can do that. They are moving in the direction of separation which would allow them to live in relative peace without negotiating a permanent settlement. That is what the dismantling of settlements and construction of the barrier is all about.
What are the lessons of this mess and has anyone on either side learned anything from it? The Israelis have learned, the Palestinians as a collective have learned nothing. Yes, the Israelis made serious mistakes, but they have developed a realistic attitude. Too little, too late, perhaps, but at least they are moving in the right direction. Shlomo Avineri put it best when the political science professor told The New York Times, "The center-left no longer thinks there is a Palestinian partner for negotiations, and the center-right no longer believes in a military solution. It's not a strong consensus, but both sides have moved toward the middle."
The best answer any of the Palestinian leaders can come up with is Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei's statement on Tuesday: "This anniversary should make us all - the people, the factions and the Palestinian Authority - reconsider the past four years, where we went wrong and where we went right." Then he added, "The destruction of our homes and continuing the killing of our people and hunting the killing of our activists and leaders inside and abroad is crazy and will lead to neither security nor peace."
Qurei's comments were followed by three straight days of terrorist murders.
So let's get this straight: Qurei's people started a war against a superior military force and got trounced militarily, and now he's telling his enemy it should not retaliate?
What Qurei and other Palestinian leaders want to do is negotiate the terms of their surrender while they continue killing Israelis. That's not how the world works.
The words Qurei should have uttered were offered by a fellow Palestinian who may be more qualified -- if only by default -- to run a Palestinian state than Qurei and Arafat. A few months ago, Jenin city manager Salahaldin Mousa was quoted saying this: "The Palestinian Authority should stand in front of the people and say, 'We are defeated. But this is not the end of the world. This is a new stage of our life.' And then you say to the world, 'Please help us.'"
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