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Tashbih Sayyed is editor-in-chief of , a California-based weekly newspaper, and president of the Council for Democracy and Tolerance.
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By Tashbih Sayyed
June 26, 2005
Recent events suggest that radical Islam has won the first round in the US war against them.
The evidence of U.S. capitulation is overwhelming; Sunnis in Iraq have successfully prevented the coalition forces and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government from establishing even a semblance of secure environment -- while the U.S. and U.S.-backed Iraqi government has been forced to live in ghettoes ("Green Zone"), the Islamists are directing the course of events outside -- Iraqi life and property remains at their mercy. The coalition forces, U.S. and U.S.-backed Iraqi administration has been defeated totally in their objective to prove to the Iraqis that their lives will be better in a post-Saddam era -- Jobs, education, health facilities, water, electricity, sanitation and practically everything else needed to survive still eludes Iraqis.
The situation with the Palestinians is the same. There too, the Islamist terrorists represented by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Martyrs Brigade have successfully planted themselves in positions that the U.S. finds difficult to ignore. For Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, these achievements of Palestinian people are a matter of pride. He said recently, "My election... gave me a feeling of great pride -- not in myself, but in the Palestinian people."
Radical Islam has every right to be proud of Palestinian people. It was the Palestinian people who forced Washington not only to ignore their politics of terror and blackmail but reward them with billions of dollars in aid. Washington's pressure on Israel to give Palestinians what is not theirs is living proof of the success of Palestinian art of deceit and deception.
The fact that the world finds it convenient to accept Palestinian positions on almost everything and does not pay any attention to their terrorism that has resulted in thousands Israeli deaths proves that Palestinians have mastered the art of pulling wool over the world's eyes -- they are the living testament to the dictum, a lie told often enough becomes truth.
Palestinians have shown such an extraordinary knack for hoodwinking the world opinion that now they lie without thinking -- lying has become their second nature. This utter disregard for truth was evident in the statement of Palestinian Authority, "For the past four years, Israel's daily military incursions and destruction of our infrastructure and institutions have rendered us an impoverished nation." The Palestinian leader did not feel any shame in hiding the fact that these so-called "Israeli incursions" were in response to Arab acts of terrorism. He chooses to ignore the fact that Arabs have been rendered an impoverished nation not because of Israel's actions to secure the lives of its citizens, but because of the rampant Arab corruption, inefficiency and unwillingness to work for an honest living.
Palestinian peoples' victory is complete; they, with the help of their anti-Semite Arab neighbors, have made the U.S. -- the victim of Islamist terrorism herself -- to reward terror.
Washington, forgetting that Palestinians represent the same anti-Americanism that brought down the World Trade Center, has allowed itself to be used by them to bring down its only friend -- Israel. By accepting a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, the U.S. has contributed more to the weakening of the state of Israel than all the Arab wars to destroy the Jewish state.
Under pressure from its Arab "friends" and driven by its desire to regain the friendship of Eurabia, President George W. Bush refuses to see the long-term plan to destroy America's only friend in the Middle East -- Israel. Mahmoud Abbas says, "The parameters of my vision of a permanent peace agreement are well-known: a return by Israel to the pre-1967 borders, the sharing of Jerusalem as the capital of two states; a just and agreed upon solution to the Palestinian refugee problem and a permanent peace treaty between the states of Israel and Palestine based on equality and reciprocity."
It is clear from this statement that Arab game of deceit and deception will continue 'til they achieve their vision -- the total destruction of the Jewish state. Volumes have been written about the threats that these Abbas parameters pose to the existence of Israel.
Arabs, having failed miserably in defeating Israel in the battle field, have now adopted this game of incremental reduction of Israeli territory. Once achieved, the goal of pushing Israel behind indefensible 1967 borders, they will build up the pressure to push her beyond 1948 limits and then to nothing. President Bush must understand that what Mahmoud Abbas is asking will in fact, result in the defeat of the U.S. in its war on Islamist terrorism.
In Mahmoud Abbas' demand to share Jerusalem with Jews, there is a ploy to defeat history. History doesn't accord anyone but the Jews, the right to its ownership. "When Jews, toiling under the oppressive whip of Pharaoh's supervisor, dreamed of returning to Jerusalem -- "Next year Jerusalem," Arabs did not exist. When Muslims learned of the term "Masjid-e-Aqsa" (a mosque far away), there was no sign of an Arab Muslim Jerusalem. It was only when Umer the second Caliph after the death of Prophet Muhammad, extending his Caliphate conquered Jerusalem that the Muslim became aware of its existence.
In my view, the true peace and stability in the Middle East cannot be realized without accepting the fact that "Jerusalem belongs to Israel forever and will no longer be the possession of foreigners." September 11, 2001 has underlined the vitality of recognizing the divine truth that keeping Jerusalem as the united and eternal capital of the Hebrew State is in the interest of world peace.
As far as the two state solution to the Arab Israeli conflict is concerned, the honest observer knows that it is nothing but a very clever design to destroy the Jewish state from the back door. The U.S., if it wants to defeat radical Islam, must give up its policy of succumbing to Arab black mail -- it may appear to be a good short term tactic but will definitely cause a lot of misery in the long term.
And finally, Mahmoud Abbas' last item in his parameters -- solution to the Palestinian refugee problem. First of all, Arabs have remained "refugees" because they all hoped to see the Jewish state destroyed -- it is basically an ultimate fraud and the world has to recognize it as such. Second, if the so-called refugees really want to go anywhere, they have a Palestinian state -- Jordan. They should go there. And finally, a Jewish state can remain a Jewish state only so long as Jews inhabit it just like Wahhabi state Saudi Arabia that does not even permit non-Whhabi Muslims to come in.
The story of Arab guile and the U.S. gullibility is not complete yet. The air is heavy with the news that Wasington is ready to accept Hamas as a partner in dialogue. It is believed that having failed miserably to even contain the Arab insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. is now feeling the pressure to bribe Arab terrorism with favors.
What Washington doesn't understand is that bribes, favors and other forms of appeasement only embolden radical Islam. In the eyes of Islamists, all efforts, all signs of decency and appeasement are signs of weakness. Today, U.S. insistence to include Sunnis in the constitution-making in Iraq, talks of offering Al-Qaeda members a role in Afghan administration, and now the acceptance of Hamas as a potential negotiating partner has convinced radical Islam that the United States of America has lost.
Arab terrorism is just another head of radical Islamist Hydra - Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Hizbollah, Islamic Jihad, Zarqawi group and their ilk being the other heads. And Washington's efforts to engage them in any kind of partnership will bring more deaths and hardship for the Americans and their allies.
The U.S. overtures to engage radical Islam has given reason to radical Islam to be sure of their victory. According to Islamists, whereas the U.S. might has failed miserably in breaking the back of radical Islam, American deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan now approaching the 2000 mark have definitely deflated the "crusader spirits." They are convinced that Radical Islam has forced the U.S. to accept its authority and power. According to an Arab commentator, "Talks on accepting Hamas and holding discussions with it cannot be separated from the American desire to start a dialogue with Islamic parties and movements, since they are considered as influential powers in the Arab political scene, following the obstacle encountered by Washington in Iraq and the region."
According to the same commentator, "This notion was transmitted to the countries of the European Union, whose foreign ministers discussed three months ago a document that urges the EU countries to delve into the dialogue issue with Islamic groups in the Middle East."
Watching the way world powers are competing with eachother in trying to appease Arab terrorism, Mahmoud Abbas' sense of victory was not misplaced. Aware of the fact that in the "two nation solution" to the Middle East, lies the formula of Israel's destruction, he said, "President Bush has supported our quest for freedom, as he made clear in his vision of a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict. It is a vision that I and the overwhelming majority of Palestinians share."
Those who understand Arab ethos cannot miss the significance of the Palestinian president's statement. And President Bush, I hope, knows the actual nature of the Palestinian vision.
The world by now is familiar with the phenomenon of asymmetrical war; in the face of a technologically advanced and militarily formidable west, the less powerful and backward radical Islam has come up with the weapons of terrorism and homicide bombers. The nature of ethereal warfare has caught the modern world napping; modern world has no answer to this barbarism that does not have any face and respects no borders. It can be as sudden as a Californian earthquake and as subtle as vapors in the air. Against this background, Mahmoud Abbas' declaration makes a lot of sense, "But we are not weak: Our strength does not come from military superiority -- it comes from convictions," he said. Of course, Palestinians do not need any military superiority. Their convictions -- the complete destruction of the Jewish state and total annihilation of the Jewish people -- gives them so much power that they are dying to murder the Infidels.
It is obvious that someone who has learned to defeat open societies by using weapons of terrorism does not need conventional military superiority. The greatest military power on this earth -- the United States of America -- is learning this fact in Iraq every day. Palestinians who have mastered the marshal art of homicide bombings do not need military superiority.
The Palestinian Authority showed its faith in terrorism when its Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa told Palestinian television that disarming militants was not on the agenda. "The dismantling of armed organizations is not on the table because weapons are legal as long as the occupation exists," he said. "Possession of weapons is a strategic issue as long as there is occupation," al-Kidwa continued, adding that weapons should be organized and not be used to break the law.
The continued PA policy of casting Jewish lands as "occupied" speaks volumes about Palestinian conviction; the Arab terrorism will continue so long as Israel exists. That's why, Hamas welcomed the comments opposing the disarmament of Islamic Jihad and other militant groups. Hamas spokesman Musheer Masri said Kidwa's comments "reflected the PA's awareness of the nature of the current phase and the highest interests of the Palestinian people." Masri added, "The PA acknowledged that protecting the armed resistance ensures the continuation of national unity."
There is a lesson in all this for the Israeli Prime Minister; Israel will always remain alone in its existential struggles. After thousands of years of living as Dhimmis under anti-Semite peoples, it cannot afford to let the moment slip out of its palm. It must do to the Jews what the enemies of Jews have been doing to them for millenniums -- Mr. Sharon does not set a new example of Jew hatred. If your disengagement plan goes through, it will be the first time when Jewish authorities followed in the footsteps of Nebuchadnezzar -- Jews forcing Jews to leave their homes.
The civilized world wants to know; if the U.S. did not have what it takes to finish the war on radical Islam, why did it start it?
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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