By Hillel Thalman
July 14, 2005
Last year the Yankee-bashers gloated, and Americans winced, at the name of Fallujah, the Iraqi city where American forces seemed afraid to tread. But to one observer it recalled an
old trick that the French used in Algeria. Rather than uselessly chase guerillas over hill and wadi, the French set aside a corner where the guerillas could feel invulnerable.
Then they waited while it filled up like a park bustling with crumb-happy pigeons. And one day, at their own convenience, they closed it off and liquidated them all.
That may have been the whole idea in Fallujah. But what if America were to pursue the same idea on a larger scale? Suppose that while fighting terrorists in various spots on the globe,
and pressuring other countries to repudiate terrorists, America designated one country where -- for the time being -- terrorists could feel protected?
What if that place were very close to us? The USA is discouraging tolerance for terrorist movements in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, but in the West Bank and Gaza it
is encouraging terrorist movements to call themselves political parties and assume control. It is pressing Israel to release terrorists from prison into those territories while defending
Israel?s right to wall the territories in.
Inside the territories, terrorists are still hailed as heroes. It must be an attractive environment for them.
While not expecting Israel to absorb militant Arab refugees, the USA is hinting that an imminent Palestinian state can welcome them by the hundreds of thousands -- Palestinians,
grandchildren of Palestinians, and anyone caring to claim to be a grandchild of a Palestinian. Obviously the barren little sandbox, whether contiguous or not, can?t decently support its
current population, much less such an influx. Are the Americans simply ignoring reality, or is there a plan?
Many Israelis are happy that a school of Christian thought in America encourages the return of Jews to Israel. Although there is an apocalyptic prophecy involved, something about a great final battle to end all battles, we Jews don?t worry about that because we have our own idea of the End of Days.
But what if the people who believe in that battle are interested in assembling not only
our side of it here in the Middle East, but the other side as well? Could the belief in Armageddon become a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Whether it involves a religious vision or only a political and military tactic, the arrangement currently underway looks oddly like a trap for terrorists in which Israel plays the role of bait.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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