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Last update - 09:40 06/11/2008 Yossi Beilin's poodles By Israel Harel Tags: Israel News, Oslo Accords  Around the time Yasser Arafat entered Jericho and Gaza, Yossi Beilin came, at my invitation, to a meeting with residents of Ofra. During a long and loaded conversation, the guest claimed that the Oslo Accords had, in effect, led to the end of the 100 years' war between Israel and the Palestinians. The people of Israel would from that point, he claimed, channel their energies and talents toward social, economic and creative affairs. The same would be done by the Palestinians. This historic turnaround had a price, he said - the evacuation of the vast majority of the settlements. And you, the earliest members of the settlement movement, would be obliged to pay it. See yourselves, he entreated his listeners, as contributors to peace rather than as victims. A short time after he uttered these words of reproach, buses started being blown up in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Corroborated reports reaching Military Intelligence bore witness to the fact that the partner, Arafat, had given the green light to the terror attacks and that, in talks with his aides, he had compared his entry into Gaza and Jericho at the head of 40,000 men to the act of the Trojan Horse. Beilin, who led most of the diplomatic initiatives of the past two decades, was never suited to the nickname "Peres' poodle." On the contrary, with his wisdom and craftiness, he made Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin (who had given him the nickname) the poodles of his initiatives. And when it turned out that Arafat was deluding us and leading us down the garden path, and that the Oslo Accords had led to bloodshed of a kind that had never been known in this country, neither he - nor they - had the integrity to admit their tragic mistake. They continued their connection with the mass murderer and prepared him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Advertisement After he announced that he was leaving politics, Beilin was lauded with many words of praise. The right also noted his intellectual honesty. This conception has to be opposed, absolutely. Intellectual honesty would have obliged him to get up and declare: "Either you, Arafat, fight terrorism, take out of Palestinian textbooks the hatred against the Jewish people and the negation of its right to a state, stop the incitement against Israel and the Jews, or we shall send you back to the place you came from before we raised you up to such lofty heights from that deep pit." But that is not how the man with the aura of intellectual integrity behaved. He, and others who were captivated by his initiatives (including the most important writers and editors) stood firm by Arafat and his people and ignored their proven involvement in the acts of mass murder. (In one month, March 2002, more than 130 Jews were murdered.) By resigning themselves to the situation, they convinced the Palestinians that the more Jews they murdered, the more the conciliatory moves in their direction would be strengthened. And Beilin's announcement in Taba, which followed a long series of suicide bombings, that Israel would be more flexible about its opposition to the right of return, merely added fuel to the flames. Beilin's followers in politics and the media say the day will come when everyone will recognize his greatness. Why "will the day come?" Even today, after the Second Lebanon War and the Qassam rockets that fell yesterday on the Negev, the political system is channeled in the direction of Beilin's heritage. Even Ariel Sharon, once one of the greatest opponents of Beilin's path, started to follow it at the end of his political career. There was no other person who succeeded to such an extent in making structural, ideological and psychological, almost physiological, changes here. From a rational society with the healthy instincts required to know its surroundings and reality, we have become a public drawn to fantasies devoid of reality. We have become, even if we did not vote for his party, Beilin's poodles. Beilin convinced us that the path of far-reaching concessions would appease the Palestinians, and the appeasement convinced the Palestinians that terrorism pays and that the more they attacked the Jews, the more the Jews would give in, as was proven by the concessions made in Oslo and Camp David, the retreat from Lebanon, and Taba. This would carry on until the Jews completely forwent a Jewish entity in the Middle East. Beilin's path therefore led both the Israelis and the Palestinians to a dead end. Beilin can relax. At least in this generation, anyone who knows even a little about how Beilin initiated, planned, maneuvered and manipulated the moves that have brought us to where we are will grant Beilin the credit he deserves. He and no one else succeeded in getting us to follow the path that has cost the lives of thousands of dead (Jews and Arabs alike) and has distanced us from peace for generations, because of the total loss of trust between the sides after the destruction and ruin the Oslo Accords brought about. No one can deny him the medal he deserves for these achievements. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Never walk alone It's safe to assume that Obama won't abandon Israel. Apprehensive in Israel Rightist MK Aryeh Eldad warns 'Israel should be wary of Barack Obama'   1.   Israel Harel is too modest 09:52  |  Natallie Durson 06/11/08   2.   SHAME ON YOU MR.HAREL 09:53  |  indrajaya 06/11/08   3.   follow the many myopic jews both literally and figuratively 10:39  |  victor hardman 06/11/08   4.   Brilliant insight- brilliantly worded 10:52  |  Avi 06/11/08   5.   If Israel Harel would only have a fraction of the wisdom..... 11:08  |  Swiss (Dino) 06/11/08   6.   Beilin and his ilk got also financial rewards for his betrayal 11:58  |  Absolute Sweden 06/11/08   7.   # 3, SWISS (DINO) 12:07  |  Indrajaya 06/11/08   8.   israel harel re: definitions 12:10  |  eric 06/11/08   9.   Natilie Durston 12:18  |  Ben 06/11/08   10.   Egregious example of inverted logic 12:27  |  Ivar 06/11/08   11.   Russians should settle Estland,Ivar`s racist homeland 12:49  |  Absolute Sweden 06/11/08   12.   What a pity Natallie was not the World President in 1948 13:47  |  Israeli citizen 06/11/08   13.   #10 time for ivar of the sudi planet to read the 1922 mandate 13:53  |  victor hardman 06/11/08   14.   Sharon `followed Beilin`s path`-A joke? 13:56  |  examiner 06/11/08   15.   BI-NATIONAL STATE NOW! 14:34  |  Danny 06/11/08   16.   Jewish leaders in rush to please Jewish peaceniks 15:07  |  Sam 06/11/08   17.   Danny`s reading and comprehension difficulties: 15:14  |  Absolute Sweden 06/11/08   18.   #5 Swiss , it is not your folt , that the wisdom 16:22  |  TOMY 06/11/08   19.   Nothing new here , it is just put in order 16:36  |  TOMY 06/11/08   20.   Yossi Beilin`s objectives were to fulfill 1948 UN declaration.. 17:30  |  Smadar 06/11/08   21.   To whome it may concern!! 18:51  |  B.Saleem 06/11/08   22.   This vile and contrary diatribe..... 08:22  |  Esther 07/11/08   23.   Ah, the good Yosi Beilin... 08:31  |  Esther 07/11/08

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