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Last update - 09:55 21/06/2007
The road to hell
By Moshe Arens

If you want to know what hell looks like just take a look at the recent pictures of the carnage in Gaza. It might be comforting to say that this has nothing to do with us in Israel, but this would only be another of the many escapist delusions that capture Israeli minds so frequently. Not only will the Hamas takeover in Gaza affect us in the years to come, but there is little doubt that Israel's flawed policy in past years bears a good share of the responsibility for what is happening there now. These Israeli policies were no doubt motivated by the best of intentions - a desire to arrive at peace and do justice to the Palestinians - but as is well known, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Who likes to be told "I told you so"? Most certainly not those like Yossi Beilin and Avraham (Avrum) Burg and the other politicians of their dovish circle who have for years advocated negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization and concessions to the PLO and who have consistently called for an end to what they keep calling the occupation of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

It all started in Oslo 15 years ago. The arch-terrorist, the man who invented the hijacking of passenger aircraft and who ordered the murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic games, was hailed by some Israelis as a freedom-fighter with whom it was said we must negotiate and make peace.
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"You make peace with your enemies" was the insane slogan repeated endlessly to justify this foolish course of action. And thus, at the conclusion of the negotiations in Oslo begun by amateur meddlers in international diplomacy, Yasser Arafat and his gang of corrupt terrorists were brought in from Tunis and imposed on the Palestinian population in most of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. (Israel left Gaza then, and not, as the advocates of disengagement have falsely claimed, at the time of the uprooting of the settlers in Gush Katif in August 2005).

A straight line connects Arafat's corrupt rule and his support for acts of terror against Israel's civilian population to the Hamas takeover in Gaza. Just connect the dots. They start with the Oslo Accords and pass through Ehud Barak's decision in 2000 to abandon Israel's security zone in southern Lebanon and betray Israel's long-time allies in the South Lebanon Army. It was not only Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who then saw Israel as no more than a spider web, incapable of putting up resistance to terror. That brought on the Al Aqsa Intifada, orchestrated by Fatah and Hamas, with its terrible toll of civilian deaths.

And just as the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service were about to hand the terrorists a decisive defeat, along came the Sharon government with the nonsensical idea of forcibly uprooting Israeli settlements and retreating to the Israeli-Egyptian armistice line of 1947, an idea marketed under the false slogan that "we were getting out of Gaza."

That was all the encouragement that Hamas needed to claim victory over Israel and win the Palestinian elections against the corrupt Fatah party.

As should have been expected, Israel's unilateral retreat was followed by a continuous barrage of Qassam rockets against Israeli towns and villages. Despite all this, government spokesmen, led by Tzipi Livni, kept repeating that it is Israel's aim and Israel's interest to bring about the establishment of a Palestinian State in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Encouraged by Israel's seeming weakness, Hamas' power grew, it won the Palestinian elections, and now, in a no-holds power struggle, Hamas has taken over the entire Gaza Strip. They don't intend to stop there.

Israeli governments have been mistaken, again and again, in gauging Arab reactions to Israeli moves intended to move toward a relief of tension in the area and bring the Arabs closer to their goals as they are perceived by Israel. But to those whose goals are unlimited - the destruction of Israel - coming closer to their goal, as perceived by them, simply encourages them to intensify the struggle against Israel.

Good intentions are not enough. If not combined with a healthy dose of realism they can lead straight to hell. I don't like to say I told you so, but I told you so.
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  1.   well, good article 10:22  |  joe 21/06/07
  2.   Arens, is everything the Jews` fault 10:41  |  Jasmine Murphy 21/06/07
  3.   You told me so. 10:50  |  Johnny Weintraub 21/06/07
  4.   No respect 10:57  |  Jeff 21/06/07
  5.   Gaza is not our fault 11:23  |  Big Al 21/06/07
  6.   Actions speak louder than words 12:02  |  Natallie Durson 21/06/07
  7.   Likud: Bibi - PM, Arens - FM 12:06  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 21/06/07
  8.   #6 NATALLIE HAS SPOKEN IT MUST BE RIGHT !! 12:07  |  paul harris 21/06/07
  9.   Natalie knows best 12:14  |  Big Al 21/06/07
  10.   Please, find a just, and honourable solution!!! 12:37  |  Edith 21/06/07
  11.   Peculiar 12:47  |  Edith 21/06/07
  12.   Spelling it out 12:49  |  Natallie Durson 21/06/07
  13.   Nattallie Durson check the facts! 13:07  |  Ehud 21/06/07
  14.   Rate of Israeli expansion 13:11  |  Jasmine 21/06/07
  15.   DROP GAZA TO SAVE ISRAEL 13:20  |  Rick 21/06/07
  16.   the road to hell 13:34  |  margriet 21/06/07
  17.   A good article 13:47  |  Aviel Atash 21/06/07
  18.   Arens has been consistent with his views 13:48  |  Daniel 21/06/07
  19.   The Public Already Knows Moshe 13:51  |  Yoram 21/06/07
  20.   Again, spot on, Natallie! 14:00  |  Ben Alofs 21/06/07
  21.   Daniel 14:08  |  Aviel Atash 21/06/07
  22.   THE ROAD TO HELL THAT PALS VOTED FOR ?? 14:11  |  Bill. 21/06/07
  23.   Common sense 14:26  |  Jack Davis 21/06/07
  24.   FRESH AIR !! 14:27  |  Jim Lindsey 21/06/07
  25.   Back to the ghetto 14:28  |  Nick Ferriman 21/06/07
  26.   Insane Arens 15:25  |  michael cohen 21/06/07
  27.   #17 Aviel Atash - To clarify- please list Israeli concessions. 15:32  |  Don Camillo 21/06/07
  28.   Peace vs. Relative tranquility 15:32  |  JIA 21/06/07
  29.   Mistery does not necesarily love company 15:35  |  Walter 21/06/07
  30.   Brilliant treatise 16:20  |  Brod 21/06/07
  31.   I agree with a good part of this 16:30  |  Ron 21/06/07
  32.   And the alternative is? 16:32  |  Nana Poku 21/06/07
  33.   No way to have peace with people wich want to destroy you. 17:13  |  Victo Ivanov 21/06/07
  34.   "You make peace with your enemies"... 17:18  |  common sense 21/06/07
  35.   To Michael Cohen # 26 "making peace with your enemies" 17:26  |  Rolandus 21/06/07
  36.   320 BEN IGNORES HISTORY AND REALITY 17:36  |  paul harris 21/06/07
  37.   #26 MICHAEL IS THE ONE WHO NEEDS HISTORY LESSONS 17:49  |  paul harris 21/06/07
  38.   "Good intentions, are good for nothing." 17:49  |  Benjamin Franklin 21/06/07
  39.   No, it started with Begin 17:51  |  Too Late 21/06/07
  40.   #34 Right observation, right approach needed 17:52  |  Brod 21/06/07
  41.   Two Realistic Articles On The Same Day! 18:00  |  Terry 21/06/07
  42.   A healthy dose of realism for Moshe Arens 18:14  |  Ben Alofs 21/06/07
  43.   If there was a Nobel Prize for Myopia 19:13  |  Victor 21/06/07
  44.   42 hey benalof... 19:19  |  common sense 21/06/07
  45.   A man with reason - a great man 20:06  |  Shalom 21/06/07
  46.   indrajaya, where is Alan Johnston you promised free last Sunday 20:21  |  Genuine Tosefta 21/06/07
  47.   An unofficial offer to Ha`aretz fromt he Jerusalem Post 20:38  |  Boris Celser 21/06/07
  48.   MOSHE ARENS ROCKS 20:47  |  Leon 21/06/07
  49.   Spelling it out for Natallie in Los Angeles. 21:19  |  Gerd Tillmans 21/06/07
  50.   Moshe Arens, One deluded escapaists himself 21:27  |  Dutch 21/06/07
  51.   Clap of the trap variety 21:42  |  tadchase 21/06/07
  52.   Contrast this vision of hell 22:14  |  H50 21/06/07
  53.   ARENS 22:35  |  yussel der schreiber 21/06/07
  54.   #8 At least she says sensible things and contributes maturely 22:51  |  Don Camillo 21/06/07
  55.   #36 So you ran away and fled the UK? 22:53  |  Don Camillo 21/06/07
  56.   #50 more of doris ASCLAIRVOYANT IN WAITING 22:54  |  paul harris 21/06/07
  57.   To H50 23:02  |  Paul 21/06/07
  58.   Ben Olofs, Re Dose of reality 23:18  |  Dutch 21/06/07
  59.   Israel needs more people like Moshe Arens 00:01  |  Jeff Ward 22/06/07
  60.   What do parrots do? Well, they parrot whatever they`re told. 00:14  |  Hannah 22/06/07
  61.   VIVA ARENS AND LIBERMAN. NO ONE BELIEVES IN THAT FALSE PEACE 00:57  |  MIRA 22/06/07
  62.   Ben Olofs, Re Dose of reality 00:59  |  Dutch 22/06/07
  63.   Ben Olofs, Re Dose of reality 00:59  |  Dutch 22/06/07
  64.   # 4 Success, What`s That? 01:18  |  Tony Anthony 22/06/07
  65.   Gaza=a seperate entity 02:48  |  even 22/06/07
  66.   60Hannah You just show your Ignorance re Writer`s qualifications 03:18  |  Logician 22/06/07
  67.   #14 Jasmine 03:38  |  Johnboy 22/06/07
  68.   60Hannah For your Education re Arens "the Parrot" 04:12  |  Logician 22/06/07
  69.   Arens 04:17  |  michael 22/06/07
  70.   #68, so-called logician 04:45  |  Hannah 22/06/07
  71.   Post 60. Parrots 06:47  |  Johnny Weintraub 22/06/07
  72.   End game 06:50  |  Curious