Moshe Arens

Arafat's terrorism cannot be suppressed by remote control. The terrorists must be engaged on their home ground in Palestinian cities and villages. If this mission is resolutely pursued it will put an end to the suffering of Israelis and Palestinians. If not, the killing will go on.

Only continued IDF operations in Palestinian towns and villages can reach those Palestinians involved in planning and organizing violent acts against Israel and impress the Palestinian population with Israel's ability to control the situation. It cannot be done by remote control.

There is world of difference between Israel's position then and now. An American move against Iraq is not likely to be backed by a coalition including Arab countries as was the case in 1991, and there will therefore be no reason to fear that an Israeli response to Iraqi missiles falling on Israel might fracture the coalition.

In these troubled times, when terror is infesting the streets of our cities and unemployment is growing, while the budget is winding its tortuous way through coalition negotiations boding no good for the coming year, President Bush's State of the Union message to the American people was music to Israeli ears.

One of Abba Eban's better known aphorisms states that governments will take the right decision only after having exhausted all other alternatives. This is certainly appropriate regarding the handling by successive Israeli governments of the attempts by the Islamic Movement to build a mosque facing the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.

It is tragic that it took the death of four soldiers - three Bedouin and one Christian Arab - of the Bedouin reconnaissance battalion at the Africa outpost bordering the Gaza Strip, to awaken, at least for a few days, some concern in Israel for the desperate straits of Israel's Bedouin population.

Although there has not been a clear statement of mission from all the governmental deliberations and ministerial statements, it is clear from the IDF's activities these past 15 months that Chief of Staff General Mofaz has received a succession of mixed signals from the government throughout this period.

Shimon Peres and Yossi Beilin are not only unrepentant regarding the Oslo accords, of which they the were the architects; they are also incorrigible. Each in his own way continues making overtures to Yasser Arafat and pleading the PLO's cause.

Throughout the years since the Oslo agreements Arafat has deliberately permitted Hamas and Islamic Jihad to organize and operate in the areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority and allowed them to execute their murderous acts of terror whenever he thought that it suited his purpose.

Like the U.S. in Afghanistan, Israel should not negotiate with Arafat and the Palestinian Authority that promote and harbor terrorism. In any case, as has been shown without a doubt, no agreement can be achieved with them.

There are many examples in modern history of democracies subverted by anti-democratic forces exploiting the rights and freedoms that democracies provide their citizens.

Those concerned by the apparent friction in the U.S.-Israel relationship in recent weeks would do well to now and then hum the tune that Hoagy Carmichael made famous in the classic film Casablanca, "The fundamental things apply, as time goes by."

During the past week, much was made over the comparison the prime minister drew between the present situation and the policy of appeasement practiced at Munich in 1938. However, little attention was paid when official sources were quoted as drawing an analogy between Arafat's relations with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad and Ben-Gurion's order to sink the Altalena, a ship bringing arms and volunteers to Israel's War of Independence in July 1948.

With the memory of the Gulf War still fresh in his mind, is it any wonder that ever since September 11, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has been actively pursuing the formation of a grand coalition against terrorism that will include Arab states, maybe even Yasser Arafat and Syria's dictator, Bashar Assad, but will exclude Israel?

Mohammed Atta, who flew American Airlines flight 11 into the North Tower of the Commercial Trade Center in New York, and Mohammed Kbeishi, who blew himself up at the Nahariya railroad station that very same week were brothers under the skin. Both believed that their terrorist act against the "infidels" was gaining them entry to Paradise.

The two Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat, are now looking for a secluded place for a summit meeting. What are they going to talk about? They could reminisce about their meeting on the White House lawn when the unforgettable Oslo Accords were signed in the presence of President Clinton. Or they might recall the ceremony in Oslo where they were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Slowly, too slowly, Israelis are beginning to realize that the Palestinians are waging war, a war that is now entering its 11th month. Some preferred to believe that it was only the Muslim fanatics among the Palestinians that were intent on killing Jews, or that the participation in the violence by Palestinians under the direct orders of Yasser Arafat was at most marginal.

After ten months of Palestinian violence - the last five during the tenure of Ariel Sharon's government - it is time to reappraise the tactics of the security forces. While there have been localized successes, the violence continues with no end in sight.

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was asked in a recent interview what is the answer to our present predicament and replied: "The solution is to wait".

Everybody seems to be waiting for the big bang: the military onslaught against Arafat's forces, from Jenin to Hebron and from Gaza to Rafah, that will create chaos among the Palestinians and - in the same way the Big Bang 15,000,000,000 years ago blew our universe into existence - will bring forth new forces among the Palestinians, creating new dimensions of time and space in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Sharon's long-time supporters are convinced he is gritting his teeth, waiting for an opportune