April 23, 2007
Hard truths for Israel
On this, Israel's 59th Independence Day, Steven Plaut, Professor of Economics at the University of Haifa, presents 35 hard truths about the Middle East. Learning them might be tough; not learning them will be even harsher.
The first 4:
1. The Arab world has never come to terms with Israel's existence within
ANY set of borders whatsoever and is still seeking the annihilation of
Israel and its population.
2. ANY Palestinian state, regardless of who rules it, will produce
escalated violence, terror and warfare in the Middle East, and neither
stability nor peaceful relations. ANY Palestinian state will seek warfare
with Israel and not solutions to the economic and social problems of its
citizens.3. The only reason Arafat and the PLO ever wanted control of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip was to use them as bases for attacks on Israel. This is the
only real use to which they will be put by any future Palestinian state.4. There is no alternative that will stop the bloodshed and war in the
Middle East other than the adoption by Israel of an unambiguous policy of
R&D, that is, of Re-Occupation and Denazification of the West Bank and
Gaza Strip. Every other alternative proposal for stabilization and
pacification is delusional.