Redrawing the Map

The Wall Street Journal Editorial
March 7, 2002
 
Would Winston Churchill have sat down for negotiations with
an enemy whose ultimate goal was to drive the British into 
the North Sea? That essentially is what is being asked of 
Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon by those who claim that 
the alternative to today's escalation of violence is a 
"peace" plan, say along the lines of the one being promoted 
by Saudi Arabia. 

Trawl the Palestinian Authority's Web site and you will happen 
upon the map pictured nearby showing the "historical" Palestine. 
Some 290 miles long and 85 miles wide with a long border on 
the Mediterranean, it is surrounded on land by Egypt, Jordan, 
Syria and Lebanon. The message is unmistakable: This is the
Palestine that we want to create. There is no room for an 
Israel here. Kindly look elsewhere. 

The Saudi plan is more PR exercise than peace mission. 
It proposes returning Israel to the statelet of its 1967 
borders -- only eight miles wide at its middle. That would 
certainly complicate Israeli defenses, especially if Palestinian 
police keep getting rocket shipments from Iran. Then there 
are the small matters of the transfer of more than 200,000
settlers and the handover of Jerusalem's Old City. But the 
real problem with the Saudi plan is that it will not resolve 
the niggling fact that denying Israel's right to exist is 
still de facto Palestinian Authority, indeed pan-Arab, 
policy. 

Israel is at war once again. The dispute is not over a chunk 
of real estate, settlements or holy sites; it is over the 
Jewish state's right to exist. This isn't new, but it's easily 
forgotten by those who believe peace is just a question of 
the right plan with the right diplomats pushing it.

Mr. Sharon has done much that is right on the political side 
of this war. In sidelining Yasser Arafat as a bargaining 
partner, he has forced the Palestinian leader to declare his 
hand. Either he has real influence over the suicide bombers 
and those who send them to their deaths, or he does not. 
If he does, Mr. Sharon will talk. If he does not, what's 
there to talk about? Mr. Arafat has responded by grasping 
onto the Saudi peace plan, but the suicide bombings and 
sniper fire continue. 

Mr. Sharon's military strategy is measured, and that causes 
him trouble with both Israeli hawks and peaceniks. In response 
to his critics, he said this week that "this will be an 
aggressive and continuous campaign, without letup, and when 
the other side understands that it can't achieve anything
through terror, it will be easier to enter negotiations." 
In other words, Israel's strategy is to ratchet up the 
damage until the Palestinians are ready for real negotiations. 

Some critics say Israel can't win a drawn-out war of attrition. 
They point to opposition from a group of Israeli reservists, 
the escalating divisions within the Sharon government and the 
growing international concern over the death toll. The suggestion 
is that Mr. Sharon should look for a chance for jaw-jaw 
instead. 

No normal human being can look at the growing number of body 
bags and not wonder whether something might be done differently. 
The past week has been one of the bloodiest since the intifada 
resumed in September 2000. But it is too early to declare the 
military strategy a failure. 

If the Sharon strategy can be faulted it is probably for being 
too cautious in pursuing the kingpins of Hamas and Arafat's 
own Fatah faction of the PLO. Unless those who recruit, equip, 
organize and inspire terrorist attacks are arrested or killed, 
the danger to Israeli security will remain and the war will 
go on. 

Mr. Sharon is now addressing this need. Yesterday Israeli 
forces razed the home of Issam Abu Daka, the fugitive leader 
of the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation 
of Palestine, and the man Israelis believe masterminded a 
deadly assault against an Israeli outpost several months ago. 
A Hamas activist was killed in his Gaza City home and Israeli
troops destroyed several homes of suspected militants. Also 
yesterday Israeli F-16 warplanes flattened an office building 
used by the Palestinian "police" chief in Gaza. 

Israel has no choice but to wage this kind of war until its 
enemies give up the idea of destroying Israel. A real conclusion 
to the violence in the Middle East requires Mr. Arafat and 
his followers to change the map inside their heads. Until they 
do, Jews and Palestinians alike will continue to suffer, and 
no new "peace plan" will make any difference.