[iwar] [fc:The.Israelis.miss.a.chance]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-31 05:28:11
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 05:28:11 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:The.Israelis.miss.a.chance]
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                            Paul Greenberg
                          October 31, 2001
                      The Israelis miss a chance
Israel is passing up a valuable opportunity to win the world's good
will.
By sending armed troops into Arab towns in search of terrorists,
Israel is again reaping criticism in Washington, at the United Nations
and in European capitals. It is losing the fight for world opinion,
and we all know how important world opinion is.
It was different a decade ago, when the Gulf War was on and Scud
missiles were falling on Tel Aviv. Back then the Israelis were
exercising remarkable restraint, certainly for Israelis.
They were trying on gas masks in Israel's population centers. Air raid
sirens shattered the peace of Jerusalem. Every day brought new reports
of civilian casualties. Arab villagers stood on their rooftops and
cheered as Saddam's missiles headed for their targets. CNN was showing
film of devastated houses and apartment buildings.
And yet the Israelis held their fire, knowing that to strike back
would endanger another delicate coalition of Arab and Western states
that another Bush administration had managed to cobble together.
Those were the days. As they buried their dead, Israelis were showered
with expressions of sympathy from the world's capitals. It was a PR
coup.
The president of the United States dispatched Patriot missile crews to
Israel -- the first direct American military support in the history of
the Jewish state. The Patriots didn't stop all that many Scuds, but
think of the moral support they must have lent.
European parliaments held off on their usual anti-Israel resolutions
and instead expressed sympathy for a people that refused to fight
back.
The Vatican, though it didn't recognize Israel, came out against
firing missiles at its cities.
Here at home, even the National Council of Churches, which seldom if
ever has had a good word for the Jewish state, deplored the attacks on
Israeli cities.
The understanding and admiration just poured in. For there is nothing
that seems to unite the world in sympathy like the sight of Jews dying
without fighting back.
Remember when the Jews of Europe, the few who had survived, were
Displaced Persons with nowhere to go? Resolutions were passed,
sympathy expressed, classes in Holocaust literature inaugurated.
But now that there's a place that'll take in any Jewish refugee in the
world -- it's part of Israel's fundamental law -- there's no such
thing as a Jewish refugee anymore, and the world's sympathy has dried
up.
If only the Israelis had taken a cue from their Arab cousins and left
the refugees to rot in camps rather than integrating them into their
state, maybe the world would have a higher opinion of Israel today.
Chances to suffer need to be seized or they'll be gone forever. That's
why Israelis shouldn't respond when suicide bombers blow up their
buses, schools, pizzerias and seaside discos. Or even assassinate the
occasional Cabinet minister. For the world loves Jewish martyrs.
(Maybe that's why there have been so many of them.)
Here was a chance to win the world's sympathy and America's lasting
gratitude (again). All the Israelis had to do was just sit there and
take it.
Instead, without any understanding of the importance of public
relations, the Israelis seem determined to hunt down the killers of
their people.
Even if it means sending commandos in search of terrorists. Even if it
means blowing up the killers' nests and launching a war against
terror. Even if it means attacking the Palestinian authorities who
shelter the terrorists and urge them on, and even join in the killing
now and then. Who do these Israelis think they are, Americans?
The pity is, the Israelis were doing so well for a while. They offered
Yasser Arafat a state of his own, encompassing almost all his
territorial demands, and even offered to share Jerusalem, their
capital. Whatever else he wanted, they were prepared to negotiate.
They never got a counteroffer. Unless you consider a yearlong campaign
of terror an offer too good to refuse.
A year ago, it had never been clearer who sought peace in the Mideast
and who wanted war. If the Israelis had just buried their dead and
gone about their business, rewarding every act of violence with
another concession, soon enough they would have been assured of a
flood of condolences.
Instead they're fighting back and reaping only denunciation. If only
the Palestine Liquidation Organization could be given its own state,
with its own army and its own borders -- borders that other Arab
armies could then cross without opposition on their way into Israel's
heartland. Then the stage would be set for the greatest wave of
worldwide sympathy Israel has ever enjoyed.
Think of the possibilities: The late Jewish state would be mourned
extensively. Once again there would be Jewish refugees for the world
to cry over. Streets in Paris and London would be renamed in honor of
Haifa and Tel Aviv. Benefits would be held at the nicest hotels.
The most eloquent speeches would be delivered in memory of Israel by
the statesmen and pundits now condemning her for having the poor taste
to insist on living. Art exhibits and poetry readings could be
dedicated to the State of Israel (1948-2001). It would be glorious.
Not a lot of Israelis might be left to appreciate the heartwarming
eulogies, but that would make the whole, worldwide spectacle only more
lugubrious. The good will might be posthumous, but it would be
abundant.
What the Israelis need right now is somebody who knows something about
winning over world opinion. They don't seem to realize what an
opportunity they're missing.

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