The most dangerous moment for Israel

By CAL THOMAS

Israel is facing a threat to its existence more serious than the five defensive wars it has fought against Arab aggressors.

Unable to win on the battlefield, Arab and Palestinian leaders are forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to submit to demands from "friends" and foes alike who subscribe to the formula that relinquishing land seized by Israel to buttress its security and not building in its capital city will somehow bring "peace to the region."

An editorial over the weekend in the Orlando Sentinel summarized this dangerous view. "The biggest responsibility falls to Israel" if the "peace process" is to move forward, the editorial asserted.

The weekend meeting in Gaza called by Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat was a further effort to increase pressure on Israel to give up more land, more quickly, than it has already pledged to relinquish. Is it just coincidence that many of the nations Arafat invited are part of the pro-Arab group that votes against Israel in the United Nations or that they have a history of active or passive complicity in the extermination of Jews during World War II? Now these countries demand Israel give up exclusive control over her 3,000-year-old capital of Jerusalem as well as make other deadly concessions.

The Israeli Cabinet's unanimous decision to proceed with the building of a new Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem was a good one, especially because the PLO and Arab side have failed to live up to the Oslo peace accords. For true peace to break out, there must be reciprocity.

The pledge by the PLO to end terrorism and arrest terrorists is a joke. After the arrest of "senior terrorist" Ahmed Tabuk, the PLO released him and announced plans to name Tabuk to the PLO police force in Hebron.

Nowhere is the PLO's ultimate objective more clear than in its covenant. The PLO promised, as part of Oslo, to change the covenant within two months of the inauguration of the new Palestinian Council. That means it should have been changed by May 7, 1996, and language removed calling for the elimination of Israel and the use of violence to achieve political ends. In fact, the text remains unchanged and PLO leaders have made it clear any changes will be tied to Israel's compliance with PLO objectives, a clear violation of Oslo that the West ignores, along with many other violations.

Jordan's King Hussein sends a hot letter to Netanyahu, accusing him of flirting with war in his drive to build a small number of Jewish homes in East Jerusalem. This is the same man who cheered as Saddam Hussein indiscriminately launched SCUD missiles against Israeli civilians during the Gulf War, an action enthusiastically endorsed by Arafat, who now wants to be considered a great statesman.

A new poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion shows nearly 41 percent of Palestinians favor suicide attacks against Israeli targets and other nonpeaceful means for obtaining their objectives. Seventy-two percent of the 500 adult Palestinians surveyed in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron want negotiations either halted or abolished.

Every nation pressuring Israel to cede more land and not build in its ancient capital acquired its land and its capital by force from prior "owners." Those nations calling on Israel to divide itself would never think of asking World War I allies to return land seized from the 400-year-old Ottoman Empire, which they awarded to France and which are now called Syria and Lebanon.

What are the alternatives for Israel? Simply to stand firm and fight if attacked and never give up or give in until its enemies recognize only sincere negotiations and the keeping of agreements already made will bring peace.

Los Angeles Times Syndicate