By Bernard J. Shapiro

Never mind that all of Arafat's "concessions" had already been made at Oslo in 1993, the Oslo-Jericho, Oslo-Jericho II, and Hebron Accords. Why shouldn't he sell the same rug to the Israelis for the fifth time? While he agreed to fight terrorism, change the PLO Covenant, stop Nazi-like incitement against Israelis and Jews, extradite terrorists, and destroy terrorists bases, we all know he will not live up to any of it. After all HE IS THE TERRORIST AND INCITER. Can one convince the wolf NOT to dine on sheep. Never mind that every American guarantee to Israel at Hebron, signed by U.S. Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, was breached. Never mind that every promise made by Prime Minister Netanyahu in his election campaign of 1996 has been violated.

Rafael Eitan of Tsomet had this to say of the Wye Agreement: "There is no way this agreement cannot be a disaster. The 13% withdrawal is wrong on its own and when you add this to the fact that our delegation had apparently caved in and failed to get anything at all from the other side, one wonders why they went out there at all. It was possible to capitulate with less humiliation at home. This is not how an independent state negotiates. This is how a vassal state handles its affairs."

The important thing to remember is that this is one more domino falling. One more step in the eventual destruction of Israel and it's replacement with a new terrorist State of Palestine. In the February 1997 issue of THE MACCABEAN we published a report of The Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of the U.S Congress entitled: APPROACHING THE NEW CYCLE OF ARAB-ISRAELI FIGHTING by Yossef Bodansky and Vaughn S. Forrest. This intelligence paper outlined how Arafat signed an agreement (on behalf of Palestine) with Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Iran for a combined effort to destroy Israel. The strategy was simple: The Palestinians would disrupt life in Israel through forest fires, intifada, katyusha rockets, road blocks, sniper attacks, and assaults on isolated Jewish communities. Then, while Israel's ability to mobilize its reserve forces were paralyzed by the disorder, there would be a simultaneous attack by Arab nations. That attack would be preceded by a massive missile bombardment on Israeli population centers. Commando units of the various Arab armies would land by helicopters in areas Israel has turned over to Arafat. They would be equipped with the latest anti-air missiles and a wide variety of artillery capable of making life unbearable along Israel's densely populated coastal area from Tel Aviv to Haifa...

I don't need to go on much further. We all know about the grim days at the beginning of the Yom Kippur War. A war nearly lost because of a conceptual failure (that the Arabs would never dare attack). My dear friend, what we are witnessing today is a horrendous conceptual failure: That Oslo can bring peace. The evidence has already come in and we have reported it: Oslo has failed, in fact, it never had a chance of success.

Israelis my age have fought in four wars and I understand their desire to be free of constant conflict. Unfortunately there is no magic cure. I wish I could write more optimistic words. Beyond the neighboring states that Israel is negotiating with now lies another ring of unmitigated hostility led by Islamic fundamentalists like those in Iran. Jews have always lived in a jungle some call the world. As in most jungles, only the strong survive. The moment an animal stops fighting for survival he becomes the main course for another hungry jungle beast. The attempt to integrate into the Middle East jungle was always naive though well meaning.

As Jews we are all involved in this historic struggle to survive. It is not our fate or that of the Israelis that we should retire from this struggle. The only peace the Arabs are prepared to give us is the peace of the grave.

In blood and fire was Israel born and on a hot anvil was she forged. The brave young soldiers of Israel must take a quick glance back to the crematoria of Auschwitz and then go forth to face the enemy knowing that there is still no alternative (ein briera)

..........Bernard J. Shapiro, Editor