A Lesson in Political Science

 

 

Hello

 

There is so much talk and arguments and counter-arguments everywhere, but even learned media people and scholars fail to see the basic facts for what they are. Please enlighten them.

 

Henry Kissinger said: There is never a Foreign Policy; Only Domestic Policy.

 

It means: If you want to really understand the actions of leaders and politicians, never listen to their foreign policy statements; Instead, examine closely their domestic constraints and pressures, and you will understand the REAL reasons behind their actions.

 

Case in Point:

 

 

The REAL Reason Arafat turned down the Palestinian State offered him in 2000 at Camp David

Barak, Clinton & Arafat

at Camp David

 

1. Arafat founded his PLO organization in 1964. Its fundamental tenet was: to destroy the State of Israel and to return the refugees to the places they demanded inside Israel (Right of Return).

(No mention of a Palestinian State then; this came much later).

 

2. Since then Arafat became a prisoner of his own rhetoric. In Camp David he was offered virtually everything EXCEPT the right of return of the Palestinian refugees to Israel proper. If he had taken the offer, he would be considered a traitor who went back on his basic tenet and would be promptly shot in the head.

 

3. So Arafat turned down the Camp David agreement simply to stay alive.

 

 

 

The REAL reason Arafat utterly blew his chance

to become the leader of a Palestinian State

    Marwan Barghoutti, Tanzim      Haled Mashal, Hamas (with Hezbollah's          Jibril Rajoub,                 

                                                                                         Nasrallah)                   Preventinve Security,

                                                                                                  West bank

Tawfik Tirawi, Palestinian         Muhammad Dahlan,                Ramadan Abdullah     Nasser Abu Hamid, Al

General Intelligence                 Preventive Security, Gaza        Shalla, Islamic Jihad    Martyrs Brigade (picture absent)

 

 

1. In the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, Arafat pledged to crack down on terrorist groups and ensure an end to terrorism.

 

2. From a PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY point of view, such a step was vital in order to ensure that the PA can actually control and rule the territories handed to it, with no independent 'private armies' constantly challenging its authority.

 

3. To achieve this, the PA was given permission to establish its own armed police force (actually an army) and the weapons for this force were supplied by Israel.

 

3. Fact: After Israel was established and the Israel Defense Force was established, the State's first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion did not hesitate to: (A) dismantle the Palmach (the military arm of the Hagana - Largest Jewish pre-state defense organization), and also open fire on the arms ship Altalena which brought arms to the Etzel Second Jewish military organization, and sink the ship.

Ben Gurion said: "There is only one Israeli Defense Force. There will be no independent armies. The Armed Forces will be subordinate to the Government of Israel only and to no one else".

This was proven historically right, to consolidate a democratic government and not allow an anarchy of disparate armed factions setting their own agenda.

 

4. Arafat did not do it. Despite the opportunity he was given, and the weapons he was given, he neither dismantled nor cracked down on the Hamas and the Jihad. Moreover: he let his own security forces develop into an unruly assortment of autonomous armed gangs with numerous gang-leaders, each setting up his own agenda.

(For example, Marwan Barghoutti, head of the Tanzim armed militia of the PLO, was one of the main instigators of the Sept. 2000 intifada, while Jibril Rajoub, head of the PA preventive security armed force, refrained from taking part in the intifada).

 

5. This was the exact process by which Arafat blew his chance to consolidate one centralized power, with one centralized armed force subordinate only to the government, which is the one essential pre-requisite to the formation of a Sovereign State.

 

 

The REAL reason Arafat started the intifada

right after the Camp David summit

 

Slaughtered victims at the Cafe Moment Homicide Bombing in Jerusalem, March 9, 2002

 

 

1. Having allowed numerous armed factions to develop and amass power, Arafat found himself facing a pack of hungry wolves vying for his throne.

 

2. His own authority at stake and his chair shaky, Arafat pulled the oldest trick in every dictator's book: When faced with internal turmoil, designate an external enemy and send all parties after him, to avert the wrath that will otherwise be directed against you.

 

3. So Arafat started an intifada against an external enemy (Israel) only to avert the danger imminent upon his own throne. He sent the different armed factions to compete among themselves as to who commits more terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. It became the national sport, with a weekly league tallying the "scores" and announcing the weekly champion. It received active encouragement of the PA controlled media and from Arafat himself in his 'motivation' speeches. It received direct financing from the PA itself, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. It united the Palestinian people against one external "enemy" who has just offered them a free independent state.

 

4. This 'national sport' of terrorist attacks, fuelled by a fundamentalist Moslem ideology, got out of hand and forced Israel to take military steps to curb it.

 

5. The current situation is that there is no actual Head of the Palestinian entity anyone can talk to and reach an agreement with. It is a violent anarchy. Arafat today is little more than a symbol.

 

Summary:

 

1. Like every average politician who's prime objective is always to retain his

    position and not lose it, Arafat turned down the Palestinian State offered

    him at Camp David and started the intifada to: (A) avoid being overthrown

    from power; (B) stay alive.

 

2. Even today, everything Arafat says or does is only for his own political and

    personal survival. Follow it and you will see for yourself.

 

3. If we also wanted to ascribe any measure of Integrity to Arafat, we could say

    that Arafat did not betray the basic credo he has been fighting for all his life,

    namely: the destruction of the State of Israel.

 

    If this is the case, it makes Arafat no different than Hamas.

 

    Israelis Want Peace. Terror Kills Peace.

---

 

Please pass it to people who write or talk in the media, so that they will be better informed on the real picture.

Please pass it on to people in campuses.

Please pass it on to everyone you know.

 

 

Motti Morell