An interesting read from Haaretz. It’s quite clear that the moderate Israelis are beginning to realize the negative implications of Israeli occupation on the society within. This article also factors out any long term stability and internal security for Israel through a military solution.
It’s only a matter of time
By Yoel Marcus
If an IDF computer, as the myth goes, rather than a military copywriter, gave the Muqata operation the code name “Matter of Time,” dumb it’s not. If you look at the situation overall and analyze it coldly, there are seven issues that are a matter of time:
**1. This is the first time since the occupation that Palestinians have violated a curfew in several cities as a spontaneous protest against the IDF’s hazing of Arafat. They galloped through the streets in noisy protest, totally ignoring our forces. The IDF, using its brains this time, did not respond.
A hasty decision would have ended in a bloodbath. But it’s only a matter of time before not hundreds, but thousands and tens of thousands, take to the streets during a total curfew. And then, either some stupid officer will give the order to open fire, or the army will accept the fact that an entire people cannot be kept under lock and key. Not because it looks bad on television, but because it will end badly.**
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It’s only a matter of time before we pay the price for refusing to comply with the decision of the UN Security Council, which is demanding that we stop the siege on Arafat and withdraw our troops from the Muqata and Gaza. When America doesn’t veto the decision, but only abstains, it means it doesn’t object to this anti-Israel resolution. Bush, like Truman during the Korean War, needs the backing of the UN and the symbolic participation of as many armies as possible in his military offensive. This is not the time for Bush to break with the UN because of our obstinacy, and declare war on Iraq on his own. Friends are friends, but let’s not forget that this guy has Texan blood in his veins.
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It’s only a matter of time before we get to the point where Bush rakes us over the coals for this business at the Muqata. Aside from his public denunciations of Operation “Matter of Time,” Powell called Sharon on the phone and warned him, in the name of the president, that he had better snap to it with respect to the UN resolution. Bush is hopping mad, they say. Also over Sharon’s warnings and insinuations that we might nuke Iraq.
With Sharon’s remarks and Peres in the cheering section, weirdly urging Bush on, somebody could get the impression that the Elders of Zion are calling the shots. Sharon can forget about discounts from Bush when the time rolls around for a Palestinian state.
**4. It’s only a matter of time before a political-governmental crisis erupts here. For weeks, Fuad has been promising to dismantle 10 illegal outposts. Tsali Reshef and Mitzna are talking about 109. But every day Fuad proves again that he hasn’t the slightest influence over Sharon, and Peres has become his defender. It won’t be them, and it won’t be Sharon. It will be Effi Eitam who pushes Labor out, as he moves in and takes over the government.
- It’s only a matter of time before Israel finds itself in one of worst socio-economic crises it has ever known: a 15-percent drop in industrial exports, negative growth, a slide in credit ratings and spiraling defense costs, compounded by the expense of protecting the settlers and the lack of progress in seeking a political solution. Then there’s the cost of preparing for the war on Iraq (every Arrow missile, whether it hits the target or not, means another $3 million).
The director-general of the Finance Ministry is talking about a budget that could be fatal. It’s only a matter of time before Israel is incapable of covering its defense costs, which are largely the consequence of its own policies.**
**6. The Islamic Movement rally in Umm al-Fahm shows that our fragile coexistence, neglected and disregarded for so many years, is built on very thin ice with a mass of boiling lava underneath. If a solution to the Palestinian problem is not found soon, it’s only a matter of time before we find ourselves facing an intifada at home. **
- At the moment, Sharon is both Arafat’s protector and bodyguard, responsible for ensuring his safety, and anxious to climb down from the Muqata tree and leap straight into Gaza.
In Lebanon, Sharon talked about 40 kilometers when he was on the outskirts of Beirut. Now he’s hit the 100-kilometer mark as he marches toward a major war in blood-drenched Gaza. Without a political initiative, Israel is heading for a serious defense crisis, inside the country and on its borders. Sharon may be the piper, but whole government is responsible. Arrogance can last only so long. In Golda’s administration, it ended all of a sudden, one Saturday, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon.
