Carter Country

Carter, unlike Bush, faces reality on West Bank issue

My respect for President Carter disappeared years ago. My respect for Bob Novak has been knocked down a nudge on this issue.

Israel leaving the West Bank will not end Palestinian terrorism against Israel or bring peace to the region. A substantial number, if not most, of Palestinians view ALL of Israel as being an illegal occupation and will not rest until it is "wiped off the map" like the Iranian president has predicted.

Look at the simple facts of just the past few years. In Gaza, Israel completely dismantled all of its settlements, pulled out, and let the Palestinians run things on their own. What did the Palestinians do with their new found freedom from Israel? Before the last Israeli soldier left, they started launching rockets into Israel from their now liberated homeland. In the first few months they dug an underground tunnel into Israel and kidnapped an Israeli soldier (who is still missing by the way). Then they overthrew their own elected government and declared Gaze to be under Sharia.

This did not happen because Israel refuses to leave the West Bank. It happened because Israel left Gaza. If Israel leaves the West Bank, the exact same thing will happen. Those who want Israel destroyed will continue to attack Israel and no concession in the world will change that. To this day, the rocket attacks continue from Gaza. The West Bank, on the other hand, is relatively peaceful because the legitimately elected government of Palestine is running the show. The instant Israel leaves, that government will again be overthrown and Hamas and its backers will get another safe haven from which to attack Israel.

Palestine is not nor will ever be a democracy any time in the near future. If it was, you might see concessions from Israel resulting in a two-state solution. Instead, Palestine will be like every other Arab nation. Whoever has the most guns runs the country. And the people who have the most guns in the West Bank and Gaza are the ones who want to destroy Israel. Even if 90% of Palestinians would be satisfied with a two-state solution, none of them would ever stand up for Israel's right to exist or work against Hamas or other groups. This is because they would taken out in the street and shot within five minutes of saying anything that might be construed as a positive comment about Israel. You can negotiate with a democracy. You cannot negotiate with armed thugs. This is something Carter never understood as president and never will.

Also, by the way, the two-state solution was what the original UN mandate called for and what Israel went along with in 1948. The sole reason Israel has had to occupy so many other territories is because every time they attempted to play nice with their neighbors and try to work within the mandate of the two-state solution, they would be invaded. After implementing almost 90% of Oslo, they got Arafat flipping over tables and calling for a new intifada. Why? Because without Israel as an enemy, Arafat and his thug successors in Palestine have nothing to offer their own people.

A two-state solution is what the U.S. wants. It is not what the majority of Palestinians want and it is not what Israel should want unless they are willing to do what they should have done a long time ago. I stick by what I said several years ago, which is Israel should completely withdraw from the West Bank, and as soon as the militants start up their attacks again, Israel should go full force into both territories and occupy and settle them for good. Right now, the status quo is about Israel's only good alternative to keep the violence to a minimum. The day they withdraw from the West Bank, they should either be prepared to fight another major war or just give up the fight altogether.