Window for war
(Washington, D.C.): You have to hand it to the Palestinians. They have gotten away with fabricating a nationality where none existed prior to Yasser Arafat’s terrorism-backed strutting on the world stage. They have enjoyed global successes in staking historical claims to territory that clearly post-dated those of the Jews.
Now, notwithstanding the fact that they and other Arabs have waged war against Israel incessantly – via both conventional and unconventional means – ever since the modern Jewish State was founded in 1948, they have obtained the support of even President Bush for the ultimate reward: a sovereign state of Palestine.
Be Careful What You Wish For
Unfortunately, there is every reason to believe that such an entity will amount to something Mr. Bush would never knowingly countenance, let alone support – the creation of yet another state-sponsor of terror.
To be sure, the President has qualified his readiness to endorse a Palestinian state – and even to expend political capital over the next four years to bring it about – on the premise that such an entity will be democratic and willing to live in peace with its neighbors.
Yet, thanks to certain realities of the Palestinian proto-polity, and the Arab world more generally, the President will surely be confounded in his hope that elections scheduled for next January will result in the elevation of a new leadership more inclined to create a durable peace with Israel than was Arafat. Consider the following:
Then, as Saudi Arabia supplanted the Kremlin in the role of chief foreign sponsor of Palestinian terror, an Islamist overlay developed. The result was to add a full-fledged “culture of death” to Arafat’s poisonous brainwashing. Hence, the spectacle of mothers and even children declaring their desire to kill themselves in order to bring about a Palestinian state on the ashes of Israel.
Leveraging Elections to Advance the Arafat Agenda
These realities are currently permitting cynical Palestinians to calculate that they can advance their abiding “liberation” agenda by exploiting President Bush’s laudable commitment to democracy. At this writing, they are citing the need to advance elections as a means of achieving the same objectives that Arafat long sought: the removal of all Israeli military forces from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, an end to Israel’s targeted killings of terrorist leaders, the freeing of terrorists held by Israel and the insertion of foreign monitors and/or troops between Israelis and Palestinians. As in Lebanon, such foreigners can be counted on to provide no protection from attacks on the former – while impeding Israeli preemptive action against the latter that might prevent such strikes, or even retaliation in their aftermath.
The Bottom Line
If past experience is any guide, such steps will not conduce to useful elections, let alone peace between Palestine’s Jews and Arabs. Rather, if indulged in the absence of genuine democratic institution-building and socialization in the practice of representative government that is respectful of minority rights, they will produce Palestinian elections that amount to little more than one-man, one-vote, one-time. And, under present circumstances, that vote will go to someone who will remain committed to an objective clearly not in America’s interests: the establishment of a state-sponsor of terror and the destruction of the state of Israel.
Mr. Gaffney is the host of Secure Freedom Radio, a nationally-syndicated radio program heard weeknights throughout the country. He is an associate author of highly acclaimed Shariah: The Threat to America and the publisher of over a dozen other books and monographs from the Center for Security Policy Press.
In April 1987, Mr. Gaffney was nominated by President Reagan to become the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, the senior position in the Defense Department with responsibility for policies involving U.S.-USSR relations, nuclear forces, arms control, missile defense policy and U.S.-European defense ties. He acted in that capacity for seven months during which time, he was the Chairman of the prestigious High Level Group, NATO’s senior politico-military committee. He also represented the Secretary of Defense in key U.S.-Soviet negotiations and ministerial meetings.
From August 1983 until November 1987, Mr. Gaffney was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy under Assistant Secretary Richard Perle.
From February 1981 to August 1983, Mr. Gaffney was a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by the late Senator John Tower (R-Texas). And, in the latter 1970’s, Mr. Gaffney served as an aide to the late Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson (D-Washington) in the areas of defense and foreign policy.
Mr. Gaffney holds a Master of Arts degree in International Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Mr. Gaffney’s leadership has been recognized by numerous organizations including: the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award (1987), the U.S. Business and Industry Council’s Defender of the National Interest Award (1994), the Navy League of the United States’ Alfred Thayer Mahan Literary Achievement Award (1999), and the Zionist Organization of America’s “Louis Brandeis Award” (2003), the Western Conservative Summit’s Stephen H. Long Award (2015), the Council for National Policy’s George Washington Military Leadership Award (2016) and the IMPACT Award from Ginni Thomas and United in Purpose (2017).
Mr. Gaffney was born in 1953 and resides in the Washington, D.C. area.
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