Blood On Our Hands: Concessions Demanded By U.S. ‘Peace Processors’ Are Endangering Israeli Security, Lives

(Washington, D.C.): The victims of
today’s murderous terrorist bombings in
Jerusalem are more than the latest
statistics that make the period since the
Oslo Accords were signed the most bloody
of any comparable era in Israel’s
history. Their loss represents a further
indictment of the so-called “peace
process” that is increasingly
sustained by Clinton Administration
pressure on Israel to take steps
incompatible with the Jewish State’s
security requirements.

If At First You Don’t
Succeed…

After the 30 July bombing, Israel
closed the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a
step it took once again today. The reason
this measure had to be reimposed
— and, more to the point, quite possibly
the reason why three of those Yasser
Arafat persists in calling
“martyrs” were able to blow
themselves up in a crowded Jerusalem mall
— is the fact that American diplomats
impressed upon the Israeli government
that the earlier closure should be eased
as a lubricant to Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright’s upcoming visit to
the region.

Even if the perpetrators of these
heinous crimes were not among the 4,000
or so Palestinian Arabs permitted to
enter Israel each day since the 1
September partial lifting of the closure,
they assuredly benefitted from two
developments that are direct bi-products
of the “peace process”:

1. the creation of safe
   havens and other infrastructure
   throughout the Palestinian-
   controlled territories that aids
   and abets terrorism
   (terrorism that will not be
   confined to attacks against
   Israelis — as the American
   victims of today’s bombing makes
   clear — or Israel, itself); and
2. the decimation of what
   internationally renowned
   terrorism expert Steven
   Emerson calls Israel’s
   “early warning system”
   — the informants, covert
   operatives and many
   public-spirited Palestinians who,
   in the absence of Arafat’s gestapo-like
   intimidation, would help prevent
   the murders of Israelis. These
   amount to pincer movements aimed
   at the heart of Israeli security;
   if allowed to continue, there is
   no doubt that more innocent blood
   — perhaps much more —
   will be shed.

The Bottom Line

Continued representations that the “peace
process” simply needs to be
“restarted,”
“reinvigorated” or
“resuscitated” miss the point:
There is no peace process worthy of the
name. Like the fatuous “security
dialogue” (that threatens to do
little more than compromise the
apolitical character and sources and
methods of U.S. intelligence⁽¹⁾)
that is the pretext for Mrs. Albright’s
travels next week, subordinating
substance to process will only bring
grief to the United States and its most
important regional ally, Israel.

The Clinton Administration must cease
its campaign of behind-the-scenes
pressure on Israel to make further
concessions — concessions that will only
place more blood on American hands and
jeopardize U.S. interests in the Middle
East and beyond.

Among the other, overdue actions the
Administration must take to bring its
policy into line with reality is to
recognize groups like Hamas for what they
are — terrorist organizations. The
Center for Security Policy applauds an
initiative announced today by Rep.
Charles Schumer (D-NY) that
would cut the State Department’s funds
until such time as it does so.

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1. See the recent
Center Decision Brief
entitled ‘Say It Ain’t So’:
Ross’ Trilateral Intelligence Gambit
Threatens U.S. Security, Interests
(No. 97-D 112,
14 August 1997).