Netanyahu's Peace Folly
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is still busy explaining the reasons he capitulated to Yasser Arafat and President Bill Clinton. He claims to have limited the damage of the 1993 Oslo Peace Plan. Recently Netanyahu addressed the Kenesset saying "We have plugged many of the holes in the Oslo Swiss cheese. We have fought like lions to reduce as much as possible the land to be handed over within the framework of obligations Israel had in the Oslo agreement." Now Netanyahu is in big trouble. His friends in the Kenesset are calling for new elections. No one believes any of his rhetoric. His own party members have deserted him. They claim he has lost his vision. The opposing political Labor Party states that Netanyahu never had a vision!
Talking about animals and the Israeli crisis, I remembered a story. A fox was passing through a forest when it saw its enemy, a raven, perched in the branches of a tree. The raven stayed safely out of reach. The fox tried every trick in the book to try and bring the bird down knowing that it would make a fine meal, but the raven would not hearken to the fox. The fox called out "My dear raven, will you not come down and join me? It is only proper that we should be friends". The raven answered "How can we ever live in friendship, are we not of two different worlds? You live in the animal world and I live in the bird world. You dwell on earth while I dwell closer to the heavens." Answered the fox "Don't you know that the Messiah has come? At last, the time has arrived when the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. (Issiah 11:6) Why then should we not be friends?" How wonderful it would be if the fox and raven could live together. After a few moments the silence was pierced by the loud barking of dogs. The dogs were out on a fox hunt. The fox dashed off at once leaving the raven behind, high on the tree. The little raven cried out "But master fox, didn't you tell me that the Messiah is here, we have peace and tranquillity? Why are you running from the dogs?" The fox, trying to find a hiding a place, shouted real quickly "What else can I do? The dogs are an ignorant lot; they dont know yet that the Messiah has come."
Netanyahu claims that he has made requests that would be guaranteed by the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, how foolish this is. Think for a moment, the President has been lying to the public for years. He has been held in contempt by both the Democrats and the Republicans. He has been impeached and now is facing a trial to remove him from office. Clinton says that he will guarantee peace in Israel, a country tens of thousands of miles away. He hasn't credibility here at home. For Netanyahu to quote Clinton is sheer suicide.
Netanyahu insists that Colonel Ghazi Jabali, Commander of the Palestinian Police Force, suspected of organizing terrorist cells within the Police Department and issuing instructions to carry out terror attacks against Israel, be given over to the Israelis for trial and investigation. How ridiculous can one get; to think that Yasser Arafat would turn out the Commander of his Palestinian Police to an Israeli government. In the Oslo Agreement those requests were made and ignored. Why should things change.
Yasser Arafat has not really changed. Just this week he freed the Hamas spiritual leader who calls for the destruction of Israel. How can Israel promise to free 3,000 Palestinian prisoners when the Palestinian government refuses to turn over 32 suspected murderers. The recent Whye agreement calls for CIA monitoring of the Palestinian and Israeli borders. There is no way the CIA can do that. Arafat claims he cant control the Hamas under his jurisdiction. How in the world would you think that the CIA can control Hamas?
As in the parable, Netanyahus government is the fox. The faithful and religious settlers, all 150,000 of them, who live in the West Bank, have carried out the dream of the pioneers by settling the land and building homes and schools. They are, as the raven, perched high on the tree suspecting the fox of selfish motives. The terrorists are the dogs of our parable. As soon as they start barking, shouting, throwing stones, burning tires and attacking civilians the fox gets all excited and does not know which way to turn. This is Netanyahus ruling government and now his government is on the way out. There is total chaos in the Kenesset..
When the raven calls out and says there are still dogs running around, you are in danger, how can you speak about peace, Messiah? The reality is that terrorism is rampant and more deadly than ever! Katusha rockets keep on flying, sent by Hamas into border towns. The fox claims it is not his fault that the dogs do not understand. The recent peace agreement is nothing else than another scheme to confuse the Israeli and American public of what is really taking place. It would do good for the Israeli government to reevaluate its stand.
Remember that it has always been the Arabs that have started the wars against the Israeli government and not vice versa. Never in history has the victors agreed on peace and compromise their victory by returning the land to those who are sworn enemies.
With a rebellious and dangerous Iraqi leader, an unrepentant American president, and a confused Israeli prime minister, the year 1999 promises to be a tumultuous one. With the new year around the corner, I pray that our world be a safe place to live. A happy new year to you all.