Israel Matzav

ElBaradei now wants to solve the 'Palestinian question'

After failing miserably to prevent North Korea and Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, bamboozling IAEA chief Muhammed ElBaradei now wants to try his 'skills' at a new issue: the Israeli - 'Palestinian' conflict. The Egyptian-born ElBaradei told a University of Maryland audience yesterday that a solution to the Israeli-'Palestinian' conflict is within grasp if the international community commits to a 'blueprint' and pursues 'dialogue,' and that conflicts like those in the Middle East “cannot be solved through military force.” He called for a new broad approach focusing on human security rather than state security. Right....

There was a blueprint in the mid-90's for a 'solution' to the Israeli-'Palestinian' conflict and it was called the 'Oslo accords.' I didn't like it much, because I felt that we were giving up way too much for way too little. The reason it failed was not because Israel was not willing to give up enough, but because the 'Palestinians' true goal was is not the establishment of a state reichlet, but the destruction of the existing State of Israel and its replacement with a twenty-second Arab state in the Middle East (or its merger into one of the existing Arab states). In other words, this is not a border dispute, which might be resolvable with 'dialogue' about a 'blueprint.' This is an existential dispute: will the Jewish homeland continue to exist on the land of the biblical Kingdom of Israel, notwithstanding the fact that all of its neighbors are hostile Arab states? There is nothing there to be resolved through 'dialogue' about a 'blueprint.' We've tried that and it failed. All 'dialogue' will bring us now is what it has brought the world community in the cases of North Korea and Iran: another weapons build-up, more war and more bloodshed.

As to ElBaradei's claim that conflicts like ours cannot be resolved through military force, I disagree. They can be resolved through military force, but only if those wielding the force are willing to go all the way and expel the losing party from the vicinity if it fails to surrender. While that solution may not be a permanent one, it is one that will last for many years. Military conflict to complete surrender worked very well in Germany and Japan in relatively recent times, and in theory there is no reason it cannot work here.

Finally, ElBaradei's call for a focus on 'human security' rather than 'state security' is comical. Leaving aside the fact that the 'Palestinians' have insisted that all territory turned over to them be Judenrein, does he really believe that 'Palestine' is going to provide any Jews that remain therein with security? Perhaps ElBaradei needs to be reminded what happened to the Jewish communities of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Morrocco, Algeria and Libya since 1948.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:28 PM