Israel Matzav

A new level of insanity

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert has reached a new low in his willingness to endanger the lives of Israel's citizenry for the sake of his illusory 'peace process.' The Jerusalem Post is reporting this morning that Olmert is 'considering' allowing Jordanian troops into Judea and Samaria to 'fight terror.' Now, we are not even going back to 1967. We are going back to the 1948-67 period when the Jordanian and Egyptian armies assisted in terror attacks by the Fedayeen.

What Olmert has in mind, and what has been raised in recent meetings with Jordan's King Abdullah II, is not the Badr Brigade - a group of Palestinian soldiers inside the Jordanian Army - but rather "regular" Jordanian Army troops, Beduin who have experience fighting terrorism.

The Badr Brigade is a unit in the Jordanian Army composed of 1,500 to 2,000 Palestinians who receive salaries from the PLO. The introduction of the Badr Brigade into the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to support Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has been talked about endlessly and without any concrete results for years.

But Olmert, in recent meetings, has raised the possibility of introducing regular forces from the Jordanian Army. He has said this could be an effective way to help Abbas create a semblance of security in the West Bank.

The idea is likely to be raised when Olmert and Abbas meet next week, just days after Wednesday's planned visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Olmert and Abbas met two weeks ago and - in addition to discussing day-to-day security issues - reportedly discussed final-status issues.

"We have started very seriously to talk with Mr. Abbas on a peace process and questions that can allow a Palestinian state to be established," Olmert said last week. The "discussions will continue at the pace we have agreed upon, and we are in agreement for them to continue until they bear concrete results," he added.

Imagine this scenario: Olmert takes down the roadblocks, and 'Palestinian' terrorists come into Jerusalem and carry out a suicide bombing. Or a 'Palestinian' sets up a Strella shoulder-held surface-to-air missile and shoots down a plane taking off from Ben Gurion Airport (or better yet, a pirate radio station that interferes with air traffic control and causes a plane to crash). What are the odds that the Jordanian army will even let Israel arrest the perpetrators without international incident, let alone actually go in and destroy the terror infrastructure. This is beyond the insanity of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This is suicide.

But just when you thought it couldn't get worse, it gets worse. Olmert tells us what he believes to be the model of a 'successful' 'international force.' And you won't believe what he has in 'mind':

Olmert said the performance of the expanded UNIFIL peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon since the Second Lebanon War had shown that an international force could be effective, given the right mandate and the right make-up of forces. He said the German, Italian and French units had been much more effective in southern Lebanon than forces from Muslim states such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

Olmert said the south Lebanon model was encouraging in looking at future scenarios for the West Bank.

"Perhaps when we leave territories in the West Bank, an international force could be one to think about," he was quoted as saying by one of the participants in the meeting. "Perhaps an Arab army in the West Bank."

When Olmert has talked in recent weeks in closed meetings about an Arab force, he has meant a Jordanian force.

Let's look for a minute at the 'force' that Olmert is calling effective and the model he considers encouraging:

A report submitted to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday describes the border between Lebanon and Syria as being 'porous' to the smuggling of arms and other goods.

According to the report, "the present state of border security is insufficient to prevent smuggling, in particular smuggling of arms, to any significant extent." The assessment team stated that "not a single on-border or near-border seizure of smuggled arms has been documented."

"The procedures used to control arriving vehicles are inadequate," the report stated. "Lack of such standards and the absence of risk analysis/profiling serves to limit the ability of customs officials to target potential smugglers and prevent the smuggling of weapons and explosives or other dangerous items."

The report was compiled during an inquiry that lasted from May 27 to June 15 at four operational border crossings, a fifth crossing to be opened in July, Beirut's international airport and its seaport.

UN inspectors also concluded that the Lebanese Army was not trained to intercept smugglers and its deployment along the border with Syria was not designed to prevent the smuggling of weapons and other goods.

"The lookout points and checkpoints are spread out according to traditional military doctrine and their aim is to provide territorial defense, not check smuggling," read the report.

There are more reports on the ineffectiveness of the UNIFIL force in Lebanon here, here, here, here and here. Those ought to be enough to convince you that the UNIFIL force deployed in southern Lebanon is not a model we ought to emulate.

I wish Olmert could be dismissed as a dimwit. He can't. He is a slick, dangerous and ruthless man who will stop at nothing to give the country away. He's not Tzipi Feigele Livni who is short on intelligence and incompetent. Olmert is far more dangerous. And now for the cherry atop the sundae:

While there is widespread speculation a NATO force would be deployed as part of a peace agreement, Olmert's idea for an Arab force in the West Bank is something that could be implemented well before a final-status agreement was finalized.

Maybe once 'Palestine' is established, Olmert and his family will be interested in living there.

Now that I have said my piece I can go eat my breakfast. I would have retched if I had eaten before I read and blogged this article.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:05 AM