Neil Snyder: War in the Middle East May Be Inevitable "According to Arens, the Israeli public's mood has changed dramatically as a result of the failure to achieve anything that even resembles peace despite repeated unilateral efforts by the Israeli government to win the cooperation of Palestinian leaders. To buttress his point, Arens discussed these failed attempts to move the peace process forward:"
1. The Oslo Peace Accords: Arens calls them "an abject failure."
2. Ehud Barak's unilateral withdrawal from Southern Lebanon in 2000: it led to the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
3. Barak's attempt to buy off Yasser Arafat by offering him the Temple Mount and much more in Jerusalem: Arafat flatly rejected the offer and launched "an unprecedented wave of terror against Israeli civilians."
4. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral withdrawal from Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip: it was a "grave mistake" because it led to "Hamas taking control of the Gaza Strip and the subsequent rain of rockets on southern Israel."
(Video restored) Imagine Israel living next door to a nation of these people:
1. The Oslo Peace Accords: Arens calls them "an abject failure."
2. Ehud Barak's unilateral withdrawal from Southern Lebanon in 2000: it led to the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
3. Barak's attempt to buy off Yasser Arafat by offering him the Temple Mount and much more in Jerusalem: Arafat flatly rejected the offer and launched "an unprecedented wave of terror against Israeli civilians."
4. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral withdrawal from Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip: it was a "grave mistake" because it led to "Hamas taking control of the Gaza Strip and the subsequent rain of rockets on southern Israel."
5. The Arab Spring: it brought "Islamic fundamentalist rule to the Arab world" and "strengthened the skepticism of many Israelis regarding the presumed advantages of offering territorial concessions to our Arab neighbors."
Snyder follows up with this column: "Israeli citizens are moving to the right because that's what the evidence indicates they must do." (Video restored) Imagine Israel living next door to a nation of these people:
I
She recounts with much relish the Hebron Massacre
"There were also stories of Arabs who risked their own lives to save Jews. Rivka Slonim Burg -- the daughter of Rav Slonim and the sister of Eliezer Dan Slonim – recalls [16] that before the massacre there were good relations with the Arabs in the area. “We were even invited to each other’s semachot, joyous occasions.” She was only eight years old when, together with the rest of her immediate family, she hid behind Abu Shaker, the Arab neighbor who stood in the doorway of her family’s home in Hebron, protecting them from the mob."
...."After the massacre, which came to be known as “Meoraot Tarpat --The Events of 5689,” Rav Franco and Rav Slonim made a list of those Arabs who saved Jews during the massacre. The list is published, along with other documents, in Sefer Hevron. Out of a community of 18,000 Arabs, there are nineteen names on the list"