A Tale of Two Insanities

Albert Einstein is supposed to have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I want to talk about two instances of this kind of insanity that have possibly been overlooked by those who think there will ever be a peace with the Arabs that doesn't involve beating them completely.

Partitions

Today, Mahmoud Abbas / Abu Mazen (the chairman of the PLO, and the warlord ruling the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria) said that Jews won't be allowed on the Arab side of any Palestinian state that might, God forbid, be created. Which isn't much of a surprise, but it is one more in a series of repeating events that we should be aware of.

In 1922, the Mandate for Palestine was split into two areas called Transjordan and Palestine. Transjordan was to be for the Arabs and Palestine was to be for the Jews. Following the partition, the Transjordanian Arabs kicked all the Jews out. But the Palestinian Arabs in Cisjordan remained there and began working to take it over and kick the Jews out.

In 1926, Syria was partitioned into two states called Syria and Lebanon. Syria was to be for the Muslims, and Lebanon was to be for the Christians. Following the partition, the Syrian Arabs kicked all the Christians out. But the Lebanese Muslims remained in Lebanon, and began working to take it over. Which they have essentially done.

In 1947, India was partitioned into two states called India and Pakistan. India was to be for the Hindus, and Pakistan was to be for the Muslims. Following the partition, the Hindus left Pakistan, but most Muslims remained in India, and began working to take it over. The Hindu-Muslim strife in India continues to this day. There's no Hindu problem in Pakistan, of course.

Also in 1947, the 21% of Palestine that had been set aside for the Jews was further partitioned into seven cantons. Three of them were to be for the Arabs, three of them were to be for the Jews, and Jerusalem was to be under international control. In this case, the Arabs figured they'd cut to the chase and take it all over, but they failed. However, at the end of the 1948-49 war, all the Jews were kicked out of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, while all the Arabs in the Jewish part remained there. Which is where we are today.

And now the head of the PLO terrorist group (which is more widely known today by its Arabic name: Fatah) says that if they get Judea and Samaria, they'll kick all the Jews out. But the sad sack government of Israel has no intention of making the Arabs leave the 11% of the original Mandate for Palestine that would be left to Israel, and so the story will continue to repeat.

Arabs have been a majority in the Galilee for decades now. And yes, they are agitating for independence as well. There's a common dark humor joke that says we aren't talking about a peace process so much as we are a pieces process. The insanity lies in thinking that it'll be different this time.

No Do-Overs

I was living in Israel in the early days of the Oslo nightmare. I remember arguing with leftist friends when the started talking about creating a "Palestinian Authority" in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. My leftist friends, as well as countless leftists in the media, told us we were being paranoid about things, and that if the PA were to ever to be used as a base for attacks against Israel within the Green Line (which of course it won't), we would simply end the experiment and go back to the way things had been

Right. I told them it doesn't work that way, and that we wouldn't be able to do that, and they laughed at me. "Israel is so much stronger than a Palestinian Authority would be! We could just roll back in and they wouldn't be able to stop us." Hmm.

Next, the Israeli government decided to help arm the PA Police Force. It was actually the PA Army, but the leftists denied this. They also called us paranoid for thinking that these guns would be used against Jews. There was a big campaign with the slogan "Don't Give Them Rifles!" Some of my leftist friends, once again, called me paranoid. "If they were ever to use those rifles against us (which of course they won't), we would just go in and take them back. We're so much stronger than them."

And when PLO terrorists from the PA (remember, PLO is the English for Fatah) killed Jews with the very rifles we'd given them, nothing happened. How about that.

When Ariel Sharon decided to expel 9,000 innocent Jewish men, women and children from their homes in Gush Katif, we again screamed bloody murder. "The Arabs will just use the vacated land as a staging ground for attacks, which will be able to reach much further into Israel," we remonstrated with Sharon and his supporters. And once again, we were called paranoid, and enemies of peace. We were assured that this pessimistic forecast was nothing to worry about. "The Arabs -- and the whole world -- will see that we're willing to do anything for peace," they said. Even commit war crimes against our own people, they didn't say. "This will change things, you'll see. And if the Arabs of Gaza were ever to use it as a staging ground for attacks inside the Green Line (which of course they won't), how hard do you think it would be to take it back? The Gaza Strip is tiny, and Israel would simply roll back in."

How did that work out for us?

There are no "experiments" with the Arabs. Any "test situation" we create with them will be permanent. We gave them autonomy, and they used it to kill us. We gave them rifles, and they used them to kill us. We gave them the homes of 9,000 of our own people, and they used that opportunity to kill us as well. When is the insanity going to stop? An infant can learn that touching a hot oven hurts without needing to try it half a dozen times. Why can't we learn?