An Open Letter to Dr. Bard

Dear Dr. Bard:

I respect you as the author of “Myths and Facts”. I even respect your support of Mitzna vs. Sharon although I do not share your political view. However, I totally disagree with your political analysis in “Proactive Lobbying for Peace,” which appear on January 5 in Israel Insider.  Without trying to be sarcastic, I am afraid that your analysis would better fit your “Complete Idiot Guide to the Middle East Conflict.”

 The separation “fence” you advocate will not protect Israel more than the French Maginot Line protected France from German aggression or the Chinese Great Wall protected China from the Mongolian barbarians. This fence may make it easier to prevent infiltrations by foot or by 4x4 vehicles and it is up to the IDF to decide its potential cost effectiveness. However, it will not prevent mortar and missile attacks on Israeli towns and cities, as we witnessed in Shderot and the Upper Galilee.  It will not stop infiltration of terrorists through conventional international checkpoints, as was demonstrated in the 9/11 atrocity in New York City and Washington DC, or in the 1972 Ben-Gurion Airport massacre perpetrated by Japanese allies of the PLO.  It will not prevent attacks on Israelis abroad as we saw in Munich in 1972 and in Nairobi just last month. In brief, Jews will continue to be killed by Arab terrorists in Israel and elsewhere with and without the proposed fence. You did not come up with any idea how to change the strategic decision of the Arabs (not just the “Palestinians”) to deny the existence of the ancient Jewish homeland, and destroy the Jewish state.  According to your analysis, this seems to be outside the purviews of the American Jewish lobby.

Following Amram Mitzna’s doctrine, you advocate unilateral withdrawal of the Israelis from some of the Jewish villages in the “disputed areas. In making this suggestion you forgot that the unilateral withdrawal of the IDF from South Lebanon encouraged the Arabs to launch the September 2000 terror campaign against Israel. You do not have to take my word for this – just read the communiqués of the Hizballah.  Since that “victory,” that Iranian and Syrian backed terrorist organization has continuously encouraged the “Palestinians” to follow in their footsteps and drive the Israelis into the sea. As you well know, the Arabs view any retreat as a sign of weakness, inviting more aggression.

 The unilateral retreat from the Tomb of Joseph only encouraged the Arabs to attempt to do the same to the Tomb of Rachel in Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. All these are facts not myths, Dr. Bard.  Furthermore, can you explain why should the Israelis tolerate the presence of one million Arabs in the Jewish state, while the “Palestinians” have the audacity to demand that their territory must be Judenrein? This is a point that the American Jewish lobby should hammer, in view of the tolerant pluralistic viewpoint of the US.

Looking at the area from a perspective of ten years, any “Palestinian” state will only be a bridgehead for a major, if not fatal, Arab military offensive against Israel. This is bound to happen unless the whole Middle East – Iraq, Egypt, Saudia, Syria Libya, and Sudan change their despotic regimes, give up their Pan-Arab dream, contain their Islamistic elements and deprive them of any political power.  I did elaborate on this very point in my recent article “The Roadmap to Peace” (Israel Insider, December 29, 2002) You, Dr. Bard, more than most other political analysts must realize that the Arab Israeli conflict is not local, about some disputed territories, but regional. Any long-term political solution must, therefore, also be regional.  I hope that you do not consider the animosity of Iraq, Egypt, Saudia and Syria toward the Jewish state a myth. So, if this animosity is a fact, why don’t you address it in your analysis?

Until there is a dramatic change in the Arab world and the Arabs move from the Seventh to the Twenty First Century, not only in weaponry but also in values, the Jewish community in the US and elsewhere must oppose vehemently the establishment of another “Palestinian” state, notwithstanding the conditional endorsements of such a state by President Bush and Prime Minster Sharon.  Even if Israel wins another all-out war with the Arabs, who will use the disputed territories as a lunching pad for their aggression (they are doing this already today with their indiscriminant terror), the Jewish state may be devastated. I wonder, Dr. Bard, why you suggest to Jews to take such a gamble?

Sincerely,

Michael Anbar, Ph.D.