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Negotiating with the PLO instead of Local Leaders Has Led to an Intractable Conflict
(Wall Street Journal) Brig.-Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi - The creation of Palestinian autonomy (or as Yitzhak Rabin repeatedly called it, "less than a state") was part of the peace agreement Menachem Begin forged between Israel and Egypt. But the decision to negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization, a bloodthirsty terror organization devoted to the destruction of Israel, was an act of sheer folly. Viable alternatives existed, first and foremost, local leaders in the Arab cities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The implementation of the Oslo Accords in 1994 began with the Israel Defense Forces' withdrawal from city centers in Gaza. Arafat and the PLO immediately started building a domestic military industry to produce rockets, explosives and mortars and to dig tunnels. In seven years, Gaza went from the stone age to firing rockets. Israel soon faced an unprecedented wave of suicide murderers and other terrorists. To restore security, Israel was forced to reconquer the city centers through Operation Defensive Shield, after more than 1,000 Israeli civilians had been murdered. Israel unwittingly allowed the creation of a global terrorist network that directs international efforts to challenge Israel's legitimacy and fuels anti-Semitism. The Arab citizens of Israel are now subject to intense Palestinian propaganda, while international funds provided to the Palestinian Authority support terror activities and the gradual takeover of Judea and Samaria. The Palestinian curriculum is rife with Israel-hatred, creating generations of future terrorists and diminishing the prospects of future peace. The idea behind the Oslo Accords might have been noble, but the implementation was deeply flawed.