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Peace Requires the Victor to Claim Victory

(New York Post) Amir Taheri - As a professional soldier, Sharon saw that Israel had won all its wars with the Arabs in military terms, but failed to translate those victories into lasting political gains. For a war to be won, it is not enough for one side to claim victory. It is also necessary for one side to admit defeat. Yet in the Arab-Israeli wars, the side that had won every time was not allowed to claim victory, while the side that had lost was prevented from admitting defeat. Each time, the UN intervened to put the victor and the vanquished on an equal basis and lock them into a problematic situation in the name of a mythical quest for an impossible peace. Bizarre new concepts were invented to prevent the normal mechanisms of war and peace from functioning, including "land for peace." Yet there is no instance in history in which the winner of a war has given the loser any land in exchange for peace. In every case, the winner wins the land and gives the loser peace. Thus for more than 50 years Israel and the Arabs were asked to achieve what no others had ever achieved in history. And so Israel-Palestine became the only conflict to defy a resolution. Sharon understood that if such a formula remained in force, there would never be peace. It was necessary for the victor to claim victory, regardless of what anyone else said. It is still possible for Israel to create on the ground the kind of peace it can live with and then let the Palestinians decide whether or not they, too, can live with it. My guess is that they will.
2006-01-09 00:00:00
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