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Time Is On Israel's Side

(Ha'aretz) Ephraim Inbar - • Many Israelis believe time is not on their side and are therefore looking to change the status quo, even unilaterally. Yet David Ben-Gurion understood that Israel was too weak to impose a peace settlement on the Arabs and that it would simply have to wait until the other side would recognize perforce the reality of a Jewish state. •It is obvious that peace cannot be achieved today, mainly because of the Palestinians' inability to establish a stable political entity that would be willing to suppress those who oppose Israel's existence. • It makes no difference how many Palestinian babies are born in the Gaza Strip, in Nablus or in Jenin, if Israel has no intention of annexing those areas. The Jewish majority in Israel is not affected by the number of Arabs who live outside the country. •As long as Palestinians continue to offer a fertile ground for terrorism against Israel, Jews will have to intervene militarily within the Palestinian population, including their urban centers. • Palestinians themselves should have a clear interest in drastically reducing their consistently high birthrate, if they want to escape protracted poverty. Time will thus weaken the Palestinian entity unless time is exploited intelligently for a change in the demographic trends. •Time is also on Israel's side because the majority of the civilized world has at long last understood that the Palestinian national movement is in need of a thorough reform and new leadership. The Palestinians' main method of operation - terrorism - does not enjoy international legitimacy. • Finally, the spirit of the time, which lauds the values of democracy and the free market, leans more to the Israeli side than the Palestinian. The Jews have exploited time better than the Arabs, and this seems set to continue.
2003-12-29 00:00:00
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