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For Israel, Size Does Matter

(Ha'aretz) Moshe Arens - Some say that territory is unimportant in the age of missiles. Just the opposite is true. Territory is more important than before. For the small short-range missiles, which are hard to detect and destroy, bringing them closer to our population centers spells disaster. And for the large long-range missiles with large warheads, reducing the size of the target area is a mistake. Small is precarious. Small is dangerous. Small creates the impression of weakness. Small can be bombed, invaded, and destroyed. Donald Rumsfeld, the former U.S. secretary of defense once said: "If we know anything, it is that weakness is a provocation." A small, truncated Israel will project weakness and provoke aggression - by terrorists, by armed forces, and by those in possession of nuclear weapons. No security arrangements or demilitarization are going to be of any use in the long run. The writer served as Israel's Minister of Defense three times and once as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
2013-08-16 00:00:00
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