Still Waiting for Pyschological Breakthrough

As long as the "Occupation" refers to the entire land of Israel in the minds of so many in the Arab world, and not to land Israel acquired after the 1967 War, peace will remain a chimera. Former Chief of Staff, Moshe Ya'alon rightly points out that
the increase in global terrorism and jihad that the world has witnessed over the past decade has little to do with Israel's victory in the Six-Day War of 1967, but rather is a result of "the success of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the failure of Arab leaders to provide their people with new ideologies and solutions to their problems." One might add that the inconclusive results of last summer's Lebanon War have only emboldened Islamists, who once again believe that Israel can be defeated militarily.
We must enlist the aid and support of the rest of world in defeating this scourge that threatens not just Israel, but free and pluralistic societies all over the globe.
"The way to defeat global terrorism is not by solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but by defeating jihadist regimes and their organizations by all means, including political and economic, while not excluding military means as a last resort."
DB


Ya'alon: No peace until Arabs recognize Israel
Etgar Lefkovits,
JPost
May. 28, 2007
The refusal of the Palestinian leadership to recognize Israel's basic right to exist as an independent Jewish State is the main obstacle to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, former chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Moshe Ya'alon said Monday.
"Today, I do not see the possibility of being able to settle the conflict without defeating the regimes and terrorist organizations that still hold the idea of destroying Israel," Ya'alon said at a briefing sponsored by Jerusalem's Shalem Center marking 40 years since the Six Day War.
"You cannot defeat them by withdrawal and by disengagement," he said.
The former army chief, whose possible entry to the political arena is expected to have a major impact, opposed Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, a view which led to his falling-out with then-prime minister Ariel Sharon.
"Until 1995, I thought we might have a Palestinian partner to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a two-state solution, but I do not think this way anymore, based on the experience of the last decade," he said.
Ya'alon said that while in Israeli and Western discourse the word "occupation" referred to land acquired by Israel in 1967, in Arabic discourse, occupation meant "the entire Land of Israel."
Ya'alon argued that the increase in global terrorism and jihad - which he has previously called "a clash between civilizations" and "World War III" - was not the result of Israel's victory in the Six Day War, but has come primarily to due to the success of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the failure of Arab leaders to provide their people with new ideologies and solutions to their problems.
"The way to defeat global terrorism is not by solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but by defeating jihadist regimes and their organizations by all means, including political and economic, while not excluding military means as a last resort," he said.
Ya'alon headed the IDF from 2002 to 2005 and is credited with quelling the surge in Palestinian terrorism that began in September 2000. He is currently a distinguished fellow at the Shalem Center's Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies in Jerusalem.
In a separate address, Michael B. Oren, author of the award-winning Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East and a senior fellow at the Shalem Center, also said the overwhelming majority of the people in the Middle East refused to recognize the State of Israel.
"When you have... a conflict, it only takes a spark to ignite regional confrontation," he said.
"Today, such a war could take six minutes with the arsenals our enemies have," he said.