Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 3, 1990 TAG: 9006040190
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: D-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But this tragedy will be compounded if those with political axes to grind use the incident to advance their causes. It did not take long after the shooting before both the Israeli Labor Party and the U.S. State Department, which increasingly appears to be Labor's spokesman in Washington, sought to link the irrational act of one man with the slow-moving "peace process."
As the Israeli publication Hatzofeh noted, such linkage insinuates "that it is due to this that innocent blood was spilt. Not only is there no basis for this contention, but anyone who tries to link the two adds fuel to the fire burning as a result of the murders."
This is precisely what the political arsonist, Yasser Arafat, has done. According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, the chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization blamed the shooting on the Israeli military and called for massive demonstrations in all of the territories occupied by Israel. WAFA quoted Arafat as urging Palestinians to make the flare-up of violence in the Gaza Strip a "demonstration of Palestinian unity and one of the main aspects of the Intifadah."
Bassam Abu Sharif, one of the leaders of the terrorist PLO group Fatah, was quoted as blaming Israel for planning the murders. He also was quoted as saying that American aid had escalated "Israel's crime."
Contrast the immediate condemnation of the killer in this incident by the Israeli government and press, and the fixing of blame on the Israeli military and government by Israel's critics, with an incident nearly five years ago in the Sinai.
On Oct. 5, 1985, Sulayman Khatir, who was described by Egyptian sources as "mentally disturbed," and who was a member of the paramilitary Central Security Force, machine-gunned a group of Israeli campers as they slid down a sand dune. As in the most recent shooting, seven people were killed, four children and three adults. Three of the children were girls; two of the adults women.
Unlike the response of the Israeli government and press to the incident in Rishon LeZion, the deranged Egyptian was hailed as a folk hero. There were mass demonstrations in his "honor." Iran issued a postage stamp with his picture on it to commemorate the event.
As Bernard Lewis writes in his book, "Semites and Anti-Semitism: An Enquiry Into Conflict and Prejudice": "All kinds of mutually contradictory fantasies were developed - that the victims were spies caught photographing secret installations [in a demilitarized zone], that they had spat upon and torn up an Egyptian flag, that half-naked Israeli women had offended Sulayman Khatir's Moslem conscience, and even that they had attacked him, forcing him to fire in self-defense. These stories remain uncontradicted in the pro-government media, which for many weeks withheld the facts from readers and viewers."
An Egyptian court sentenced Khatir to 25 years in prison, where he died, apparently from hanging himself, but the propaganda damage had already been done.
Those who want to blame Israel first in this incident betray their own biases as well as their short memories. What other country has been told to "make peace" with those whose declared intentions are its eradication?
The PLO regularly bumps off moderate Arabs who want to talk to Israel, but rarely do these incidents provoke international furor. But Israel is condemned regularly in the international community for not entering into negotiations over its own demise.
Would Israel prefer to be shot at dawn or burned at the stake? Shall it be dispatched with a lethal injection, or is it time to bring back the gas chambers?
These are the choices much of the world seems to want Israel to make. It cannot and should not be expected to make them.
As tragic as the latest shooting incident is, it must not be allowed to obscure the only long-term objective that has any hope of bringing stability to the region: a negotiated settlement in which all parties renounce terror and force, and one that will guarantee Israel's security, forever holding at bay those fringe groups that will never abandon their goal of a Middle East free of Jews. Los Angeles Times Syndicate
by CNB