Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 6, 1993 TAG: 9301060299
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
DATELINE: LONDON LENGTH: Medium
ISRAEL VS. HAMAS DEPORTING IN SELF-DEFENSE
Arab and Palestinian "leaders" think they've captured the world's sympathy following the collapse of the intifada against Israeli forces in the territories. They hope that pictures of more than 400 Palestinians deported to Lebanon, now living in tents on Lebanese territory but within Israel's proclaimed security zone, will increase pressure on Israel to take them back and/or make concessions in the laborious peace negotiations.That will happen only if public opinion is misinformed about who these deportees are, what groups they belong to, the activities in which those groups are engaged and their ultimate objective.
Those expelled from Israel are members of the two-headed-monster terrorist group Islamic Jihad and its offshoot Hamas. As recently as Dec. 21, Israeli authorities arrested several members of Islamic Jihad and charged them with plotting to kill children attending a religious elementary school in Jerusalem.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad feel no moral constraints against killing children or anyone else, because they see Palestine as a religious trust that should remain under Muslim control forever. In the Hamas Covenant, published in August 1988, the group's goal was made clear: "The liberation of Palestine in its entirety, from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River, is the most lofty of strategic goals." As part of that policy, Hamas opposes the concept of self-government for the Palestinians as well as peace negotiations between Arab states and Israel.
Those who were deported and their organizations adhere to the Among Hamas' many operations have been gunfire attacks on Israeli civilian and military targets, bombs directed at Israeli army and security forces and installations in the territories, and concealment of arms in mosques and the homes of activists.
In its temporary removal orders (the expulsion is for no more than two years and an appeals process has been established within Israel to hear from the deportees' attorneys or family members), the Israeli government said it was forced to act because those deported were "members of terrorist organizations whose actions endanger the lives of people, or who incite to such actions."
In an interview on Israel television, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin noted that the terrorist Islamic organizations "not only want to kill Israelis, they also want to kill the peace process."
It is difficult for many Westerners to understand the level of hatred and aversion to compromise of these extremist groups. They are no different from their ideological predecessors of two generations ago. Like their spiritual forefathers, these modern murderers have as their sole objective the extermination of the Jews.
Hamas does not limit itself to a confrontation with Zionism in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It sees itself, and says so in its literature, as the spearhead of a mass movement fighting against "the warmongering Jews" and "world Zionism." In the eyes of Hamas, the "enemies" (Jews, Judaism and Zionism are referred to interchangeably) are plotting against the world. Resorting to anti-Semitic themes used by the Nazis and others, and citing "The Protocol of the Elders of Zion," a notorious fabrication used by anti-Semites since the end of the last century, the Hamas Covenant claims that these "enemies" are the foes of mankind.
Given this history, Israel's expulsion of the Palestinian terrorists is an act of self-defense and a positive attempt to keep the peace talks from being sabotaged. Los Angeles Times Syndicate