EHUD OLMERT: End of the Road Map

Israel cannot afford Yasser Arafat's presence in its midst.

September 15, 2003

JERUSALEM - It is with tragic irony--the kind that only the Middle East can
produce--that Israel's cabinet has decided to expel Yasser Arafat so near
the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo "peace" Accords.

As the latest American diplomatic initiative, the "road map," is derailed by
a resumed wave of suicide bombings, we Israelis are painfully aware that we
have achieved little in these 10 years of direct negotiations with the
Palestinians. Indeed, in a week in which 15 of our families are mourning
their murdered loved ones and scores of others are pacing our hospital wards
awaiting news of the wounded, the promises of the ill-conceived Oslo process
seem as far off as ever.

Thus, the cabinet concluded that Arafat's ongoing encouragement of terror
and his obstructive machinations were preventing all progress in diplomatic
negotiations. Although he was relegated to the sidelines, his malign shadow
still hovered over the road map, leaving it no chance of advancing while the
violence escalated. The cabinet understood that it was either Arafat or
negotiations, and decided to vote in favor of the peace process. The timing
of when exactly to remove the PLO leader is still under discussion and
Israel's allies will undoubtedly be consulted in formulating a decision.

At the time of the now famous White House signing ceremony, I had just left
national politics and was serving as the mayor of Jerusalem. Like most of my
former Likud colleagues, then in the opposition, I was fearful of the swift
diplomatic path the government of Yitzhak Rabin had embarked upon. Giving
recognition to the terrorist PLO, turning over land to armed guerrillas and
shaking Arafat's hand, seemed at best to be a perilous and naﶥ endeavor.
In my own private conversations with the Labor party leaders, I expressed my
serious concerns over the dangers the Oslo Accords would bring to Jerusalem
and to Israel, the lives and security that were being gambled with. Yet they
assured the Israeli public that the entire process was reversible; that if
Arafat and the PLO did not live up to their obligations, Israel reserved the
right to take the necessary measures against the Palestinian leadership and
the Israel Defense Forces would re-enter the conceded territory. Arafat, the
Israeli architects of Oslo insisted, would have no choice but to impose law
and security in the Palestinian Authority or witness everything he had
achieved for the Palestinians being destroyed.

I must confess, as ideologically opposed as I was to withdrawing from the
disputed territory and negotiating with those with Jewish blood on their
hands, I hoped in my heart that, despite the euphoria, the Israeli
leadership had truly considered what it was doing and that an authentic
regional peace agreement could be secured. The Oslo process wasn't the path
I'd have led the country toward, but faced with a fait accompli we Israelis
had no choice but to pray that the government showed wisdom in attempting
it.

Sadly, we now have our answer. The decade of carnage and blood that Oslo
ushered in is still erupting all around us. The disastrous assumption that
Arafat would fight the terrorist organizations on our behalf was a gamble
which has literally exploded in Israel's face. The continuous march of peace
initiatives from Cairo to Sharm al-Sheik to Wye to the Red Sea, from Zinni
to Mitchell to Tenet, haven't succeeded.

At the recent Red Sea Summit, in which I participated as a negotiator, we
told our Palestinian counterparts that they had to choose between Hamas or
us. They would have to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure or we would be
forced to do it ourselves. It is apparent, after this new wave of suicide
bombings, that the Palestinian leadership has cast its lot with the Islamic
extremists.

On a national level, we can no longer allow ourselves to believe in the myth
that the moderates on the Palestinian side will be capable of mustering the
political power and military support necessary to assert control over the
terrorist groups. The roving bands of militias and lack of central
leadership has reduced the Palestinian Authority today into something
resembling Lebanon at the height of its civil war.

Despite American and Israeli efforts to isolate Arafat, his malicious
influence and control over the Palestinian leadership has not diminished in
the least. His latest intrigues--the forced resignation of Mahmoud Abbas and
the appointment as prime minister of his close associate, Ahmed Qureia--have
once again struck a devastating blow to another peace effort. There is
simply no pragmatic nor responsible Palestinian personality who can fill the
leadership vacuum and confront Hamas and other terrorists.

The latest round of failed diplomacy has shown that an enduring peace
agreement cannot be built on the rotten foundation that is the current
regime. Palestinian leaders will neither dismantle the terrorist
infrastructure nor allow anyone else to do it. The alleged line that
separated the Fatah forces from Hamas and Islamic Jihad can no longer be
claimed to exist. Arafat is the CEO of a full-fledged terrorist organization
and no less a danger than the Islamic extremist leaders whom Israel has
finally targeted. Today all sides of the Israeli political spectrum have
drawn the same conclusion: Israel will have to destroy the Islamic terrorist
groups along with Arafat's Fatah guerillas. There can be no short cuts when
it comes to eradicating the terrorist groups. Goodwill gestures have
repeatedly come back to haunt us and we must now be prepared to finish off
the task. The U.S. and other responsible democratic nations, engaged in
their own wars against terrorist organizations, are slowly understanding
that only an unrelenting battle will secure victory against this tenacious
enemy.

Oslo has taught us that there are no proxies to fight in our stead. If we
are not prepared to undertake the task of dismantling the terrorist groups
that infest the Palestinian Authority, our civilian population will continue
to be targeted for murder. The first and foremost responsibility of our
government is to remove the threat of Palestinian violence to our buses,
cafes schools and highways. Moreover, we have learned that to act with any
mercy toward the perpetrators is to place our own civilian population in
jeopardy.

If Palestinian voices of moderation are capable of rising up and making
themselves heard over the extremist roar, all Israelis will be very willing
to continue the path toward peace. But for the moment we will place our
trust in our own ability to confront the terrorists directly. And as the
Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, approaches, tradition dictates that we review
past mistakes and try sincerely to repent. The Oslo decade has shown us what
is the incorrect and foolhardy way to try to make peace between Arabs and
Jews. Armed with this new clarity, we can now attempt to rectify our
errors--and set out down a safer, better-calculated road.

Mr. Olmert is the vice prime minister of Israel and the widely respected former mayor of Jerusalem.

SOURCE:

The Wall Street Journal