Prime Minister Sharon definitely deserves credit for finally
taking the battle with the Palestinians to the field which
has the most crucial action: the international press. His
first action in that area seems to have been moderately
successful.
Last week Sharon held his first press conference since
taking office. Speaking mostly in Hebrew and,
uncharacteristically, from a prepared text, Sharon delivered
a long statement whose upshot was a unilateral declaration
of a cease fire with the Palestinians.
The Palestinians immediately rejected the offer both in word
and deed. Without even bothering to try to put up a peace-
loving appearance, Palestinian spokesmen rejected Sharon's
offer as "not serious" and as "failing to address the major
issues." In the eyes of the world media, the exchange was
clearly a victory for Sharon, who held out his hand in peace
and was rejected by the Palestinians.
One of the main public relations problems for Israel in the
current conflict is that the Palestinian spokesmen paint the
situation as an action-counteraction conflict in which
Israel is as aggressive as they are. Few bother to ask about
Israeli aggression, and to find out that the "aggression"
that the Palestinians accuse us of is basically our
existence. The "settlements" are said to be the problem,
though Palestinians often include Tel Aviv and Rechovot as
well as Ofra and Kfar Darom in this category.
Sharon's initiative, to the superficial news consumer, will
make the truth evident: that the initiative for the violence
is entirely from the Palestinian side. The Israeli army only
responds to Palestinian attacks. The Palestinians are
unashamed to include on the list of their dead those who
died as suicide bombers, those who died in the process of
preparing bombs and those who were killed in self-defense as
they shot at others. (Several on the Palestinian lists of
intifadah dead are known to have died of natural causes.)
The list of Israeli dead is made up of people who were
engaged in entirely innocent activities such as shopping or
driving when they were murdered.
Still it is clear that Sharon's good move must be just the
first in a persistent campaign that will have to be played
out over several months if not longer. Media images are not
so easy to change, and the Palestinians have certainly
created a strong world perception of powerful Israel using
"excessive force" against the poor Palestinians who only
want their basic "rights." The fact that this is so distant
from the reality of unbridled, savage, incessant Palestinian
attacks on innocent civilians eliciting measured responses
in self defense makes the Israeli task easier, but
nonetheless far from easy.
One of the difficult aspects is the murkiness of the
situation which makes it almost impossible to formulate
tactical goals. Is there a functioning Palestinian
Authority? At Camp David the younger leaders were said to be
more pragmatic; it was Arafat and his friends who refused to
consider any agreement. Should the goal be to force Arafat
back into negotiations, or to force him out and to cultivate
new leaders? Should efforts be concentrated on military
achievements or public relations (these two seem to
conflict)?
We see that murderous efforts of our enemies produce minimal
casualties, while our own greed and sloppiness causes the
collapse of a building with dozens killed and hundreds
injured.
We are constantly forced into the realization that
everything is directed from above and, whatever our tactical
goals, our most effective tactics are Torah and
tefilloh.
