Israel is engaged in a war for survival that started even before its declaration
of independence and continues to this very day. Its enemies have prosecuted this
war militarily, economically, politically, diplomatically, legally and
psychologically. Because of the length and complexity of this struggle, an
appropriate metaphor is a game of chess – one in which the stakes for Israel are
life and death.
Winning a game of chess is no simple matter. It requires
strategy, patience, steady nerves, the proper balance between aggression and
caution, and the ruthlessness to checkmate one’s opponent when the opportunity
presents itself. Impulsiveness and emotionalism usually lead to defeat. When a
grandmaster makes a mistake, he must not panic; instead, he must extract himself
from danger with care and determination.
Israel’s leaders have not played
like grandmasters.
Instead, they have mixed brilliant moves with
blunders.
Among the former, the preemptive strike on Egypt of June 5,
1967, that led to Israel’s victory in the Six Day War and Menachem Begin’s
decision to destroy Iraq’s nuclear reactor in Osirak in June 1981 stand
out.
Both moves required boldness and careful preparation, and both were
highly successful.
Unfortunately Israel has subsequently made serious
strategic errors. It allowed Egypt to strike the first blow in October 1973, and
almost lost the Yom Kippur War.
The Oslo Accords of 1993 allowed Yasser
Arafat and the PLO to return from exile, and have resulted in the murder or
maiming of thousands of Israelis. Israel’s precipitous withdrawal from southern
Lebanon in 2000 and its forcible eviction of Jews from Gaza in 2005 compounded
the error of Oslo.
THE CAUSE of these errors was emotional exhaustion,
best summed up by former prime minister Ehud Olmert’s tragic admission that “we
are tired of fighting.
We are tired of being courageous. We are tired of
winning.
We are tired of defeating our enemies.” Such a mentality is
frankly catastrophic.
Fortunately for Israel, its enemies have made even
worse mistakes. Most important have been their serial refusals to accept overly
generous offers by prime ministers Ehud Barak and Olmert to sacrifice
strategically vital territory in Judea and Samaria for a Palestinian state. More
recently, the Palestinians have also shortsightedly insisted on a complete
settlement freeze as a condition for negotiating with Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu, despite his misguided eagerness to make a bargain similar to those
offered by his predecessors.
The Palestinians are about to make their
worst blunder yet – one that is potentially fatal to their
cause.
Specifically, the Palestinian Authority, knowing that its
leadership status is failing and that the clock is about to run out, has
announced its intention to seek recognition as a state from the United Nations.
This desperate gambit flatly abrogates both the Oslo Accords and UN Resolution
242, providing Israel with the legal justification to cancel both agreements and
simply annex portions of Judea and Samaria.
TO WIN this chess game,
Israel must correct the lifethreatening mistake it made by agreeing to a
Palestinian state. The land west of the Jordan River can hold a Jewish state or
another Arab state; it can’t hold both.
Israel’s leaders, including
Yitzhak Rabin, recognized this truth before weakening in the face of
international pressure. It’s time to declare categorically that there will never
be a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria.
The Arabs who live there may
continue to be residents of Israel with full civil and religious rights and
local autonomy, but any national or political rights must be exercised in
affiliation with Jordan – the already existing Palestinian state.
Taking
advantage of the Palestinian blunder by terminating all discussions of
Palestinian statehood won’t be easy. There will be powerful international
pressure against Israel for making such a bold move. Many will implore Israel to
just surrender, or to make a reckless, needless sacrifice that will lead to its
defeat.
But Israel can’t afford to be checkmated. Now it must play like a
grandmaster.
The writer is the national vice chairman of the Zionist
Organization of America, and sits on the Executive Board of the World Likud. He
is a graduate of Harvard University and New York University Law School, and a
tournament chess player.