Dear Friends,

The following very interesting editorial appeared in the June 6th edition of U.S. News & World Report.

It has been apparent to thinking people the world over that Yassir Arafat is a large part of the “peace process” problem in Israel. The following article incisively covers this crucial issue.

The End of ‘A Patched-Up Affair’?

The first few days of Palestinian control over Gaza and Jericho do not augur well for the Mideast peace process. Two Israeli soldiers were killed by Gazans who melted into the Palestinian population without Arab police pursuit; three Israelis were arrested by the Palestinian police in breach of the agreement; without legal authority, Yassir Arafat canceled most regulations and orders for Gaza and Jericho that Israel had enacted for the occupied territories.

Worst of all, on May 10, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization let the mask slip in a speech in Johannesburg. Arafat was secretly recorded when he told a mosque audience: “You have to come and to fight a jihad [holy war] to liberate Jerusalem, your precious shrine.” Then he likened the Oslo and Cairo agreements with Israel to the prophet Muhammad’s agreement with the Quraysh tribe in A.D. 628. Unable to conquer Holy Mecca with his army, Muhammad adopted the stratagem of agreeing to a 10-year peace to lull the Meccans into a false sense of security while building up his own forces. He had no intention of keeping this agreement, and two years later he fell on the city when he felt strong enough to conquer it. Arafat’s implication was clear: If Muhammad could violate such a pact with the Meccans, as Arafat described it, so could Arafat violate his pact with the Jews.

There is no possible camouflage for Arafat’s hint of treachery. He had no political need, in a South African mosque, to assert his revolutionary credentials. It is all of a piece with his past references to the so-called phased plan of 1974, in which PLO policy became: We will take whatever part of Israel we can get now, and the rest later. It is all of a piece with the PLO’s return to pre-Oslo terrorism. Arafat has disregarded the public letter he signed in September, renouncing and denouncing all terrorist activities and promising to discipline those engaged in them. Instead, he has continued to finance and support the killers, even within his own Fatah faction. More Israelis were murdered in the six months following the September handshake than in the six months before.

Now the Israeli public ls in an uproar. Many leading commentators conclude that Arafat ls not serious about peace, that the decisive view in the Arab world ls not one of reconciliation but of “only a cease-fire until the next stage,” as Abbas Zaki of the PLO Central Committee put it. The seeming unwillingness of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to hold Arafat’s feet to the fire is a profound disillusionment for the long-suffering Israelis. They regard the Rabin-Peres rationalizations of PLO actions as craven, confirming in their minds that most Arabs still believe unremitting hostility, violence, pressure and betrayal can extract more concessions and force the Jews out.

The Israelis began this process with goodwill. They hoped that the Arabs were as exhausted as they were, that they had moved away from ideological hatred and had pragmatically opted to share the land with the Jewish state in peace. But Arafat’s words come on top of a menacing poll taken by an Arab academic. It showed that none of the 1,000 Arabs and Palestinians polled wants to make genuine peace. Respondents saw the agreements only as a stopgap, pending resumption of the conflict when the Palestinians would be stronger and Israel weaker. The Israelis now fear there will never be a “last concession,” that terrorism will never end.

The Israelis now have confirmation of what they suspected: that Arafat ls not a man of his word. They would be well advised to hold back further withdrawals. They should have the support of all nations seeking peace if they insist that they will yield no more until they are sure the PLO is really honoring its commitments and surer still that their security cannot be threatened. Arafat invites the world’s censure. He should be made to understand that the Israelis must have an agreement that ls self-regulating and self-sustaining, one that does not depend on the goodwill of a PLO seemingly bent on destroying any atmosphere of optimism.

Come and see for yourself the Israeli situation, even as it unfolds. Our Fall Festival Tour encompasses the Day of Atonement in Jerusalem and will find us boating on the Sea of Galilee during the Feast of Tabernacles. Grand Tour passengers will be listening for the sound of the great shofar as our flight takes off on the Feast of Trumpets. The new Fall Festival Tour brochures have arrived fresh from the printer. Call Karen or Cynthia at (214) 690-1876 or 1-800-WONDERS to obtain yours now.

God bless!

Your messenger,

Zola Levitt Ministries is ECFA approved and has Charity Navigator’s top rating of 4 stars.

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