It’s Peace Through Strength All Over Again

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington was a triumph for him, for Israel and for the beginning of a new way of thinking about the Middle East.

Netanyahu proved President Clinton’s equal and at times his superior at a White House news conference. He dominated the event, and the president sounded as if he were reading from Netanyahu’s position papers. Without appearing to dilute his stance, Netanyahu persuaded the president to acknowledge that Israel’s security and an end to terrorism are prerequisites to any forward progress in the “peace process.”

A lot of journalists still don’t get it. Some headlines referred to Netanyahu’s uncompromising “hard-line” position. That position rightfully should be called “peace through strength,” and if it was good enough for Ronald Reagan to bring down the Soviet Union and communism in Eastern Europe, it should be suitable for the new Israeli government to use against those whose motives are anything but peaceful.

As Netanyahu wrote three years ago in his book “A Place Among the Nations”: “The PLO’s grievance against Israel is not territorial but existential. Its central claim is that Israel is an illegal and criminal entity.” Or, as the unrepealed Palestine Liberation Organization Charter coldly and brutally states: “The establishment of Israel is fundamentally null and void, whatever time has passed … The claim of a historical or spiritual tie between Jews and Palestine does not tally with historical realities.” And what is the central purpose of the charter? Simply that Israel must be destroyed: “The liberation of Palestine will liquidate the Zionist and imperialist presence.”

Netanyahu’s primary goal is to disabuse the U.S. State Department, the administration and the American press of the notion that “land for peace” is the starting point for stability in the region. From the type of questions put to him by most journalists in Washington, progress on that front appears to be excruciatingly slow.

In public and private remarks, Netanyahu made clear to the president and anyone else who would listen that the old game played by the previous Labor government is over. Israel no longer intends to tolerate terrorist attacks while moving ahead with transfers of real estate into the hands of those who would use it as staging grounds for more terror.

Netanyahu worries about the race between Iran and Iraq to acquire nuclear weapons. “If that happens,” he warned, “you’ll see many Dharhans,” a reference to the terrorist bomb that killed 19 American soldiers in Saudi Arabia last month.

A high-ranking Israeli official, who spoke on condition he not be directly quoted, said that terror could not flourish without “outside help,” meaning Syria, “which has disbanded all of the armies in Lebanon except one: Hezbollah, not because it can’t, but because it won’t.”

At the White House news conference, Netanyahu said, “We need more than just the quest for peace and security. We need a new way of thinking. Israel is an integral part of the region and is here to stay.”

Netanyahu has been clear: There will be no peace unless both sides honor their promises. Terrorism is not acceptable, and those who engage in it are being supported by Arab states that have the power to stop it. Because of the ultimate goals of Israel’s enemies, do not look for terror to stop and do not expect Israel to cede 1 inch of land, whether it be on the so-called “West Bank,” or the Golan Heights, or Jerusalem.

It isn’t up to Israel to make peace, because Israel has never had a charter to obliterate another state or people. It is up to Israel’s enemies to make peace, first in their minds and hearts and then on the ground. Meantime, Israel’s “hard-line” policy is a pragmatic and realistic one that serves its own best interests - which is the primary mission of any state.