The Israeli public's resilience opposite the wave of Palestinian terrorism reflects the principles outlined in Zeev Jabotinsky's 1923 essay "The Iron Wall," which seems to stand between us and the torrent of hateful incitement. Just like the biblical Philistines' attempts to discern the limits of Samson's power, it seems the Palestinians try, time and again, to test Israel's limits, be it by violence or by tempting us with promises of peace talks. Despite the Palestinians' repeated defeats, they seem unable to learn their lesson, most notably the fact that they will never be able to force Israel into anything. In his book "Arms and Influence," strategist Thomas Schelling explains the importance of inflicting pain on the enemy as a core element in generating deterrence. Every round of violence between Israel and the Arabs in general, let alone the Palestinians, has seen them escape by the skin of their teeth. Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip has left Hamas deterred, but despite past experience it seems the Palestinians have not learned the lesson of defeat. Every Palestinian knows the myth of the "Nakba," the alleged "catastrophe" of Israel's inception and the fleeing of the Palestinians during the 1948 War of Independence, but only a few have come to understand that their calamity was the result of their refusal to accept the U.N.'s 1947 Partition Plan, the Arab nations' attack on Israel, and their subsequent defeat. The Nakba was followed by the "Naksa," the Arab defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War, which liberated Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria from Jordan. Here too, the Palestinians never stopped to wonder why they failed to establish their state in those territories prior to the war, insisting instead on the liberation of all of Palestine. The failed terrorist waves in the decades that followed the war bred the 1987 and the 2000 intifadas, and during both the Palestinians' terrorist infrastructure suffered crippling blows. The October 2000 riots created unprecedented unemployment among Israeli Arabs and the Palestinians alike, resulting in a dire economic crisis, which may reoccur given recent events. Last summer's Gaza campaign saw Israel pummel Hamas, debunking its efforts to position itself as a strategic threat to Israel, and the attempts to "boycott employment opportunities in Israel and Israeli products" ended with mass unemployment and the creation of a black market for Israeli goods. It took 10 plagues to make Pharaoh let the Israelites go. The repeated confrontations on the Al-Aqsa mosque suggest the Palestinians are using Pharaoh as their role model. In his book "Arab Lessons from their Defeat," strategist Yehoshafat Harkabi explores the depths at which Arab self-deception runs. An example of this was recently seen in an interview given by former MK Taleb el-Sana (Ra'am-Ta'al) to i24 News, in which he state that "Jews only understand force. Hezbollah terrorism drove them from Lebanon, Hamas' forces drove them out of Gaza, and only forceful Palestinian resistance will drive them out of the West Bank." El-Sana, it seems, believes the terrorism exercised by the "resistance" is justified. Unfortunately, many Palestinians across Judea and Samaria support an armed struggle against Israel, as do the members of the Joint Arab List, and Hamas' monstrous sister, the northern branch of the Islamic Movement. To justify their murderous ways, the Palestinians are touting a false claim suggesting international law allows an "occupied people" to "use all means" in their "resistance" against those who "defile" Al-Aqsa. If they were truly interested in learning the lessons of history, the Palestinian would have understood by now that knives will not liberate "Palestine."
As for Israel, we must ensure that every Palestinian attack, including by the Islamic Movement, meets an unwavering response and deals them a crushing defeat.
Palestinians refuse to learn their lesson
מערכת ישראל היום
מערכת "ישראל היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
