Sisyphus Again

What can be said about all these terror attacks that the Palestinian jihadists have been perpetrating the last 10 days?  Nothing much new.   Until the world and the Israeli government admit that this is jihad we will go on repeating everything that has already been said and do nothing.  If fact, thing will just get worse as with the Iranian deal and with the hijrah into Europe, especially Merkel’s Germany.

Here is an article I wrote in February, 2009:

Op-Ed: Sisyphus Starts Again

They haven't changed anything or learned anything.

A quote from the New York Times of January 21: "President Obama moved swiftly to engage on the Middle East on Wednesday, calling Israeli and Arab leaders on his first morning in office and preparing to appoint a seasoned peace negotiator and former senator, George J. Mitchell, as his special emissary to the region."

"There they go again," was my reaction. After Oslo I, Oslo II, Taba, Wye, Tenet, Mitchell, Zinni, Sharm El-Sheikh, Roadmap, Annapolis, is this next flop going to be called Mitchell II? Why be so negative? Well, they have not changed anything or learned anything from previous disasters, so why would we expect a different result? 

If I were walking on a sidewalk and an ant about to be squashed by my foot would scream, "Excuse me, could you please be careful and consider the consequences of your actions?" then I would, although I am not a Jainist or Buddhist monk, definitely make sure that I watch where I was going. Is it not reasonable for us, the reluctant human guinea pigs in this experiment designed by people who know what is best for us, to request three basic conditions?

1. Accountability

Why is it that politicians who concoct these "peace processes" which blow up not in their faces, but in our faces, are never held accountable for their failures? Imagine if there were a law requiring that with every consecutive failure a monetary fine would increase and the relevant author of the failed peace plan would be held personally accountable for the debacle.

Let's say that the first three attempts are considered reasonable and therefore exempt, but that for all subsequent ones the price of failure would be $100,000, rising linearly with each attempt. A geometric progression, with the fine doubling every time, is also an idea to be considered, since it would wake up the peace dreamers much faster. I have no doubts that with the fine hovering over their pockets, politicians would either head for the libraries to educate themselves on why all previous attempts failed, or abandon experimenting with our lives altogether.

2. Knowledge 

But to help them avoid such unpleasant fines, how about demanding from "peace processors" that they go through rigorous basic training before they come up with their ideas. If I managed to read some three dozen books on jihad in the last seven years since 9/11, surely the people who decide our future should be aware of the works of Ibn Warraq, Ibn Ishaq, Bat Ye'or, Bernard Lewis, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Robert Spencer or V.S. Naipaul. No?

The Hamas Charter would be compulsory, while Churchill's The Gathering Storm would be part of the electives. 

3. Personal Experience

Nothing helps more for understanding than feeling on your own skin what the problem is. I must admit that until I started dodging falling Grads in Be'er Sheva (for two weeks) I really could not fully understand what people in Sderot had to deal with for eight years. I had written letters and articles in sympathy with their plight, but until it happened to me it just did not have the same urgency. How could they have tolerated it for eight years?

Therefore, as an elective, I suggest that peace process framers spend at least a week in similar conditions before they come up with their plan. Today, after Operation Cast Lead, there are no rockets, but based on previous experience, not for too long. Even better, the peace processors could send chosen representatives of their families to spend a week in Sderot when their plan flops. 

After campaigning and winning the elections on the slogan of "Change", surely this change in the Middle East peace initiative would be welcomed by the Obama administration.