In an op-ed published at Opinion Journal back on June 3, 2002, Ehud Olmert said:
. . . [Mohammed] Dahlan is the man who has presided over an ever-fortified terrorist network. Gaza, the home to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, became a base for some of the most heinous terrorist attacks unleashed against Israel.
On his watch, Mr. Dahlan permitted Gaza to become a safe haven for the hundreds of fugitive terrorists fleeing Israeli forces. Among those being sheltered is his childhood friend Mohammed Dief, a leading Hamas mastermind with the blood of scores of Israelis on his hands. In the meantime, Mr. Dahlan's district became the primary launching grounds for the hundreds of Kessem missiles fired at Israel.
Mr. Dahlan's involvement in terrorism has not been confined to mere nonfeasance but, rather, gross malfeasance as well. Mr. Dahlan, along with his assistant Rashid Abu-Shabak, are the primary suspects in the terror attack on an Israeli school bus in Kfar Darom in November 2000. The bombing of the bus left half a dozen children maimed, and seriously injured an American citizen, Rachel Asaroff. In response to this brutal terror attack on Jewish school children, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak dispatched Israeli planes to strafe Mr. Dahlan's Gaza headquarters.
[ ... ]
Criminals such as Mr. Dahlan and Arafat can never be reformed; they must be eradicated by force.
That was then. Now, on the eve of the Israeli elections, as Olmert touts his "convergence" plan as the answer to Israel's problems, his sidekick Haim Ramon debates the plan with Ari Shavit. Now, Ramon says:
I'm not some Likudnik who has never seen a Palestinian in his life. I sat with Abu Mazen and with Abu Ala and with [Mohammed] Dahlan. Dahlan is a friend of mine.
Ramon says many other things during this interview that simply boggle the mind. He calls Israel's possession of Judea and Samaria "cancer." ("You can tell me that I don't have an operating room here and I don't have anesthesia and I don't have a sterile scalpel," he says. "But I am telling you that if I don't do the surgery I won't live. That's why I am getting the operation done. I am cutting.") He claims that Israel's northern border is quiet -- that Hezbollah "doesn't dare attack Israel." He says that by virtue of his position in the Knesset (?), he has now "come to learn all the secrets of the State of Israel." Ramon is clearly insane.
Ignore Shavit's half of this debate. Ramon obviously did. On second thought, don't. I don't care for Shavit, nor do I agree with his politics, but he makes a number of very important points here that can't be ignored ... sorry, shouldn't be ignored. Ramon's response is to accuse Shavit of channeling Yossi Beilin, Binyamin Netanyahu and Amir Peretz all at the same time (ouch!), stick his fingers in his ears and do a "la la la I can't hear you, I'm right and you're wrong, demographic time bomb! I'm cutting, I'm cutting, I'm cutting!"
He knows all the secrets. And Mohammed Dahlan is a friend of his.
Says Shavit:
But in order to make the withdrawal into a stable two-state situation, Palestinian society must undergo a positive change that runs deep. What you are ignoring is that what you see as taking your fate into your own hands is seen by the Palestinians as defeat. Such a defeat generates negative, not positive, change. You are ignoring the connection between the disengagement and the Hamas victory, and you are ignoring the capability of a mega-disengagement to perpetuate Hamas rule.
Says Ramon:
There will be no Palestinian change as long as I am in the field. Only when I get out and they see the settlements and the roadblocks disappearing and they won't be living like animals - only then will the hoped-for change begin to take place. The Palestinian change will not be realized before the evacuation, only afterward."
So who's channeling Beilin here? Says Shavit:
There are two diseases here. The Israeli disease is the occupation and the settlements. The Palestinian disease is the lack of recognition of Israel and the instability. In order to reach a reasonable situation in Israel-Palestine, we have to treat both diseases at the same time. We need two unilateral treatment processes that might, over time, lead to an agreement. And perhaps what you are doing is treating only the Israeli disease. You are freeing the Palestinians from all responsibility.
The house is indeed on fire, but instead of putting out the blaze you are jumping out of the burning house, into the abyss.
I'll leave it there.
