PAY UP OR SHUT UP - @MidEastTruth

PAY UP OR SHUT UP: ISRAELI TERROR VICTIMS DESERVE COMPENSATION, NOT EMPTY WORDS

B'NAI BRITH MAGAZINE, Spring 2004, p. 12

By Gil Troy

On Israel's latest Day of Tears - Thursday, Jan. 30, 2004 - the three boys whose bodies Hezbollah sadists kept frozen for 1,210 days came home in coffins, while a Palestinian policeman "celebrating" his 25th birthday blew himself up, murdering 11 Israelis.

Yet this day of heartbreak was also a day of pride. Israel's president and prime minister welcomed the three coffins, surrounded by soldiers in green uniforms, rabbis in black hats, Arabs in checkered kaffiyehs. In mourning Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan, and Omar Sawayid, the elected leaders in the Middle East's only democracy celebrated Israel's liberal, humanitarian values. .

In a country bombarded with tragedy, these three stories touched a collective nerve, thanks to the worldwide publicity campaign led by the victims' parents. The searing tale of Benny Avraham, 20, is especially heartrending, considering that he was named after an uncle killed in the Yom Kippur War. In becoming, as one mourner said, "ben shel hamedina," the nation's son, Benny - along with Adi and Omar - also symbolized Israelis' shattered faith in peace processes and peacekeepers.

It was bad enough that Hezbollah murdered the three and stole their bodies from Israel's side of the internationally recognized northern border. Even worse, Hezbollah commandeered United Nations (U.N.) vehicles for the crime within full view of a U.N. outpost. The U.N. covered up its complicity - and should be sued by the families.

Israel's trust lies buried at that border, and buried in the graves of hundreds slaughtered by the Palestinians trying to wrest extra concessions through terrorism. The Palestinians have orchestrated a one-way conversation, emphasizing only what Israel must do for peace. Waging a barbaric war of plausible deniability, Palestinians shout hateful rhetoric, deploy guided human missiles, celebrate the carnage, then profess innocence by blaming renegade "extremists." The world has fallen for the ruse, blaming Israel for committing the crime of self-defense, be it hunting terrorists or building a fence.

Yet Israel is the injured party. During the Oslo Peace Process, Israel--for all its imperfections--compromised repeatedly, only to be "thanked" with blood in the streets. The injustice goes to the essence of Oslo, when apparently for only the second time in history a nation that had won disputed border territories in a defensive war willingly relinquished some land for peace--the first time was Israel's return of the Sinai to Egypt in the early 1980s.

Nevertheless, Yasir Arafat spawned a venomous political culture committed to killing Jews, not living in peace. The Geneva Accords and other blame-Israel-first peace plans ignore Oslo's failure. Israel retains a broad peace consensus, ready to sacrifice. But until they believe that they can trust their neighbors, most Israelis will hesitate to compromise again.

Most Israelis now trust their eyes--which see daily attempts to kill them. They trust their ears--which have been bombarded with vitriol advocating death to all Jews and the destruction of the Jewish state, not "just" withdrawal from the territories. Such an atmosphere poisons the trust essential for peacemaking and compromise.

To change the negotiating dynamic, Israel has to make new demands. Thus far, Israel has demanded Palestinian curricular reform to end the Oslo-inspired absurdity of do-gooders bankrolling schoolbooks filled with hate. Meanwhile, Israel has tried counterbalancing Palestinians' refugee claims, by emphasizing that 800,000 Jews were expelled from Arab lands after 1948, when the Arab world first tried to destroy Israel.

To mollify Israel's new sense of injury, to rebuild trust after Arafat's return to terror, Israel must demand compensation for each Israeli victimized since the Oslo signing. There will be no peace until Palestinians renounce terror. But a renunciation without compensation will be another rhetorical ruse. Israel has taught her sister democracies how to fight terror militarily; now Israel must pioneer techniques that put the moral onus on terrorists and their supporters.

No amount of money can compensate the Avrahams, the Avitans, the Sawayids, or any grieving family. But money has symbolic value. Palestinians have always found money for munitions; they could also bankroll the apology from Arafat's billions or Saudi oil revenues. Reparations from the Palestinians can represent the kind of gesture essential to changing the dynamic, rebuilding shattered trust, and beginning the healing good people on both sides crave.

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University and the author, most recently, of Why I Am A Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity, and the Challenges of Today (Bronfman Jewish Education Centre, 2001)

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