Israel's dilemma
13 May 2022
The tragic killing this week of Palestinian Arab journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, during an Israeli military operation in Jenin, highlights the dilemmas facing Israel.
At first sight, this looks very bad for Israel: an innocent Palestinian journalist killed when the Israeli army is carrying out a military campaign against apparently "innocent" Palestinians.
But even if Abu Akleh was killed by an Israeli bullet – which no-one knows - the truth is much more complex. There are at least two questions that need to be answered. First, where is the proof that Abu Akleh was killed by an Israeli bullet – and not stray Palestinian gunfire? Second, what was the Israeli army (IDF) doing in Jenin?
To understand what the IDF was doing, we need to know the history of Jenin. Jenin is a mainly Arab city in the northern part of the mountain range of Samaria.
When the Jewish State of Israel was proclaimed in May 1948, the Arabs could also have declared their own state. But they chose not to do so. Rather, they continued the policy they had adopted from 1920 of denying the Jewish people a right to nationhood, and using violence (ie. killing Jews) to destroy the Jewish national home. In 1948/9, the Arabs attacked Israel, and Jordan took control of the old part of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria (which in 1950 became known as the “West Bank” of Jordan).
Jordan could have created a State for the Arab Palestinians, but did not do so. Instead, Palestinians were used as a political pawn, left in refugee camps set up under a new organisation called the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). They were given a false hope of “return” to their former homes. Between 1949 and 1967, these Palestinian “refugee camps” (a misnomer, because the Palestinians were not truly refugees) became a hotbed of hatred and violence. Jenin (in northern Samaria) is one of the cities where a huge refugee camp was established.
So when Israel (miraculously) took control of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria in June 1967 (in a defensive war), it would have been suicide to have simply handed back control of these territories to those who were still swearing to eliminate the Jewish people. Instead, Israel took the strategic decision to “occupy” the territories: hold control of them, under a military administration, but not claim sovereignty over them (except “East Jerusalem” over which it did apply Israeli sovereignty).
Since 1967, cities like Jenin have become a breeding ground for Islamist terrorists who sneak into Israel to carry out terror attacks killing Jews and non-Jews in Israel.
In the meantime, in the 1990s Israel and the PLO agreed to establish the Palestinian Authority (PA), as a first step to enable the Arab Palestinians to have autonomy and self-goverment. In 1996, Jenin was one of the cities where Israel withdrew, and full control was handed over to the PA.
This policy has been a dismal failure. The PA, it turns out, is just the mouthpiece of the PLO, which remains deeply committed to its original goals: liberation of “Palestine”, and destruction of Israel. PA “President” Mahmoud Abbas is also Chairman of the PLO. While demanding a Palestinian State, he calls Jews filthy pigs, denies the legitimate existence of the Jewish State, and pays large amounts of money to Arab Palestinians to kill Jews.
What is Israel supposed to do? Simply “withdraw”, and hand over the whole of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinian Authority, like it did in Jenin?
That would be suicide. As everyone knows, whoever controls the mountains of Judea and Samaria can easily destroy the cities and towns in the plains and valleys.
Israel is between a rock and a hard place.
For sure, the truth needs to be uncovered about Shireen Abu Akleh’s death. If she was killed by an IDF soldier, then the IDF (and Israel) must face the consequences. Just like any army and State in a combat situation.
But the fact that the IDF has to root out terrorists in cities like Jenin reveals there is a much deeper problem.
The Editorial Team - Israel & Christians Today
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