Victory - but how?

Submitted by peter (United States), Mar 28, 2006 at 14:23

I am a newcomer to this site, having stumbled on the article "Israel Shuns Victory" via Google News, so forgive me if I am missing something, or if this comment is out of place.

I actually have a great deal of sympathy for the sentiment expressed in the article; the problem I have with it is that it gives no idea of what victory would look like in practical terms - what steps might be likely to persuade the Palestinians finally to admit defeat. What is the "road map" to this all-to-be-desired Victory? The trouble is that Israel can do any one of a wide range of things, but not dictate what the Arabs will think about it. Any one of what the article dismisses as "a lengthy menu of approaches to manage the conflict...without resolving it" just _might_ actually resolve it _if_ the Arabs were to respond "appropriately." The question is what would _make_ them do so.

The main argument for the Kadima plan, as well as for such options as expulsion of the Arabs from the "occupied territories," is that they (ideally) make Arab opinion irrelevant - if there's no way to make them accept Israel, at least try to put them somewhere where they can't do anything about it. I don't think these options will work; but winning the Arabs over with kindness, economic aid, democratization or whatever, doesn't seem likely to work either.

But what else is there? Killling them all is hardly a desirable option, even if feasible - morals aside, it would make Israel look bad. So what else? A permanent police presence in every Arab community, electronic surveillance, undercover agents, so that anyone who says anything about resistance can be spirited away before any movement can develop? _What?_ What do you do with an enemy who will not admit defeat?

I wish I had an answer to propose; I do not. Do you?

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