You Can't Trust A Snake!

"We don't want peace. We want war, victory. Peace for us means the destruction of Israel and nothing else." (Yasser Arafat, 1972 interview with Oriana Fallaci)

Now is the time for the entire world to recognise Yasser Arafat and his "Palestine Liberation Organization" (PLO) as the terrorists that they are, and have always been.

Yes, many people of good will have believed that the PLO snake would shed it's "terrorist skin" and join the ranks of civilized nations. But it should be plain to all people by now that it will not happen.

Even last week, former Indonesian President Wahid visited Australia, and recounted a meeting he had with Yasser Arafat after the failed Camp David peace talks between Bill Clinton, Ehud Barak and Arafat. Wahid advised Arafat that he should have accepted Israel's offer of 95 percent of the land seized during 1967, as this was the best deal possible. Arafat reassured Indonesian President Wahid that the Palestinian people were prepared to wait 150 years to push all the Jews out of Palestine and reclaim the whole of Israel as a Palestinian State, but that it will happen in time. (www.theage.com.au - April 29, 2002)

Abu Ammar (Yasser Arafat's nom de guerre) spoke vain words of good will and signed the notorious "Oslo accords" with the state of Israel in September 1993.

While the State of Israel gave the PLO the west bank and the Gaza strip under this agreement (the so-called "Land For Peace" deal), the PLO has not fulfilled it's obligations. In fact, PLO attacks on Israel have only intensified since 1993.

Let's review a few facts about this situation:

• To the PLO, "occupied territory" means the entire state of Israel. (If you don't believe it, look at the maps of "Palestine" that are used by the PLO.) The PLO was established in 1964, before the 1967 war of aggression against Israel by the Arab states of Syria, Jordan and Egypt. They were aided in this war by the armies of Kuwait, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. During this war, Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank from Jordan, and the Sinai Peninsula, and Gaza Strip from Egypt.
• The PLO charter declares that Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivsible territorial unit. This charter repudiates the Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine, and the United Nations resolution of 1947, which created the State of Israel.
• Let's look at these boundaries. In ancient history this territory has been conquored by Philistia, Canaan, Egypt, Israel, Judah, Syria, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Macedonia, Rome, and Arabia. If prior ownership is to be considered, almost any nation in the region could claim Palestine.
  Prior to World War I, this territory was divided into several provinces as part of the Ottoman Empire (see map).
  After World War I, (in 1922) this territory was given to Great Britain by the League of Nations. A primary purpose of this "British Mandate" was to establish a homeland for the Jewish people, as proposed in the Balfour Declaration of 1917 (see map).
  
  
  In 1946, Great Britain divided the "mandate" lands into two districts, east and west of the the Jordan river (see map). The eastern district eventually formed the Arab Kingdom of Jordan.
  In 1947, the United Nations approved a patchwork of both a Jewish and an Arab state west of the Jordan river (see map). This arrangement has never been accepted by the Arab States, but the Jewish Zionists were happy to get anything after being opressed for 19 centuries.
  I believe that this is a fulfillment of prophecy: "And since they have been led away, these things have been prophesied concerning them, and also concerning all those who shall hereafter be scattered and be confounded, because of the Holy One of Israel; for against him will they harden their hearts; wherefore, they shall be scattered among all nations and shall be hated of all men.
  Nevertheless, after they shall be nursed by the Gentiles, and the Lord has lifted up his hand upon the Gentiles and set them up for a standard, and their children have been carried in their arms, and their daughters have been carried upon their shoulders, behold these things of which are spoken are temporal; for thus are the covenants of the Lord with our fathers; and it meaneth us in the days to come, and also all our brethren who are of the house of Israel." (1 Nephi 22:5-6).
  
  

  Israel is not oppressing the Palestinian people. There are many Arab-Israeli citizens who live in peace with their Jewish neighbors. It it the ethnic Arabs who live under the rule of the Palestinian Authority who are down-trodden, taught to hate, and lynched under the suspicion of "being collaborators", until all hope for a better life has been crushed.

Despite the treaties signed by the PLO, it's terrorist goals have not changed. To the PLO, the treaty with Israel is just the first step in taking possession of the whole of Israel. And the Palestinian Authority has given them bases of operation to launch a new terrorist war against the civilian population of Israel, after the utter failure of their former military attacks.

There will always be some people who simply will not face the facts, attempting to "make peace at any cost". Israel had to deal with such people in ancient times, too. The prophet Jeremiah condemned them as follows:

What can we do?

• Call a spade a spade. Stop lending legitimacy to the PLO. Recognize it as the terrorist organization that it is. Do not enter into negotiations over PLO demands, nor meet with it's agents.
• Face reality. Jordan is the only legitimate Arabic Palestinian State. Jordan has tacitly recognized this fact for years by issuing Jordanian passports to all Palestinians.
• Learn from history. Israel keeps it's agreements, such as returning the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt as part of the 1979 peace deal. The PLO does not keep it's agreements, as the recent "intifadas" have shown.
• Don't abandon the Jews. The prophet Nephi said that God still remembers them: "O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people." (2 Nephi 29:5).