Appeasing Terrorists

May 8, 2002
Joseph Farah

When the Israelis unilaterally withdrew their military forces from a thin corridor of Lebanon along its northern border two years ago, the terrorist world took notice.

Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Islamic terrorists backed by both Syria and Iran, quickly took credit for the retreat by Israel. Hezbollah had waged a war of attrition against Israeli military forces and civilians in southern Lebanon who looked to the Jewish state for protection.

Israel may have had other political motivations for leaving Lebanon, but its sudden decision to do so – which left many of its Arab allies in the area at the mercy of Hezbollah – certainly looked like a Vietnam-style defeat.

The Hezbollah "victory" over the Israelis did not escape the notice of other terrorist groups – particularly those associated with Yasser Arafat. Hezbollah never attempted to negotiate with Israel, and Israel never attempted to negotiate with Hezbollah. Hezbollah achieved its short-term goals of an Israeli-free Lebanon through guerrilla warfare alone.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak may have thought that by withdrawing from Lebanon he was scoring political points with the international community. Barak may have thought he was demonstrating to Arafat just how reasonable he was. He may have thought the unilateral withdrawal would mean a reduction in violent border clashes and tensions with Arabs in the Palestinian territories.

Whatever Barak was thinking, he was wrong. We can now look back on the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as a key error in Israeli policy that led to a massive escalation of terrorism.

Arafat saw the Israeli withdrawal as a sign of weakness – a cave-in to one of the most militant and ruthless terrorist organizations in the world. It's quite plausible that Osama bin Laden, too, was inspired by his ally's victory over the Israelis in Lebanon. The lesson other terrorists learned from Israel's Lebanon experience was that a campaign of relentless guerrilla actions will ultimately pay dividends – the more audacious the actions, the better.

Arafat quickly stepped up the violence in his budding Intifada campaign. Bin Laden attacked New York and the Pentagon in a coordinated suicide hijacking effort. Arafat's forces adopted the suicide bombing strategy as their own.

Now, I'm going to predict, Hezbollah – under the watchful sponsorship of Syria and Iran – is about to turn up the heat on Israel.

Hezbollah, according to intelligence reports, has an arsenal of 10,000 rockets, many of them with a range of 70 kilometers. Now in control of the southern part of Lebanon evacuated by Israel, Hezbollah is in a position to wreak havoc. It is teaming up with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, another Syrian-backed ally of Arafat, to open a new military front on Israel's northern border.

To prepare for the inevitable Israeli retaliations, Syria has repositioned its own army in Lebanon. Damascus does not want to engage directly in a military clash with Israel. Instead, it wishes Hezbollah to wage a proxy terror war with Israel – hiding behind the skirts of civilians. Hezbollah's command-and-control facilities are located in crowded urban areas and cannot be targeted without inflicting heavy civilian casualties – a move designed to make Israel's concern for human life an ally in the terrorists' cause.

But it gets worse, I'm sorry to say.

Intelligence reports also suggest bin Laden's al-Qaida and Hezbollah are cooperating on the transfer and storage of chemical weapons as part of this campaign. Iran, also, is said to be aiding the terror groups in their experiments with loading those 10,000 rockets with chemical warheads.

If my prediction proves accurate and Hezbollah, Syria and Iran raise the stakes in the Middle East, the last 18 months of Arafat-sponsored violence against Israel may look like a sideshow by comparison.

And it will all be a result of a cave-in to terrorists back in 2000.

The lesson is clear: You cannot win by appeasing terrorism. You can't impress terrorists with kindness. You can't win terrorists over with concessions. You can't negotiate with terrorists and you can't give them any quarter.

Israel made the mistake in 2000. Will the West learn the lesson?
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