Would you, Bob, and David please send your messages only to each other. Your
email addresses come with your messages, When I see your names, I delete
your messages without reading them, as I'm sure many others on this list do.
It is intrusive, inconsiderate, and an abuse of the freedom of the list for
you to send your messages to the entire list. I would think some have signed
off the list because of it. So, please.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Bartlett" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: [CHOMSKY] Jonathan & David


> At 4:32 PM -0400 7/4/02, David Griffin wrote:
>
> >Martin gets his definition of zionism from when he "hears Zionists
speak,"
> >then he links us to an Israeli website. That's like getting your
definition
> >of the Enron corporation from an Enron executive!!!!! But, he does not
say,
> >above, that Israel considered itself threatended because it is Jewish,
but
> >admits that it is because "the state" is threatened. Which is more
important
> >to Israel, then, Martin? The state or its religion?
>
> I think you are mistaken. The following article by Benjamin Netanyahu
accuses the PLO of attempting to destroy Israel "as a Jewish state". Not
destroying Israel as such, but destroying it as a Jewish state, by insisting
on a right of return of Palestinian refugees which would significantly alter
its the religious demographics.
>
> I can't say for sure that Netanyahu represents the position of Israel. But
he was previously elected as Prime Minister of Israel, so his opinion has to
be assumed to carry some weight.
>
> Accordingly, we must assume that Israel carries out its aggression to
protect the religious demographics of the state. Israel's right to exist is
not enough, its right to exist "as a Jewish state" is what is being fought
for here.
>
> Bill Bartlett
> Bracknell Tas
>
> http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/04/03/1017206220403.html
>
> How Israel should fight its war against terror
>
> By Benjamin Netanyahu
> April 4 2002
>
> The message Palestinian terrorists are sending Israelis is crystal
> clear: We will murder you at every opportunity, in every place, at
> any time - even on the holiest of your days.
>
> An unremitting carnage that indiscriminately slaughters all who come
> within the murderous reach of Palestinian terrorists shows the depths
> of their hatred.
>
> Clearly, the only constraint on Arab terrorists is their capability
> to destroy. Given the power, they would kill all of us, down to the
> last infant.
>
> The primary objective of Yasser Arafat's terrorist regime is not to
> establish the 22nd Arab state but to destroy the only Jewish state.
> This was and remains at the heart of the conflict. In 1948, the Arabs
> rejected an international resolution that would have established a
> Palestinian state and instead attempted to destroy an embryonic
> Jewish state. Fifty-two years later, Arafat rejected a similar offer
> and demanded the flooding of Israel with millions of Palestinians, a
> measure that would effectively bring about the destruction of Israel
> as a Jewish state.
>
> With such a regime, whose ultimate objective is our destruction and
> which pursues this objective by the most barbaric means imaginable,
> there is no place for negotiations and no hope of reaching any
> sustainable peace agreement.
>
> Indeed, the much-vaunted political solution to end the conflict was
> attempted two years ago at Camp David, and it utterly failed. Arafat
> rejected a scandalously far-reaching Israeli offer of a sovereign
> Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, which
> included half of Jerusalem, and instead chose to unleash the present
> war of terror against Israel.
>
> There is only one option now available to Israel: to decisively win
> the war that has been forced upon us.
>
> What is required of us today is not a willingness to clench our teeth
> and bear this ongoing violence. We must instead seek a total military
> victory against an implacable enemy. First, we must immediately
> dismantle the Palestinian Authority and expel Arafat. Second, we must
> encircle the main Palestinian population centres, purge them of
> terrorists and eradicate the terrorist infrastructure. Third, we must
> establish security separation lines that will allow Israeli armed
> forces to enter Palestinian territory but prevent Palestinian
> terrorists from entering our towns and cities.
>
> The choice we face today is not between military victory and a
> security separation. Rather, we must do both together. Only by
> combining the two can we stop the terror, restore a deterrent that
> has been dangerously eroded in the past two years, and enable a
> realistic and moderate leadership to emerge among the Palestinians
> with which we can pursue a political settlement in the future.
>
> Like a partial dose of antibiotics that is not sufficient to cure the
> disease, the partial actions of the Israeli Government and the fitful
> changes between a policy of restraint and half-hearted military
> action have not and will not achieve anything. Our excessive concern
> about the international community has also borne bitter fruit.
> Israel's refusal so far to act as would any other self-respecting
> nation heightens the doubts in the minds of our friends about our
> belief in the justice of our cause and encourages our enemies to
> increase the bloodshed.
>
> The only way to win international understanding for our position is
> to steadfastly assert our basic right to defend ourselves and to
> achieve a quick and decisive military victory that will stop the
> terrible massacre of our citizens.
>
> Finally, the claim that we have tried all military means to end the
> terror is baseless. We have not even used a fraction of our military
> power, and the little we have used has not been directed toward the
> right purpose, namely ending Arafat's regime. Today, after 18 months
> of terrorism, the Israeli Government continues to work under the
> illusion that it is possible to stop terrorism without dismantling
> this main terrorist engine.
>
> What is absolutely clear is that we cannot continue, even for one
> more day, on a path of indecision without a goal or a policy.
>
> We must do what any nation in our position would do: stop bickering
> among ourselves, fight the war that has been forced upon us, and
> vanquish an enemy who is determined to annihilate us.
>
> Benjamin Netanyahu is a former prime minister of Israel. This article
> first appeared in the Los Angeles Times.