Over this summer Israel's government demonstrated its commitment to security and peace. The retaliatory strikes that the Israel Defense Forces carried out in southern Lebanon against the Hizbollah terrorists made it clear that when issues of security arise the government would not hesitate to react promptly and with the required force.
Less than two months after the events in Lebanon, Israel's government demonstrated that it was also committed to peace as it recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization as the representative of the Palestinian population, and cut a deal with it over limited self-rule.
I believe Israel's security depends on peace. There is no substitute for strength, especially in the Middle East where wars flare up regularly between various Arab countries and internal violence is the norm. Israel cannot simply depend on the good will of its neighbors when it comes to guaranteeing the security of its own citizens.
It would be foolish to think that all we need to do is to put pen to paper, sign a few peace agreements, and all of this will be behind us. But living in a state of perpetual aggression will not lead to a resolution of Israel's problems either. That is why in the long run peace is essential to Israel's survival.
A state of perpetual aggression means that all Israeli men and women will go on serving in the military for three and two years respectively as they turn eighteen. Men will go on to dedicate another three years of their lives to reserve duty in the military. For Israelis it will mean more deaths in refugee camps, in the streets of Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, and on the battlefields. More funerals in which parents bury their children, wives their husbands, friends their loved ones.
But, as Israel has proved over the past 48 years, we can go on this way. It's a heavy price, but we have managed it, and have even prospered in spite of it. Nonetheless, it is eroding us slowly and changing our national mentality in harmful ways.
Policing a refugee camp in Gaza does not make you more receptive to the plight of the people that you come in contact with, nor does it make you a "better person." I can tell you that from first-hand experience. Being showered with rocks, and seeing your fellow soldiers knifed does not engender sympathy, only hate.
It is because peace is essential for our well-being, if not our existence, that so many Israelis are willing to take the risk of empowering the PLO, an organization that has harmed Israel in so many cruel and inhumane ways. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's dramatic decision to abandon the policies that had been pursued until now and to embark upon a new direction is a recognition that a fundamental change in Israel's approach to its existential problems must occur.
As Prime Minister Rabin has said, peace you make with enemies, not with friends. The historic handshake on the South Lawn of the White House is only the first step on the long and difficult road to reconciliation and peaceful co-existence. This process could be easily derailed by extremists in both camps who stand to loose very much if this accord works out.
Israel is a democracy and has the strength that is required to contain any radical and unlawful elements that might oppose this agreement. The same can not be said of the Palestinians.
Already some assassination orders have been carried out by radical Islamic Fundamentalist groups such as the Hamas. A few more attacks against Israelis by Palestinians, whatever their political persuasion might be, will sour the Israeli public's reception of any deal with the PLO.
There is a Catch-22 built into Israel's interaction with the PLO. A strong PLO would never negotiate with Israel, and a weak PLO might not be able to "deliver" what Israel is expecting: a suppression of violence by Palestinians, namely the Hamas.
This is the "test" that the PLO must pass to gain Israel's confidence and to permit the newly initiated process of establishing some measure of Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to continue.
This is not an easy test to pass. Although the Hamas has declared that it wants to minimize the conflict between Palestinians, it is not unlikely that much blood will flow in Gaza in the coming months as the PLO will find itself trying to contain the violence of these fanatics. As an Israeli, I prefer to see the PLO assuming these responsibilities rather than my friends and relatives.
In the long run real security for Israel depends on real peace. In the interim (as you can see I am hopeful) whatever peace that we have must be complemented by a strong military and security arrangements that will weather serious testing. We should not forget that healing is a slow process.
Michael Arad is President of AILAD, America Israel League at Dartmouth.
