Peace

In order for there to be peace in the Middle East, both sides must first agree on the definition of the term. As long as Israel defines peace as the absence of war, and the Arabs define peace as the absence of Israel, there can be no peace.

     Peace in the Middle East. Peace between Israel and her Arab neighbors. Shalom in Hebrew. Salaam in Arabic. A thing long wished for, but seldom achieved. 

     King David was at peace with his enemies. In 2 Samuel 1, it says, “And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies”

     The Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) said, “Never aspire for confronting your enemies (in a fight). Pray to God to be among those who seek living peacefully with others.”

     Unfortunately, in 1948, only one side truly desired peace. As Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion said when he addressed the Knesset on May 6, 1963,

“When we proclaimed our renewed independence at four o’clock in the afternoon of Friday, May 14, 1948, we declared:

‘We extend the hand of peace and good-neighbourliness to all States around us and to their peoples, and we call upon them to cooperate in mutual helpfulness with the independent Jewish nation in its Land. The State of Israel is prepared to make its contribution in a concerted effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.’

This formal declaration was signed by all the parties in Israel, from Agudat Israel to the Communists.”

   The Prime Minister went on to say,

“Eight hours after this proclamation, when the British High Commissioner left, we were invaded by the Arab armies from all the neighboring countries–Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Transjordan, as well as Iraq, for the purpose of destroying Israel, the establishment of which had been decided upon by over two-thirds of the members of the United Nations, headed by the Soviet Union and the United States. We were compelled to stand alone, faced odds of forty to one, in a struggle for life or death. And it was only thanks to the heroism of our Jewish youth that young Israel was not destroyed and her Jewish population exterminated.”  

     The fighting between Israel and the Arab states ended in January 1949. To once again quote Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, 

“The first article in each of the agreements states:

‘The right of each party to its security and freedom from fear of attack by the armed forces of the other shall be fully respected.’

The establishment of an armistice between the armed forces of the two parties is accepted as an indispensable step towards the liquidation of armed conflict and the restoration of peace in Palestine. Israel’s Arab neighbours, who signed these agreements, do not honour their signatures, do not fulfil their obligations, and refuse to restore peace and respect our right to security and freedom from fear of attack by the armed forces of our neighbours.” 

Still, there was no peace.

     And then there were the refugees. Thousands fled when fighting broke out in 1948. There were between 800,000 and 1,000,000, according to the Arab states; a maximum of 650,000 according to the 1949 Israeli census; but no more than 472,000 according to the United Nations, with only 360,000 of those requiring aid. Of course, those numbers didn’t count the Jewish refugees who flooded into Israel from various Arab countries, hundreds of thousands forced out of the lands of their birth. Jewish populations in Arab lands careened towards (and sometimes actually reached) zero. 

Still, there was no peace.

     Israel extended the hand of friendship to its Arab neighbors. The Arabs refused. Egypt closed the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping and tried to do the same to the Gulf of Aqaba. The Fedayeen launched terrorist attacks from Jordan, prompting Israeli retaliation. Egyptian President Nasser threatened war as Israel offered peace. 

Still, there was no peace.

     War came again in 1956, as Israel, Great Britain, and France invaded Egypt to retake the Suez Canal. Although militarily successful, the United States and the Soviet Union forced Israel to withdraw from the Sinai, and things went back to the way they were before, except now there was a U.N. “peacekeeping” force along the border between Egypt and Israel in the Sinai.

Still, there was no peace.

     The Arab nations, having had their heads handed to them (figuratively speaking) twice in eight years, now turned to terror. The Fedayeen had been attacking Israel, mostly from Jordan, since 1951. Starting in 1959, Fatah joined them, and then by the PLO in 1964, and all their sub-groups of murderers, rapists, and thieves. Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian minions killed hundreds, wounded thousands, and stole millions. (Given that there never was a nation of Palestine, only a geographic term, I would argue that Arafat also constructed the modern conception of Palestinian nationality around this time, specifically in order to weaponise it against Israel.)  

No one knew where or when the terrorists would strike, but the IDF and the Mossad always struck back.

Still, there was no peace.

     In 1967, the Arab states tried again. Egypt, Jordan, and Syria united their military commands, kicked the U.N. “peacekeepers” out of the Sinai, and announced the closure of the Gulf of Aqaba, and the world watched and waited for the Arab Goliath to crush the Israeli David. Much to the surprise of virtually the entire world, it was the Valley of Elah all over again. The IAF struck first, and many stones hit the head of Goliath (the Egyptian Air Force), and it fell and was cut off. And the Egyptian dead were strewn not only along the Shaaraim Road but all the way to the great canal of Suez. Likewise, the Syrians and Jordanians were chased all the way not only to Gath and Ekron but to the Jordan River and nigh unto Damascus as well, verily away from the entire Golan and all of Judea and Samaria. And Jerusalem, Jerusalem of gold, the Temple Mount, and the Wailing Wall were freed from their long captivity. The shofar was sounded, and the liberation of Israel, which began in 1948, was now complete.

Still, there was no peace.

     The Soviets re-armed the Arab states, particularly Egypt and Syria. America re-armed Israel. The Arabs, backed by the Soviets, demanded Israel withdraw to the “pre-1967 borders.” America agreed. Israel told both of them “No,” primarily because they considered the pre-1967 borders to be indefensible. 

     Egypt and Israel conducted a “war of attrition” in 1969-1970, but Egypt, finally tired of being on the losing side, agreed to a ceasefire. The PLO and their murderous cohorts practiced terrorism against Israel; so the IDF, the Mossad, and the ISAF struck back.

Still, there was no peace. Well, maybe a glimmer, as both sides theoretically agreed on “land for peace.” 

     Then there was Munich. The International Olympic Committee awarded West Germany the 1972 Summer Olympic Games, making it the host nation for the first time since Jesse Owens showed up the Nazis in 1936. Then the Olympic idealism vanished. The Black September terrorist group kidnapped and murdered eleven Israeli athletes, coaches, and officials. As ABC sports announcer Jim McKay told the world: 

“When I was a kid, my father used to say, ‘Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized.’ Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They’ve now said that there were eleven hostages. Two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone.” 

 Five of the eight terrorists met their end as well. The West German government held the other three for trial but later released them. The Mossad later killed two of the three.

Still, there was no peace.

     The Arabs felt they had to try it one more time. Israel had humiliated them in 1967, and it was time to strike back. On October 6, 1973, on Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria did. And, this time, it worked…for a while. In fact, it came so close to working that, on October 8^th, Golda ordered the nukes readied for use. If “the third temple” (Israel) was going to fall; if the Egyptian and Syrian armies were going to break through (which seemed possible); then they would return to a Cairo and a Damascus that were large, glowing holes in the ground. But the Golan front held, Arik Sharon’s army surrounded the Egyptians, the Americans sent supplies, Golda put away her nukes, and the war ended. 

Still, there was no peace.

     Then, in 1977, Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat, the President of Egypt, took the risk, visited Israel, and shook hands with Prime Minister Menachem Begin. They shook hands again, with President Carter at the White House in 1978 as they signed the Camp David Accords, and once again in Washington D.C. in March 1979 at the signing of the historic Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty.

Still, there was no peace…with the other Arab states or the terrorists.

     War came to the Middle East again in 1990 when Iraq occupied Kuwait. President George H.W. Bush said that Iraqi aggression “would not stand” and ordered American forces to defend Saudi Arabia (I was one of them). Iraq tried desperately to involve Israel in the war, shooting SCUD missiles at Tel Aviv and Haifa and threatening to load the missiles with poison gas (which Iraq had no capability to do, although we didn’t know that then). Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir threatened a “nuclear response” if Iraq actually did that, the first time Israel publicly admitted to having nukes. 

     Just a personal note here. I was a U.S. Central Command Air Force intelligence officer who went to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in August 1990. The night the war started (January 17^th, 1991 in Saudi Arabia, January 16^th in the U.S.) I was monitoring Radio Jerusalem, which broadcast on shortwave in English. The station was playing classical music when suddenly I could hear air raid sirens in the background. The announcer broke in to say that Israel was under missile attack and he had to go to the shelter. This attack, of course, was Saddam Hussein fulfilling his pledge to attack Israel if the U.S. attacked Iraq.

     When the announcer in Jerusalem came back on, I had my most frightening moment of the entire war. Mind you, we had been under missile fire in Riyadh, too. The Patriot missile defense system destroyed one of the incoming SCUDS directly over the Royal Saudi Air Force Headquarters building, where we worked in the basement. The explosion made the whole building shake. Anyway, back to the radio. 

     The prospect of explosions wasn’t what scared me: what scared me was the announcer in Jerusalem. He said that Israeli authorities claimed that Iraq had used poison gas in one missile that struck the city of Haifa. On hearing that, I said to myself, “Oh, shoot” (well, something like that, anyway) and grabbed up the direct line connecting me to the USAF command post, which was actually just down the hall. It rang once, and someone quickly picked up.

     “Command post, Captain McNary,” said my friend Doug McNary. (A fine man and an outstanding officer, U.S. Air Force Academy graduate Douglas McNary passed away far too soon in 2015.) 

     “Doug, it’s Marc. Let me speak to Colonel Hubbard.” (Colonel William Hubbard, USAF, was the night shift chief of Air Force intelligence during the war.)

     “Marc, he’s in conference with General Horner.” (Lieutenant General Charles Horner was the commander of Allied air forces during the Persian Gulf War of 1990-91.)

     “Pull him out. I need to talk to him now!”

     “I’ll have him call you as soon as he finishes.”

     “Doug, I have some very important information he needs to hear, and I need to talk to him now!”

     “Are you sure?”

     “Doug, on my authority, pull him out and let me talk to him!” That was my way of reminding Doug that, although we were both captains, I was about five years senior, and the next thing he would hear would be a direct order.

     “Ok. Stand by.” The next voice I heard was the colonel.

     “Colonel Hubbard.”

     “Colonel Hubbard, Captain Hennemann. I’ve been listening to Radio Jerusalem broadcasting in English. They claim that the Iraqi missile that hit Haifa had poison gas.”

     There was a gasp on the other end of the phone, then the colonel said, “Oh my God. Ok. I heard what you said, but please repeat it one more time, so I’m absolutely sure I heard you correctly.”

     I repeated my information to the colonel. He thanked me, told me to call him immediately if I heard anything else, and hung up. 

     Not five minutes later, the announcer in Jerusalem was back on the air with another statement from Israeli authorities in Haifa. The authorities had been wrong earlier; he said. There was no poison gas used in Haifa. It was a broken natural gas line, ruptured by one of the Iraqi missiles. I immediately picked up the phone and called Colonel Hubbard again. 

     “Command post, Captain McNary.” Just like before, but I expected it.

     “Doug, Marc again. Let me talk to Colonel Hubbard.” 

     “He’s still talking with General Horner.”

     “Doug, pull him out. I’ve got some new information he’ll want to hear. Let me talk to him now.”

     Apparently, Colonel Hubbard had given Doug the word because the next thing I heard was, “Ok. Stand by.” 

     And then, “Colonel Hubbard.”

     “Sir, Captain Hennemann again. Now Radio Jerusalem is saying that it was a natural gas line break in Haifa, not poison gas.”

     I didn’t know it was possible to hear a man smile over the phone until that moment. He sounded like he had been holding his breath since my previous call, and now he could let it go. “Oh, thank God!” he said and again requested that I repeat what I had told him. When I had, he again instructed me to call him if I heard anything else.  

I never called Colonel Hubbard back that night or any of the following nights. The Iraqis didn’t use poison gas; the Israelis stayed out of the war, the good guys won, and Saddam Hussein was eventually hanged by the neck until dead.

Still, there was no peace…except with Egypt.

     But there was the Intifada. The First Intifada. The PLO set it off in 1987, trying to get Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria. Israel, of course, refused. After a U.S.-led coalition defeated Iraq in the Gulf War in 1991 — a coalition which notably excluded Israel, in order to appease Muslim-majority coalition members like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Kuwait — the PLO finally sat down and negotiated with Israel, resulting in the Oslo Accords of 1993. The PLO accepted Israel’s right to exist, and Israel designated them as the “Palestinian Authority” to govern Judea-and-Samaria and Gaza — sovereign territory of Israel, according to the Torah. (Damn fool move by Israel. In 1967, Israel said, “What was ours is ours again.” In 1993, they said, “What is ours is now yours,” as they turned it over to the PLO gang of murderers and thieves.) But it supposedly removed one more dagger aimed at the heart of Israel, removing it by turning the heartland of Israel over to the PLO.

Still, there was no peace…except with Egypt and the Palestinians.  

     Israel and Jordan finally made peace in 1994, when King Hussein and Prime Minister Rabin shook hands at the White House.

Still, there was no peace…with the other Arab states or with the terrorists.

     Then, “wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles,” came the Abraham Accords. Starting in September 2020, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and, later, Morocco and Sudan normalized relations with Israel. The Arab governments were slowly, like a bear coming out of hibernation, deciding that they could live with Israel. Egypt did it. Jordan did it. The Abraham Accord states did it. Even the PLO tried it. None of them had fallen into Jahannam. 

But Jahannam fell on Israel on October 7, 2023, and it fell out of Gaza.

     Hamas (or H.A.M.A.S.: “Hiding Among Mosques And Schools”, as they might better be known) is a Palestinian terrorist organization that seized control of Gaza in 2007. Since then, it’s been like living next to someone who owns a very large, very vicious dog. The dog keeps barking and growling and howling, trying to get out through the fence. People on the other side of the fence, away from the dog, are afraid of it, and rightly so, but they know they would have plenty of warning if the dog really tried to climb the fence. And even if it got out, they had experienced animal-control agents on their side who would protect them. The dog wouldn’t get out; and if it did, they’d be protected. Except this time, it did, and they weren’t.

     What can I write about the mini-Holocaust that happened on October 7^th? What can I write about the Blessed Memory (ZL in Hebrew abbreviation) of those who were murdered by the monsters of Hamas? What can I write about those who were tortured? About those who were raped? About those who never had the chance to grow or even be born? There is nothing I can write that will do justice to their memory. Except, perhaps, this: as long as the IDF finds it necessary to operate in Gaza — as long as Israel is threatened, and Israel’s people remain as hostages — NO mercy and NO ceasefire. But that’s just me.

     Now, to wrap this up. The Oxford Dictionary defines peace as “A state or period in which there is no war, or a war has ended.” That’s pretty much the definition I ascribed to Israel in my opening. I’ve tried to show how Arab governments gradually (VERY gradually) came to adopt the Israeli definition of peace. Even the murderers and thieves of the PLO came to at least somewhat accept that definition when they became a quasi-government. 

    Only the rapists and murderers of Hamas and the cowards of Hezbollah (and their perversion-of-Islam masters in Iran) still see “peace” as the absence of Israel. The difference is that Hamas and Hezbollah are not governments, no matter how hard Hamas tries to pretend it is in Gaza. In Tehran, they are a fundamentalist madrasa pretending to be a government. None of them will ever make peace with Israel, for they are psychologically incapable of doing so. As far as they’re concerned, as long as Israel exists, there can be no peace.

     Perhaps Golda Meier said it best in A Land of Our Own, an Oral Autobiography:

“When peace comes we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, 

but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons. 

Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”

Shalom.

End Notes

Pages 1 and 2: Quotes from Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s May 6, 1963 address to the Knesset are from Jewishvirtuallibrary.org and can be found here: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/statement-to-the-knesset-by-prime-minister-ben-gurion-may-6-1963#google_vignette

Page 4: The quote from ABC sportscaster Jim McKay can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blum, Howard, The Eve of Destruction, (HarperCollins, New York, 2003).

Hersh, Seymour M., The Samson Option, (Random House, New York, 1991).

Oren, Michael B., Six Days of War, (Oxford University Press, New York, 2002).