Column One: Israel's darkest week
Caroline Glick , THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 19, 2008
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The Olmert-Livni-Barak-Yishai government's liquidation sale of Israel's
strategic assets opened officially this week. Iran's proxies have pounced on
the merchandise.

The first asset sold was the security of southern Israel. The
Olmert-Livni-Barak-Yishai government's "cease-fire" with Hamas transferred
all power to determine the fate of the residents of southern Israel to
Iran's Palestinian proxy.

Under the "agreement," Hamas will refrain from attacking Sderot, Ashkelon,
Netivot and surrounding kibbutzim for as long as it serves its interests.
Since temporarily halting its attacks on southern Israel is the only thing
that Hamas has agreed to do, it will use the lull in fighting to build up
its arsenal and its military infrastructures in Gaza. When it has built up
its forces sufficiently, or when its Iranian overlords give it the order,
Hamas will again attack southern Israel. And when it reengages, it can be
assumed that it will do so with a vastly expanded missile range. So under
the guise of the "cease-fire," Hamas will place hundreds of thousands more
Israelis at its mercy.

The Olmert-Livni-Barak-Yishai government's agreement with Hamas does more
than sell out the security of the South. The agreement also divests Israel
of its former ability to isolate Hamas diplomatically. Fatah's renewal of
negotiations toward reconciling with Hamas is a direct consequence of
Israel's actions. As these talks unfold, it is clear to all concerned that
they will not lead to any sort of power sharing agreement between the two
parties. Hamas today holds all the power in Palestinian society. Israel's
acceptance of Hamas's power over the safety of Israeli citizens only
amplified this fact. Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas - who cannot even travel to
Nablus without IDF protection - is not approaching Hamas as an equal, but as
a supplicant.

Moreover, Israel's willingness to allow Gazans to enter Israel, and its
acceptance of Hamas's control over the Rafah international terminal that
separates Gaza from Egypt, constitutes de facto Israeli recognition of the
Hamas regime in Gaza. And the direct consequence of Israel's diplomatic and
strategic capitulation to Hamas is that no one in either the Arab world or
the West today will agree to isolate or boycott Hamas.

But the Olmert-Livni-Barak-Yishai government apparently doesn't care.
Israel's leaders actually don't want anyone to isolate or boycott Hamas
anymore. The government's reported negotiations regarding the deployment of
an all-Arab "peacekeeping" force in Gaza in a later phase of the
"cease-fire" make clear that Israel is pushing for Hamas's international
legitimization.

After all, unlike Israel, Hamas would never allow any government that
doesn't recognize its legitimacy to deploy forces in its territory or along
its borders. So any Arab force that deployed in Gaza or along Gaza's borders
would have to recognize Hamas's regime. Beyond that, of course, Israel's
advocacy of such a force indicates that the government has no interest in
ever confronting Hamas militarily and is ready to tie the hands of any
future Israeli government to do so since the presence of Arab forces in Gaza
will render it much more difficult for Israel to defend itself. For if such
a force is deployed, any future counter-terror operation in Gaza is liable
to cause casualties among foreign Arab soldiers and so risk escalating the
conflict to the level of regional war.

Israel's decision to embrace Hamas is so outrageous that even the US State
Department apparently hasn't had a chance to get its bearings. Reacting to
the news on Wednesday, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said,
"Saying you've got a loaded gun to my head but you're not going to fire
today is far different from taking the gun down, locking it up, and saying
you're not going to use it again." The agreement "hardly takes Hamas out of
the terrorism business," Casey added.

The "cease-fire" with Hamas also has direct implications for Judea and
Samaria. If Hamas holds its fire for six months, then Israel will be obliged
to end its counter-terror operations in Judea and Samaria. That is, if Hamas
keeps its powder dry until January, Israel will effectively enable it to
assert its control over Judea and Samaria and so place Iran in control of
the outskirts of Jerusalem, Kfar Saba, Afula and Netanya.

IF THE US was aghast at the Olmert-Livni-Barak-Yishai government's
capitulation to Hamas, UN officials are aghast at its second asset drop.
This week the government conducted its second round of negotiations toward
the surrender of the Golan Heights to Syria. Speaking of the surrender talks
to a group of Israeli diplomats, Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN Secretary
General's Special Envoy for the implementation of UN Security Council
Resolution 1559, condemned the move, arguing just by holding the
negotiations, "Israel has given Syria a huge gift, without thus far
receiving anything in exchange."

Larsen continued bitterly, "Syria is receiving legitimacy for free. Europe
is courting the Syrians because of the negotiations with Israel, and they
are no longer being asked to give anything in exchange."

Indeed, far from moderating their behavior, the Syrians seem only to have
strengthened their already intimate ties with Iran since Israel initiated
the surrender talks last month. Reacting to the second round of talks,
Iran's Ambassador to Syria, Sayyed Ahmed Moussavi, told a German news agency
that Iranian-Syrian ties have strengthened still further over the past four
months. Moussavi, who also serves as a general in Iran's Revolutionary
Guards and as a senior adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, hinted that
Iran is planning on sharing its nuclear arsenal with Syria. As he put it,
"Islam taught us to pass on our knowledge and we can pass our [nuclear]
experience to Syria if it wants it."

In its rush to obliterate Israel's defensive positions, the
Olmert-Livni-Barak-Yishai government apparently doesn't care that Iran may
well attack Israel with nuclear warheads launched from a post-withdrawal
Golan Heights. What is most important to the government is to make Syria
look good. And so, following the second round of negotiations with the
Syrians, Olmert practically got down on his hands and knees to beg Assad to
meet with him face to face when they visit Paris together next month. The
two have been invited by French President Nicholas Sarkozy to participate in
the launch of his Mediterranean Union initiative on July 13. Assad, no doubt
enjoying the moment, rejected Olmert's pleas. As Larsen warned, Assad has no
reason to pay for something he is already getting for free.

APPARENTLY, THE Olmert-Livni-Barak-Yishai government couldn't suffice with
capitulation on three fronts in one week. And so it moved to a fourth one.
Far from displaying alarm or anger over US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice's decision to visit Beirut and give the US's blessing to the new
Hizbullah-controlled Lebanese government, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert joined
her defeatist bandwagon. He announced that he wishes to open negotiations
with Iran's Lebanese proxy and to that end he is willing to surrender
strategically critical Mount Dov - or what Hizbullah refers to as Shaba
Farms - to Hizbullah. So eager is Olmert to surrender, that even after
Hizbullah's puppet Prime Minister Fuad Saniora rejected his offer, he
reiterated it.

Like Assad and Hamas, Hizbullah sees no reason to honor Olmert and his
colleagues with direct talks. As Hizbullah parliamentarian Nawar Sahili said
this week, "If they really want to give us back our land, they can
withdraw."

Finally, there is the Olmert-Livni-Barak-Yishai government's handling of the
Israeli soldiers being held hostage by Hamas and Hizbullah. The government
agreed to the "cease-fire" with Hamas without securing Gilad Schalit's
release from captivity. Rather than acknowledge that they have likely signed
his death warrant, the government insists that it's not done capitulating.
It will begin begging Hamas to accept hundreds of Palestinian murderers
jailed in Israeli prisons in exchange for Schalit next Tuesday.

As for Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, who were kidnapped to Lebanon by
Hizbullah two years ago and haven't been heard from since, the
Olmert-Livni-Barak-Yishai government is poised to spring arch-murderer Samir
Kuntar from prison together with three other Hizbullah terrorists in
exchange for their release - dead or alive.

In a naked attempt to divert the public's attention away from its surrender
drive, Thursday morning the government initiated a violent confrontation
with Israeli residents of Samaria by ordering the destruction of homes in
the community of Yitzhar. In other words, while surrendering to Iranian
proxies on four fronts, the government has turned its guns against Israeli
citizens.

THE GOVERNMENT'S actions no doubt increase prospects for a major war. But
beyond that, it is important to note that Israel is discarding its strategic
assets in the face of the burgeoning threat of nuclear annihilation.

No doubt buoyed by the government's strategic incapacitation, Iran mockingly
told the Europeans that it will be happy to consider their European-American
offer to build Iran nuclear reactors and normalize relations with it - so
long as it is understood that they will accept their largesse while
continuing their uranium enrichment activities.

In Israel's 60-year history, there is no precedent for the government's
actions this week. And if history is any guide, Israel can only expect more
of the same in the government's remaining time in office - however long that
might be.

Until Olmert was elected prime minister in 2006, Defense Minister Ehud Barak
enjoyed the distinction of being the worst prime minister in Israeli
history. And Barak's behavior in his waning days in power is instructive for
understanding what we can expect from Olmert and Livni and Barak today.

In July 2000, after he lost a no-confidence vote in the Knesset, Barak went
to Camp David and shot for the moon, offering PLO chieftain Yasser Arafat a
state in all of Gaza, 90 percent of Judea and Samaria and parts of
Jerusalem. Arafat rejected his offer and went to war. Facing the rejection
of the Israeli electorate at the polls, rather than curtail his capitulation
efforts, Barak redoubled them. As Arafat's soldiers were busy blowing up
buses and lynching Israeli soldiers, Barak offered Arafat still more land in
Judea and Samaria and the Temple Mount.

And today, with Barak at his side, Olmert - who similarly has been rejected
by the electorate - is repeating Barak's move fourfold. And he can be
expected to continue on this course until elections are held and he is sent
packing.

Next week the Knesset is expected to vote on a motion to disband and move to
general elections. It is far from clear that the vote will pass. Barak and
his Labor Party may well decide that capitulation suits them just fine and
remain on board Olmert and Livni's sinking ship.

As the Israeli public stares at the wreckage and danger that has marked this
disastrous week, hopefully it understands that this is what happens when we
elect bad leaders. All of this was eminently predictable in 2006 when Kadima
and Labor both ran for office on capitulationist platforms. Choices have
consequences. And we will be suffering with the consequences of the 2006
elections until its winners are finally thrown from office.