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Peace Process

Only IDF can effectively rule Yesha


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
June 24, 2004

The only ruling power that ever has or ever will provide the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip (Yesha) with beneficial rule while at the same time effectively curbing terrorism is the Israel Defense Forces, stated the former head of the army’s history department Wednesday.

Colonel (reserve) Benny Michelson told Arutz 7 it had become clear that neither the Palestinian Authority nor its Egyptian or European patrons intended to truly eliminate terror or provide acceptable basic services in Yesha.

The only hope of maintaining the current quiet resulting from the IDF’s anti-terror successes and allowing the Yesha Arabs a prosperous life was to reinstate the military administration, he said.

That administration governed Yesha for more than two decades until the establishment of Yasser Arafat’s terror-supporting regime in 1993.

Unscrupulous overlords

The Arabs of Yesha can look to neither Arafat nor the Egyptians and Europeans that purport to protect their best interests to provide the basic services they need to lead normal, prosperous lives, Michelson said in an interview with Arutz 7 Wednesday.

To provide for the Arabs of Yesha in such a way would change the conditions that have transformed the area into a hotbed for terrorist activity and recruitment, he noted.

Arafat has long refused to eliminate terrorism and the environment that fosters it, and Egypt has sought to let Israel and the “Palestinians” slowly bleed one another, according to senior defense officials.

The result has been the exploitation of the local Arab population and its well being in an effort to pressure Israel.

Yesha’s only hope

From immediately after the Six Day War in 1967 until the transfer of power to Arafat’s PLO in 1993, Israel’s Civil Administration, headed by a military governor, oversaw daily life in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

During that time, the Arabs of Yesha enjoyed a high quality of life compared to the rest of the Muslim Middle East.

The relative prosperity, coupled with an effective security apparatus, resulted in a very low level of domestic and nationalistic violence.

But the PA, Egypt and the EU have done little or nothing to revive the basic services that serve as the cornerstone of a successful society, Michelson said.

Israel is the only power capable of eliminating the local Arab population’s economic despair, the rampant violence, and the environment that breeds terrorist activity, he explained.

Anti-terror successes

Defense Minister Sha’ul Mofaz said Tuesday that recent IDF anti-terror activity, including the liquidation of several top Hamas and Islamic Jihad bosses, had led to a dramatic and long-term decrease in “Palestinian” terrorism.

But, Mofaz warned, military pressure on the terror groups had to be maintained or the achievements would be lost.

Motivation to murder Israel’s Jews remains high among Palestinian Arabs, he said.

Many fear increased Western pressure following Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria would make it more difficult for the IDF to reenter those areas in its war against terror.

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