By Ryan Jones
Jun 18, 2004
Unsurprisingly, PLO chief Yasser Arafat seems to have a very loose grasp on what it means to participate in a peaceful relationship.
In an interview with the extreme leftist daily Ha’aretz this week, the mass murderer said he was “puzzled” the Israeli government did not see him as a true peace partner. This after he has dedicated his life to killing Jews and annihilating their homeland.
Even after signing a “peace” treaty with Israel a decade ago, Arafat has done little to curb anti-Jewish terrorism, constantly pointing to Israel’s failure to make concessions fast enough as justification for allowing the slaughter to continue.
But to Israelis, peace means something else.
Peace is not merely the absence of war, but rather harmonious coexistence between two parties truly concerned for the well being of the other.
The Hebrew word for peace attests to this fact. The root of the word “shalom” is “shalem,” meaning “whole” or “complete.”
To the Hebrew mind, peace cannot truly exist when one party is not in complete accord with the other, when one party is only making peace because it has become politically convenient to do so.
That the “Palestinians” have for more than a decade persisted in their terrorist ways and refused to revise their venomously anti-Israel school textbooks suggests they are not interested in forming a “whole” or “shalom” with the Jewish state.
Rather, they are interested in what Arafat has constantly referred to as the “peace of the brave” – an Islamic concept heralding back to Mohammed’s deceitful treaty with the Quraish tribe of Mecca.
After mustering his strength to a point where he could defeat his enemies, Mohammed promptly broke the treaty and massacred the Quraish.
To the Arab Muslim mind, peace is a political tool to be used in the battle for supremacy.
It should be remembered that according to the Koran, peace can only reign once all has been made subject to Islam.
A sovereign Jewish state in the midst of the Middle East does not fit in with these plans. Islam demands that any area not under its dominion be categorized as the “House of War,” and thus a target for Muslim violence.
As a Muslim, Arafat knows this, and has proven a worthy disciple of his “prophet” by convincing a gullible world that his intentions are peaceful, while under the surface fomenting violence and hatred.
Israel can and has been duped and pressured into accepting peace with Arafat and the “Palestinians” as genuine, but they and everyone else can be certain the violence will not end until the Jewish state either ceases to exist or defeats its enemies.