An Old-New World Order

I remember Sarit Amrani as Sarit Baruch, who lived two floors below us in
Kiryat Arba. The Baruch’s moved to Kiryat Arba about 18 years ago. Uri is a
first-class jeweler, producing beautiful rings and necklaces. Francine has
been working for years at the local Kupat Holim medical clinic, assisting
patients from behind the receptionist’s desk. They lived in our building for
a couple of years before moving up to the Givat Harsina neighborhood of
Kiryat Arba, a couple of miles away. We didn’t remain in close contact, but
met on various occasions over the years. And I remember Sarit, the oldest in
a family of four children, as a pretty, sweet, smiling, good-natured little
girl.

A few years ago that little girl, now grown up, married another Kiryat Arba
offspring, Shai Amrani. The young couple decided to live out their ideals,
and moved to Nokdim, a community of over 100 families bordering the Judean
Desert, south of Bethlehem and next to another Jewish community, Tekoah.
According to one of their neighbors, Infrastructure Minister Avigdor
Lieberman, when the couple applied for residency, they did not ask how to
get to Nokdim, which is far off the main road, or whether is was safe to
live at Nokdim. They had only one request: to become residents of this
small, growing community.

Sarit gave birth to three children. Her oldest daughter, Zohar, is four
years old. Ziv is two. Her youngest, Raz, was born only three months ago.
The couple planned to have a large family. Yesterday, their dreams were
abruptly cut short.

The terrorists who succeeded in murdering Sarit left her husband Shai living
by a thread of life. Yesterday he was operated on for 12 hours, in an
attempt to save his life. Hit in the chest and in the neck, he arrived at
Hadassah hospital more dead than alive. Only by the grace of G-d and the
expertise of a team of doctors were the Amrani children not left without any
parents at all. But it will be a while before Shai is up and around, ready
to tend to his children’s needs. Until then, the children’s grandparents
will become surrogate Mommy and Daddy. And unfortunately, my memories of
cute little Sarit Baruch have been replaced by the image of a covered body,
horribly mutilated by terrorists, being eulogized and brought to burial at
the age of 26.

An army spokesman reported this morning that in the past 24 hours there have
been 19 Arafat-initiated terror attacks which have resulted in one dead and
over a dozen wounded. Yesterday in Hebron we were treated to massive
shooting at about 1:30 in the morning, as well as several explosive devices
hurled at security personnel during the day. Jews were shot at in Hebron on
both days of Rosh HaShana, as well as the night before the holiday.

According to Kol Yisrael correspondent Yoni ben Menachem, yesterday the PA
apprehended Sarit Amrani’s suspected killer, but released him following a
“short conversation.” Ma’ariv newspaper reports that at last night’s cabinet
meeting, senior security experts testified that Arafat has not changed his
strategy, and is planning to continue a policy of violence and killing. Army
intelligence chief, General Amos Malka, told the cabinet that Arafat had no
plans of stopping attacks against Israelis. Shas minister ben Izri asked
Malka for the military’s opinion of a planned Arafat-Peres meeting. Sharon
stopped Malka from answering, saying, “this is not the subject of our
discussion.” The result: According to HaAretz newspaper, a Peres-Arafat
meeting is likely on Saturday night. They quote Peres as having told Labor
ministers, “for 50 years the U.S. has been responding to our requests, it’s
about time that we respond to one small request of theirs,” referring to the
meeting with Arafat.  They report “that Sharon would not scuttle a
Peres-Arafat rendezvous, despite the cease-fire violations, as Israel could
not afford to reject the U.S. administration’s request for the meeting to
take place.”

It is time to take an accounting of what is exactly is happening, You will
recall that a decade ago George Bush senior, then President of the United
States, declared a “new world order.” His declaration centered around an
international coalition, including many Arab states, directed against Saddam
Hussein and Iraq. The coalition excluded America’s only real ally in the
Middle East, Israel, for fear that Israeli participation would neutralize
Arab participation. The implications of an Arab boycott of the coalition
were apparent, including major oil repercussions. Despite the massive Scud
attacks against Israeli civilian populations, then Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir was ordered to sit quietly and absorb the bombings, a “necessary
sacrifice” for the good of the world.

Shamir, expecting some reward for his obedience, was well repaid by Bush:
American blackmail geared around stopping all Israeli building in Judea,
Samaria and Gazza, in the form of the infamous “loan guarantees.” The U.S.
pressure led to Shamir’s defeat in the 1992 elections, Rabin’s victory, and
the subsequent Oslo curse.

History has a way of repeating itself.

George Junior is going the way of his old man: An old-new coalition,
including Arab states, again, excluding Israel. The coalition, supposedly
aimed at eradicating world terror, is set to hit not only Usama bin Laden,
but also the old Bush family nemesis, Saddam Hussein.   According to the
Debka web site (www.debka.com), as of yesterday, orders were issued putting
Israel on an emergency war alert.  Hospital, airports, and other
instillations were placed on red alert. The speculated reason behind the
alert is an imminent American attack on Iraq, which may likely lead to
missile attacks on Israel. However, it is very possible that this time
Hussein will not refrain using chemical or biological weapons against the
Jewish state.

What is President Bush demanding of Israel in his war against terror? As did
his father, George W. expects Israel to sit back quietly, and not rock the
boat. But this time we must not only be ready to suffer Hussein’s missiles.
This time we must be ready to endure Arafat’s terrorism. Israeli civilians
must be ready to be killed by Arafat-initiated palestinian authority terror,
and not strike back, so as not to cause a crisis between the United States
and its Arab allies. Again, we are being called upon to be ‘sacrifices for
peace.’ In other words, we acquiesce to Arafat terror, thereby allowing the
US to deal with the “other terrorists” who are attacking and killing
Americans.

It seems that Sharon, like his predecessor, Yitzhak Shamir, has agreed.

Last night the Israeli cabinet (Sharon, Peres, ben Eliezer) decided to
continue a cease-fire policy. This morning Yesha council spokesman Yehoshua
Mor Yosef put out the following press announcement: “According to orders
issued by the Chief of Staff, the army has drastically reduced its actions
in Yesha. According to the new orders, soldiers may only open fire in
life-threatening situations. All Israeli-initiated gunfire is forbidden, not
as a deterrent, and not to strike at any palestinian targets. Also forbidden
is any entrance into “Area A.””

Over the past year Israel has had to absorb close to 200 deaths at the hands
of Arafat terror. Despite the pain and the frustration, an overwhelming
majority of Israelis, both in Yesha and throughout the rest of the country,
have not taken the law into their own hands. We have said, repeatedly, that
our security is in the hands of the Israel Defense Forces, who receive their
orders from the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister. However, should
Ariel Sharon be ready to sacrifice us as lambs on the way to slaughter, on
the alter of  “world peace,” i.e., saving Americans at the cost of Israeli
lives, an era of anarchy may be just around the corner. We will not allow
anyone, be it the Israeli prime minister, or anyone else, to permit our
blood to be needlessly spilled. Sharon is very very close to crossing a red
line, from which there may well be no return. He is responsible for
defending HIS people, the people of Israel. He is not charged with
submitting to American demands, directly leading to the continued killing of
Israeli citizens at the hands of Arafat terrorists.

George W. Bush is on the verge of declaring an “Old-New World Order,” again,
at the expense of the State of Israel. If he does, he is destined to learn,
the hard way, that acquiescence to ANY kind of terror will only boomerang in
his face and in the face of his nation. Arafat is no less an enemy of
America than is bin Laden, for anyone who is an enemy of Israel is an enemy
of the United States.