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January 8, 2009
Can You Finish Terrorists by Killing Them--and Their Kids?
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]
Sometimes an article by one man summarizes the mindset of millions. The piece titled "Bam Stirs Fear in Israel," written by Ralph Peters and published in the New York Post on January 1, was like that. Fearing that "Bam" (i.e, Obama) could "stab Israel in the back" (i.e., tell her to stop the bloodbath in Gaza), Mr. Peters was trying to persuade his readers why it was crucial that the Israeli military kept on bombing the Gaza Strip - a deadly operation which has killed more than 150 women and children up to this point.
"Fighting terrorists effectively means going in on the ground, and sooner is better than later," argued Mr. Peters. "You can't impress fanatics into surrendering. You have to kill them. Nothing else works."
"Let me repeat that," he continuingly wrote to make sure that we all get the message right: "You have to kill fanatics. Nothing else works."
Why they become terrorists
You can replace the word "fanatics" here by other ones such as "extremists" or "terrorists." These are the terms we hear all the time since September 11, 2001. Strangely they are used as if they refer to some bizarre creatures, some sort of sadist beasts, whose very nature compels them to inflict pain on innocent people.
Yet, in fact, there are no natural born terrorists. People become fanatics, extremists or terrorists for some reason.
What is that reason, then, in the case of the fanatics that Mr. Peters is referring to, the militants of Hamas? He and his likeminded would probably tell us that it is their political theology, i.e., Islamism, which makes them fight against Israel. If we accepted this, we would have to assume that these people just happened to be seduced by a radical version of the Muslim faith for some accidental reason. They might have, for example, just picked up a twisted Koranic tasfeer (commentary) or started to attend a radical mosque.
But wait a minute, for God's sake. In the past forty years, Palestine has generated all sorts of extremists, not just Islamists ones. In fact, for long, the tip of the Palestinian sphere had been sharpened by ideas other than Islam, such as nationalism or Marxism. (That's why Israel supported Hamas in the late 80's, as an alternative to the then more militant Fatah.) One of the most radical terrorists which fought Israel was actually George Habash, a Palestinian Christian.
The truth is actually all-obvious: It is neither their nature nor their ideology which is creating all these "fanatics" in Palestine. The root of the problem is the occupation, oppression and humiliation that they have suffered for generations.
That's why the calls for "killing all the fanatics" are simply insane. The more they are killed, the more they will hate Israel and hit back. The more they are destroyed, the more they will wow to destroy Israel, and use all means necessary. This cycle of violence has no end.
Recalling Turkish Militarism
I am very accustomed to this single-minded militarism, because I have seen it in my own country. In Turkey, since the early 80's, we have had a terrorist organization called the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party). For long, our generals, who handled this problem, told us that these are bloodthirsty outlaws deserving to be crushed by our mighty military. "We will kill all those treacherous terrorists one by one," once said one of our four-star generals, "until all of them are finished." However, although our army has killed at least 20,000 of them, they never were finished. Every killed PKK militant was soon replaced by his brother or nephew who had sworn to take his revenge.
The problem, which our generals did not want to see for long, was this: The PKK was not just a group of isolated militants; they were rooted in a people. Moreover, it was us who alienated that people by our systemic injustice. For decades, our authoritarian state had banned the Kurds' language, humiliated their culture, and crushed their political efforts. The zenith of oppression was the junta years of 1980-83, when thousands of Kurdish activists were brutally tortured in the infamous Diyarbakñr Military Prison. Almost every one of those victims, or their family members, soon rushed to join the PKK, which started its terrorist war in 1984.
In the 90's, Turkish politicians began to realize that this was a political problem that could only be solved by political means: by granting the Kurds their natural rights. "No," the generals said. "We have to crush the terrorists first; otherwise it will be conceding to them." Then they carried on burning villages in the southeast in order to "dry the swamp." Little they realized that the swamp was also in the policies, and the mind, of Ankara.
Tanks versus thoughts
The hawks in Israel and their supporters in America are in the same arrogant self-delusion. Their call for total war is not just inhumane, but also mindless. "In Israel you have many tanks," reminds Israeli thinker Avrum Burg, in his prophetic criticisms of his own society, "but not many think tanks." What is worse in America is that there are indeed many think tanks, but quite a few of them are captured in the fantasy that they can tame the world with tanks, bombs, and water-boarding.
Nihilistic terror groups such as Al Qaeda are indeed impossible to negotiate with. But the ones which are rooted in a people, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, can be talked to and agreed with. In his recent piece in The Guardian, Hamas leader Khalid Mish'al indeed hints that. "We are meant to be content with shrinking scraps of territory, a handful of cantons at Israel's mercy, enclosed by it from all sides," he protests, while explaining their rejectionist attitudes. Perhaps it is not just their rhetorical maximalisms, then, which are the problem. It is also Israel's unwillingness to accept a just peace.
That's why I fully agree with the new dovish Jewish initiative, "J Street", which declares: "There is no military solution to what is fundamentally a political conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples." But, alas, the fanatics in Israel and America are just too blind to see that
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at January 8, 2009 3:38 AM
The answer is NO!
Actually, often those 'kids' who are fortunate enough to survive, but have witnessed the horrific crimes against their family, or their parents, grow up to BE 'terrorists.'
Posted by: TalkTurkey at January 8, 2009 4:00 AM
An interesting point, relating to the common history of Arabs and Turks (and other people of the region), is that by now you can notice some change in the anti-Ottoman narrative inherited from the Hashemites and the like, to a more nostalgic tone. I haven't seen a scientific survey about this, but you sometimes hear it in the media, or simply by talking to people. Assuming the trend is real, I would venture that the driver is the failure of Arab states, and mostly, the loss of Palestine. There also may be a subconscious realization that the Israeli-Palestinian (and by extension Israeli-Arab) conflict has no solution as long as some stronger (supra-national?) entity can rebalance powers in the Middle-East and at least incite Israel to behave like it normally would if there wasn't such a discrepancy.
Posted by: Chahine at January 8, 2009 4:47 AM
Merhaba, Mustafa--When I was providing therapy for abused children in Baltimore MD (USA), I was shocked and dismayed when one child said that the Golden Rule is, "Do to others what they have done to you". This perversion of "...love your neighbor as yourself..." is a part of the root of the eye-for-an-eye rationale that underlies most violence. But, as someone has pointed out, an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.
Dialogue that seeks to discover the true basis for differences and conflicts, followed by honest negotiation based on respect for one another as human beings is the only way we can avoid ending up with all of humanity blinded...or dead. I pray that there will be enough peacemakers to keep some light shining in the deepening darkness in the Middle East, Turkey, the USA, and the rest of the world. Thank you for your continuing devotion to this effort.
Posted by: Mary Rader at January 8, 2009 6:55 AM
Mish'al's "It is also Israel's unwillingness to accept a just peace."
...irony at its climax!
Posted by: echnaton at January 8, 2009 2:02 PM
"The only way that positive, long-lasting, and just change can be effected is through
politics."
The Middle East is full of contradictions and is the best example of the relatively
meaningless term âterrorist.â Does not Israel engage in State terrorism? Do not pro
Western Arab States, governed by absolute monarchs or dictators, not terrorize their own
people and others without western imprimatur?
Wars, by their very nature, are meant to
terrorize, but its only victors are those who tend to write the history and have the heroes.
- See: http://library.lanl.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc?event=CT2002&document=6
Posted by: Wladimir at January 8, 2009 4:35 PM
a) "The root of the problem is the occupation, oppression and humiliation that they have suffered for generations"
and
b) "They might have, for example, just picked up a twisted Koranic tasfeer (commentary) or started to attend a radical mosque"
RE:
a) Palestinians have had several occasions to have their own nation and country. But they preferred to cause 4-5 wars in 50 years. I suppose when you are talkong about occupation and oppression suffered you are referring to the 600 year domination of OTTOMANS!!!!!
b) how is it that you are so shure that there is no connection between Islam, extremism and Hamas? Have you ever read the Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS)? It stands on fully islamic gound. For how long will you go on keeping your eyes closed?
Quousque tandem abutere patientia nostra?
Posted by: echnaton at January 8, 2009 6:16 PM
"The more they are killed, the more they will hate Israel and hit back. The more they are destroyed, the more they will wow to destroy Israel, and use all means necessary. This cycle of violence has no end."
should've been -vow- actually
I totally agree with this idea.
Posted by: Kubilay Ant at January 9, 2009 3:18 PM
Many "moderate" Muslim states fail to understand that there is no way to achieve a just peace with Israel unless there is a united front of Muslim countries ready and not afraid of waging a war with Israel.
I do not mean that we should start a war against Israel, but only a fear of a united front of Muslim armies can achieve just peace with Israel.
The reasons for my belief:
1. "Arab initiative" - major Arab states including Saudi Arabia offered to recognize Israel, establish diplomatic and economic relations in return for granting Palestinians a state within 1967 borders (East Jerusalem, West Bank without thousand of settlements and the Gaza Strip). However, such a reasonable deal, which required no more concessions than the rest of the International community demands, was rejected by Israel.
2. During summer 2006 war of Israel with Hezbollah it was not the international community’s pressure, number of murdered children, achieving the aim of destructing Hezbollah and its rocket fire that resulted in cease fire by Israel. For the first time the “Jewish” state called for the International forces on its borders because of a STRONG military opponent.
3. Israel left Gaza in 2005 because of Hamas’ stubborn armed resistance. While Israel continues construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank even though “moderate” Mahmoud Abbas-controls the territory. So far Israel has not made any major concession to the dovish Abbas: no settlements were removed, thousands of Palestinians, including children and women, are in Israeli prisons, despite many promises by Israel.
4. Israel keeps saying that it had “evacuated” from Gaza in 2005. However, the siege of Gaza never stopped: no food, fuel, medicine could be brought into Gaza, even fishing was banned by Israel.
4. Hamas was offering Israel a 15-year-long “hutna” – peace in return for stopping the siege of Gaza. Israel rejected the deal.
5. It was Hamas that was sticking to the 6-month peace (although some rockets were fired onto “Israeli” cities, presumably by other militant groups which Hamas was trying to stop) while Israel failed to stop the siege of Gaza – one of the major terms of the 6-month peace. Hamas had two options in December 2008 to adhere to peace further and starve people of Gaza or to not prolong peace.
By “just peace” I mean at least the “Arab initiative. I believe that those people who populate Israel have a right to live there, although most of them are not Jews, but originate from a Turkic ethnicity of Khazars http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=2&cid=1202742130771&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Most importantly every Palestinian refugee should also have the same right of return to Palestine as any “Jew”, who enjoys such a right for the last 50 years.
With prayers to our Palestinian brothers and sisters,
Behruz.
Posted by: Behruz Himo at January 10, 2009 5:26 PM
Behro, very interestiong your opinions
sadly, that's what they are, just opinions
not corroborated by any hard fact
(for example: just one fact...medecines and food go not through the Egiptian crossings (as Muslim brothers, they would never fail to help Paleos, wouldn't they?....) but through the Israeli ones...
and not metioning the other points (it is saturday evening you surely understand)...
Posted by: echnaton at January 10, 2009 10:29 PM
Mustafa,
I think some moderation on your blog would help. Persons who make intentional mistakes by misspelling names and peoples ("Paleos") have no arguments to offer only insults.
Very "Jewish" of you echna.
Posted by: Behruz Himo at January 11, 2009 10:17 AM