Palestinian Terrorists: Israel Gives Jobs, We Make Peace

Palestinians are learning that the dove of peace lives
on bread and software, not bullets and bombs.

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem----April 12..... After so many years, it appears that they finally got it.
First it was war money from Egypt and Jordan, the promises of land in Palestine. Then the cash poured in from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria. Cash for terrorism, guns and Islamic terror suicide bombers. To make the job easier for the bombers, they were promised 72 virgins in heaven and their proud parents would receive a few thousand dollars. That was a lot of money for Palestinians who live on Israel, UN and EU food handouts. The Arab league knew that the only way to secure harmony among its brother Islamic states was to keep all united in their collective hate against Israel.

It was always about money and keeping the oil flowing. But Israel never saw it that way. A few, such as former Israel Knesset member and business entrepreneur Stef Wertheimer knew that money was the only key to a real and lasting peace in a "new" Mashall Plan type Middle-East.

"A groundbreaking ceremony was planned for one of the twin industrial parks I was about to establish with the Palestinian Authority," said Wertheimer. "We had signed an agreement to create two parks on either side of the border in Gaza. Harvard University's Business and Design Schools had helped us with this ambitious effort. The heads of both governments had concurred. Our goal was to promote export-oriented entrepreneurship, to create jobs, and to reduce the gap between the Israeli and Palestinian standard of living and economic development levels. Everything was in place. Then, on September 29, 2000, the second Intifada started. Violence erupted and looked as though it would prevail for some time."

Wertheimer concluded: "Business cannot succeed in a conflict area, and so I reluctantly put the plans aside."

It doesn't take a rocket or Scud scientist to understand that. But Yasser Arafat refused to stabilize life for the Palestinians. As long as Arafat spoke of peace in English and Jihad (holy war) in Arabic he had a secure job. After all, Arafat was making huge personal profits from his Oasis Casino in Jericho and knew if he commercialized life for the Palestinians, corporate CEOs would replace his corrupt power base.

Arafat was handing out the money in Gaza and the West Bank for terrorism. Terrorism against Israel spelled jobs. It meant that Palestinians could buy tuna fish and houmous at the end of the day. With Arafat dead, it appears that the winds of peace have finally started to sweep over the sleepy green and rocky hills of Israel and Palestine.

Today, more than 200 Palestinian terrorists pledged not to carry out acts of violence in exchange for jobs, the type of jobs that produce food and hi-tech products rather than bullets and bombs. This was a first step toward disarming terrorists wanted by Israel, a Palestinian official said on Tuesday. The Palestinian Authority is seeking signed commitments from a thousand terrorists to allow them to join security forces or get civilian government jobs, but the program stops short of taking away their weapons immediately as Israel has demanded.

Abdel-Fattah Hamayel, a former cabinet minister in charge of the jobs for peace program, said about 80 wanted terrorists had already started working for West Bank Palestinian security services, though they had yet to agree on turning in their weapons from their days as fighters.

"It is only the beginning. At the end of this process the only legitimate weapons will be the weapons in the hands of the Palestinian Authority," Hamayel told Reuters.

President Mahmoud Abbas is under pressure from Israel to disarm terrorists as a condition for further peace moves, but he is treading carefully to avoid a civil war. He is also worried that Palestinian voters fed up with lawlessness will punish his ruling Fatah group in parliamentary elections set for July if he fails to impose order.

Half of the terrorists being recruited for the program are on Israel's terror wanted list for alleged involvement in attacks that have killed Israelis during a Palestinian uprising. Those signing the pledge promise "not to carry out any action that violates security and rule of law and agreements reached between the Palestinian Authority and any state or party."

But terrorists are still balking at disarming. Some say they want assurances of their safety, even though Israel has said it would stop pursuing them if they give up their weapons. Others refuse to disarm until Israel lifts its encirclement of West Bank cities or until the Palestinians win statehood. These Palestinians still are not sure from which direction is the money coming from.

A group of Palestinian terrorists fired at Abbas's presidential compound and went on a rampage in the West Bank city of Ramallah earlier this month, prompting him to order stepped-up efforts to disarm hundreds of gunmen wanted by Israel. Abbas now had to make a decision. Peace with money for his people, or die as a "martyr" in the next few months as Arafat did.

Abbas is seeking the disarmament under peace moves he agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in February. Sharon has halted the handover of West Bank cities to Palestinian control, saying Abbas has not done enough. Abbas, who is struggling to reform corruption-plagued security services, has preferred to use dialogue in his dealings with the militants despite Israeli demands for a crackdown. Officials say the Palestinian Authority would compensate terrorists for handing in their arms once disarmament proceeds.

But Hamayel said the process would proceed gradually. The effort to secure signed pledges has been aimed mainly at Fatah militants in the West Bank. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Islamic factions sworn to Israel's destruction, have refused to lay down arms although they have committed to a de facto truce. But Zakaria al-Zubaidi, a West Bank leader of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, said he, too, would never disarm. "Abandoning a gun is like abandoning one's honor," he said.

The gun has always represented power and money to the Palestinian. If Abbas succeeds in getting some of his band of professional terrorists out of camouflage uniforms and into shirts and ties, Israel and the Palestinians just may have a chance. Venture capitalists seek stability in the markets they invest in. Unless of course they are practitioners of Pentagon Capitalism, where making a buck means selling tanks and M-16's so that they can catch up on a good game of golf at Hilton Head.

Stef Wertheimer must be smiling. Get those industrial parks out Stef. Machines for bread and olive oil, factories for software and bio-tech are about to replace bomb tunnels under the Gaza strip, Katusha and Qassam rockets. Instead of hearing Palestinians yell out "Allah Aqbar - God is Great", we just might hear them say: "get your Herald Tribune here."