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Violence Does Not Pay

(Ha'aretz) Akiva Eldar - Among the Palestinians, particularly Hamas activists, the argument goes that the armed struggle was the decisive factor in Prime Minister Sharon's decision to evacuate Gaza. From the Palestinian point of view, seemingly, the strategy of violence pays. A comprehensive study by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Meir Elran, of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, looked for evidence of the view that behind Sharon's plan was a weakening of the Israeli public's resolve. Elran found that the highest levels in the percent of Israelis who were convinced they wanted to live in the country came at the height of the terror wave, in mid-2002. During the toughest part of the intifada, most of the public - an average of 73.5% - believed Israel was capable and will be capable in the future of dealing with the difficulties it faces. Most of the Jewish public generally accepted the main message of the government that "there's nobody to talk to" and "there should be no negotiations under fire." The lessons that the Palestinians must learn from the study is that the heroes of the withdrawal from Gaza are not the suicide bombers, and that additional attacks will not yield further withdrawals, but will only stiffen the Israeli public's positions.
2005-05-16 00:00:00
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