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Crime Should Not Pay

(Ha'aretz) Moshe Arens - Crime should not pay - that is a maxim of all civilized societies. This is equally true for nations that have committed crimes against their neighbors. Aggression should not be rewarded, it should be punished. The accepted rule of international behavior is that a nation committing aggression not be "rewarded" by the return of territories it lost as a result of the war it had started. Violation of this rule is nothing less than an invitation to further aggression. Today's Germany is not demanding the return of territories it lost to Poland in the last world war. Nor is Japan demanding the return of Korea or Manchuria to Japanese control. Only the case of Israel and its Arab neighbors seems to be different. People tend to forget that the doctrine of "territories for peace" was used by Hitler in 1939, when he declared that he would leave Europe in peace if territories in Poland that Germany lost in World War I were ceded to Germany. Now along comes Syria, which attacked Israel three times: in 1948, 1967 and again in 1973, demanding control of territories it lost in wars of aggression and demanding that Israel "return to the 1967 borders." Common sense and the accepted rules of international behavior should determine Israel's response to Bashar Assad's overtures. Sure, we are prepared to negotiate a peace treaty with Syria. But forget about the Golan Heights, and consider yourself lucky if you are not presented with a bill for economic reparations for the damage your aggressive behavior has caused Israel and its citizens over the past 56 years.
2004-01-22 00:00:00
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