The Fate of Airlines [Israel-Pali relations]

Arutz Sheva ^ | 12/2/02 | Emanuel A. Winston

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The Fate of Airlines Emanuel A. Winston 02 December 2002 Email this story Print this story

Since Oslo, the political Left offered Israel a clouded, short-version of the benefits of their abortive plans to shrink Israel’s borders in deference to Yasser Arafat’s demands. Many of us on the Right held the view that bringing Palestinian Arabs up to our vital borders and population centers was a dangerous, even scandalous thing to do.

The Left produced maps, showing Arab areas closing in on Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and everywhere else in the current State of Israel, claiming they would benefit Israel. We on the Right produced maps showing that Israeli homes, farms, high-tech factories, airports, cities, et al, would be within easy range of hostile Katyusha rockets, RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), and even ordinary rifle fire. We on the Right offered maps showing that incoming and outgoing traffic all along the path of relatively low flying and slow moving aircraft would be soft and easy targets for shoulder-fired missiles. For the Leftist Osloites, that was an acceptable risk; for those on the Right, it was a clear and present danger. The Oslo Peres-ites maintained that, in this day of missiles, strategic depth was of little consequences. This was further coupled with the idea that a dense Arab population pressed against our borders and a growing Israeli/Arab population inside our borders present little risk.

On November 28th, we almost lost an Israeli Arkia aircraft which was leaving Mombasa, Kenya with 271 Israelis aboard. Two shoulder-fired missiles were launched at the aircraft, but with the blessings of HaShem, missed and the aircraft flew safely on to Israel. Now, there is suddenly a wake-up call around the world that these shoulder-fired missile launchers have proliferated globally and present a high risk for civilian airliners. On November 5th, Paul Caffera reported in the San Francisco Chronicle that a meeting was held by head of the Department of Transportation, Norman Mineta, with 25 airline CEOs about the problem of heat-seeking missiles against American aircraft.(1) We have been shouting about this probability with respect to attacks against Israel for years, but, until now, our warnings fell on deaf ears. The Left, offering sophomoric visions of a utopian future, when Arabs will abandon their Islamic-driven hatred for Jews and Christians, have yet to admit their naiveté.

For Israel, the problem is especially acute - given that many Arab Israelis live in close proximity to the landing and take-off flight paths aircraft must use to enter and leave Ben Gurion Airport. The delusion that Israeli Arabs are all loyal citizens has been dispelled with the homicidal attacks that have been perpetrated by or with the assistance of Arab Israelis. Arabs living in Israel may enjoy the benefits of living in a free, democratic Jewish State, where they now have 10 members of the Israeli Knesset, but in the end many still side with Yassir Arafat and a radical Islamic culture.

It does not matter if it is only one out of a hundred Islamists ready to fire a missile, because it only takes that one to bring down a plane with 300 or more passengers. Smuggling in a 4- to 5-foot (little over a meter) shoulder-fired launcher is not difficult. We knew some time ago that American Stinger missiles had been smuggled out of Afghanistan through Pakistan to Iran. From Iran, some were sent into the hands of the Hezb’Allah (Party of G-d) and other terrorist groups now massing in Lebanon close to Israel’s northern border. While the Stinger proved itself a superior anti-aircraft weapon, there were many other models that saturated the Arab market. Russia, France, Italy, and Sweden all sold various models, some better than others, but all effective when they hit their targets.

In the North of Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, a dedicated Leftist and Osloid, decided that Israel no longer needed the buffer zone in Lebanon and, ran out like a thief in the night. Today, that abandoned area bristles with 10,000 missiles, which can make northern Israel a no-man’s-land. We not only lost strategic depth, but Hezb’Allah, Islamic Jihad and Arab Palestinian terror groups also have shoulder-fired missiles, which can take down IDF aircraft coming in to protect our northern border. This is the legacy of another of Yitzchak Rabin’s proteges of the Left. Amram Mitzna, also a Rabin protege, is waiting to take Binyamin Ben Eliezer’s place in another of Arik Sharon’s unity governments.

I will not go into the missile technology behind anti-aircraft missile ranges, ability to track the heat of engines or wire-guidance (for shorter ranges), etc., but most are effective against easy, soft targets at low attitudes, such as slow-moving aircraft when they are either landing or taking off. The aircraft are vulnerable to such weapons from several miles and beyond before they touch down. Even electronic counter measures, flares and chaff are virtually useless at such low ground speeds. There is little doubt that such weapons have been smuggled into Israel, simply awaiting the time and orders to use them. The problem for Israel is that they cannot rely on the rather thin to non-existent loyalty of Israeli Arabs.

Although I have primarily addressed the matter of civilian commercial aircraft, there is a separate, significant problem well-recognized by the Israeli Air Force. These same ground-to-air missiles, such as the Stinger, the Russian Strella, etc., present a great threat to Israel’s combat aircraft as they train over the Jordan Valley. The Jordan Valley, and the parallel hills in Judea and Samaria, were Israel’s first line of defense as natural barriers from attacks coming through Jordan, Syria or Iraq. If these areas are not under Israel’s control, any ground attack from the east would require Israeli aircraft to fly through a hail of these missiles to strike attacking forces. The Osloids were perfectly willing to give these highly strategic areas to Yasser Arafat. As it stands, the ridge line where Arab cities like Shechem (Nablus) stand is already in the hands of very hostile Arabs. Should they have quantities of smuggled-in missiles from Iran, Syria and Iraq, Israeli aircraft would be in grave danger as they flew to stop advancing Syrian armor crossing the Jordan Valley or troops coming through the five passes on Jordan’s side of the Jordan Valley. If Israel, according to Oslo, abandons both the high ground of the hills and the wide Jordan Valley (considered a tank trap by the Israeli military), the heartland of Israel will be wide open for a full-scale assault. President Bush’s "Road Map" plan, pushed forward by the ‘Quartet’ of the State Department, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union, already contemplates turning over these areas as part of another state of Palestine. This "Road Map" is merely a gift to Arafat’s terrorism by making Israel extraordinarily vulnerable.

If the Arabs in Israel cannot be safely across the Jordan River, then permanent presence of Israeli troops is necessary in all areas of Judea, Samaria - now called the West Bank by the West - and Gaza. Regrettably, under the Koranic Mandate, the Muslims cannot even be trusted in the long term to keep any agreement - including Oslo - which shall soon carry the new title of "Road Map to Peace". The Arabs have broken every agreement they signed in this century - over 250 - even with fellow Arabs. Even the ultra-Leftist Shimon Peres has reluctantly admitted this fact. While the attacks in Kenya were a wake-up call, I suspect that (G-d forbid) only when an American or Israeli civilian airliner is shot down - only then - will our adversaries be dealt with without "restraint", both in Israel and America. As for Europe they, as always, have already accepted defeat through their appeasement.

Shimon Peres floating on his Leftist cloud said to an international press conference: "It’s better to have hotels on the Golan than tanks," and "Jihad can be a love letter." The Left has never been able to deal with hard realities, but they are experts in dream prose.

(1) "U.S. Jets Easy Target for Shoulder-Fired Missiles: Kenya attack highlights how terrorists might down plane here" by Paul J. Caffera, special to the San Francisco Chronicle. -------------------------------------------------------- Emanuel A. Winston is a Middle East analyst and commentator.