Kesher Talk

How to subdue terrorists. Many are saying that the Palestinians need their own Altalena. This obscure incident in the Israeli struggle for independence really points up the difference between the Palestinian and Israeli leadership, and is especially relevant to Abu Mazen's task today. (It is heartening that this op-ed appeared in the NYTimes.)

Uri Avnery critiques the Altalena critique in an article which has been widely reprinted. I think this is a typical example of exempting the Palestinian leadership from having to live up to any expectations ("We have to give them everything before they'll be able to do anything!"), but you decide.

UPDATE: This topic started a lively discussion on LGF.

UPDATE: Lynn B responds with more links, especially a critique of the NYTimes op-ed. Tobin seems to think that the Altalena Affair isn't a useful example to hold up to the Palestinians because the historical analogy isn't exact. But whether the hero of the story is Ben Gurion or Begin, the gist of the story remains the same: "We were able to act with the long-range goals of the Jewish State in mind, and there will not be significant progress in the current conflict until you can do the same." To me it is still a useful didactic device. But you decide. (PS Lynn also has some edifying links about the Deir Yassin "massacre.")

UPDATE II: Donald Sensing also takes a swing at the Altalena analogy.

UPDATE III: Looks like this is the meme of the week over here at the politico-journo blogosphere. Armed Liberal independently comes to the same conclusions via the theories of Max Weber, and buttresses my argument: The point of the analogy is not whether Begin was really a terrorist or Ben Gurion needlessly shot down fellow Jewish freedom fighters. The point is that Ben Gurion realized that to be a credible state in the eyes of the world, and to be a functioning state for its people, he had to enforce Medinat Yisrael's monopoly on the use of force. The Altalena incident was an good an opportunity as any - it served the purpose. It remains an example to the Palestinians of the kind of difficult ambiguous choices that have to be made to forge a state.

posted by Judith @ 6/15/2003 06:53:43 PM