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Analysis: The big picture behind the Vatican spat
Herb Keinon, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 1, 2005
"…Which leads to the question: What did Israel hope to gain by forcing this issue and, in the words of one news report, create “the biggest challenge yet to face Benedict’s 100-day-old papacy?” Like so much else here these days, the answer has to do with disengagement or, more precisely, the day after disengagement.
Barkan, in his candid remarks to the Post last week, said that Israel was trying to create a new modus operandi in the Vatican, which had, up until then, not made it a practice to condemn attacks in Israel.
This accumulated silence on attacks against Israelis has not been lost on Israeli policy makers who believe that the level of Palestinian terrorism is dictated to a large extent by the level of international legitimacy the terrorists feel they have for their actions…"
"…Which explains Israel’s frustration with the Vatican. Israel is trying to shape an unequivocal no-tolerance attitude toward terrorism in Israel in the post-disengagement era, and wants to get the Vatican on board.
Jerusalem is bracing for a situation where, soon after all the Jews are removed from Gaza, the world – including the Vatican – will applaud briefly and then say it is time for Israel to re-enter negotiations with the Palestinians on the basis of the road map.
Israel’s answer to this will be that negotiations can only take place when the Palestinians dismantle the terrorist infrastructure. Jerusalem is then preparing for a state of affairs in which, rather than tackling the terrorist infrastructure, the Palestinians will unleash a wave of terror to “convince” Israel to negotiate.
According to this scenario, if the world only offers weak condemnations, the Palestinian extremists will to turn to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and ask why he wants to confront them, when the world is not all that concerned about suicide bombings in Israeli cities.
And it is within this framework that the Vatican’s condemnations becomes so important.
Israel is concerned about the Vatican – and the world – delegitimizing terrorism around the globe, but continuing to wink at it in Israel.
And this is precisely how Benedict’s condemnation last week of terror in Turkey, Egypt, Britain and Iraq – but not in Netanya – appeared in Jerusalem.
For the Netanya attack that killed five wasn’t an attack in the territories, or against soldiers, which some around the world would seek to justify. Rather, it was an attack in the heart of the country, aimed at killing as many civilians as possible – just like in Turkey, Egypt, Britain and Iraq. Furthermore, this particular attack was not immediately followed up by any Israeli military response.
That the pope publicly ignored this attack sent alarm bells ringing in Jerusalem, not only regarding what was, but also what – in the absence of public action – could very well be in the future, after disengagement. Thus was a mini-crisis with the Vatican weighed, approved and – duly – generated."
jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122776414356
Herb Keinon, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 1, 2005
"…Which leads to the question: What did Israel hope to gain by forcing this issue and, in the words of one news report, create “the biggest challenge yet to face Benedict’s 100-day-old papacy?” Like so much else here these days, the answer has to do with disengagement or, more precisely, the day after disengagement.
Barkan, in his candid remarks to the Post last week, said that Israel was trying to create a new modus operandi in the Vatican, which had, up until then, not made it a practice to condemn attacks in Israel.
This accumulated silence on attacks against Israelis has not been lost on Israeli policy makers who believe that the level of Palestinian terrorism is dictated to a large extent by the level of international legitimacy the terrorists feel they have for their actions…"
"…Which explains Israel’s frustration with the Vatican. Israel is trying to shape an unequivocal no-tolerance attitude toward terrorism in Israel in the post-disengagement era, and wants to get the Vatican on board.
Jerusalem is bracing for a situation where, soon after all the Jews are removed from Gaza, the world – including the Vatican – will applaud briefly and then say it is time for Israel to re-enter negotiations with the Palestinians on the basis of the road map.
Israel’s answer to this will be that negotiations can only take place when the Palestinians dismantle the terrorist infrastructure. Jerusalem is then preparing for a state of affairs in which, rather than tackling the terrorist infrastructure, the Palestinians will unleash a wave of terror to “convince” Israel to negotiate.
According to this scenario, if the world only offers weak condemnations, the Palestinian extremists will to turn to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and ask why he wants to confront them, when the world is not all that concerned about suicide bombings in Israeli cities.
And it is within this framework that the Vatican’s condemnations becomes so important.
Israel is concerned about the Vatican – and the world – delegitimizing terrorism around the globe, but continuing to wink at it in Israel.
And this is precisely how Benedict’s condemnation last week of terror in Turkey, Egypt, Britain and Iraq – but not in Netanya – appeared in Jerusalem.
For the Netanya attack that killed five wasn’t an attack in the territories, or against soldiers, which some around the world would seek to justify. Rather, it was an attack in the heart of the country, aimed at killing as many civilians as possible – just like in Turkey, Egypt, Britain and Iraq. Furthermore, this particular attack was not immediately followed up by any Israeli military response.
That the pope publicly ignored this attack sent alarm bells ringing in Jerusalem, not only regarding what was, but also what – in the absence of public action – could very well be in the future, after disengagement. Thus was a mini-crisis with the Vatican weighed, approved and – duly – generated."
jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122776414356