Dear President Bush:
You and I have been friends a long time. Since we first met on your trip to Israel, I have felt we have shared a common sense of purpose regarding terrorism. You have always seemed to understand the Israeli situation -- that terrorism is an attempt to destroy our very existence. On Sept. 11, the universality of this threat was made apparent.
That is why your constant support of Israel and our right to defend ourselves has always been a welcome comfort in a sea of disapproval. The fact that you recently maintained this position after our targeted killing of Hamas founder Sheik Yassin was particularly important, especially considering the criticism it received from European leaders.
Their critique was not novel; it consisted of the same European rubric of appeasement that has plagued that continent for over 65 years. I found French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin's comments a perfect example of this pernicious habit. The other day, he warned that "at a time when it is important to mobilize for the re-launch of the peace process, such acts can only fuel the cycle of violence."
His callousness toward the international state of affairs is shocking. His is a distinctly European logic that still hopes to negotiate a way out of an unavoidable confrontation. In this model, Spain could have prevented the recent horror in Madrid had it only taken a more Franco-German position, i.e., pacify the enemy for a short-term sense of security.
What I want to make clear is that while other countries may show lapses in resolve to fight the terror apparatus that plagues us all, Israel will not waver. In the coming weeks representatives from my country will be coming to discuss our plans for disengagement from the Gaza Strip. It is vitally important that this be done from a position of strength and not look like our retreat from Lebanon or, more immediately, Spain's decision to remove its forces from Iraq in response to terror.
Their new government's pullout in the face of adversity once again sends us back to the Munich Pact and the terrible consequences of appeasement. As I said to you three years ago, we can't "repeat the terrible mistakes of 1938, when the enlightened democracies in Europe decided to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for a comfortable, temporary solution."
It's clear that many Spaniards were misled by the belief that their nation's friendliness with the United States brought terror to their capital. The obvious corollary they hope to apply posits that "If only Israel would stop instigating the terrorists, if only they'd leave the territories, then there would be peace." Nothing, Mr. President, could be further from the truth.
Al Qaeda's nominal excuses for bombings, like your troops former presence in Saudi Arabia, are similar the Palestinian Authority's superficial overtures towards peace. These are red herrings designed to hide the true aims of these organizations: the removal and replacement of Western democracies and ideals with Islamic states. Hitler was not discouraged from further attacks by Britain's willingness to let him have the Sudetenland and a policy of conciliation will certainly not stop Osama bin Laden and his ilk.
This type of thinking was dangerous in 1938 and it's dangerous now. Not only would it reinforce the terrorists' notion that their aims can be achieved through violence, but it asks one ally to abandon another, for the sake of ameliorating an enemy.
I couldn't agree more with Spain's outgoing prime minister, Jos?? Mar??a Aznar. As he said last week, "to think that you can beat terrorism with concessions seems bad to me." It is not just bad, Mr. President, it is self-defeating. Neville Chamberlain's "peace in our time" only deferred the war to another's.
Israel will not let itself be Czechoslovakia. And while I know that you will not let the United States falter in its mission to rid the world of terror, it is my genuine hope that Europe's leaders finally learn from the mistakes of their predecessors.
Ariel Sharon
Dave Leiman's column appears every two weeks.
