Gunboat Diplomacy

Last week, Israeli security forces seized a boat in the Red Sea loaded with a deadly cargo of weaponry. At a moment when the Middle East is perilously balanced on the verge of open war, this development threatens to remove even the region’s thin veneer of peace. Reports that the 80 tons of weapons, including long-range rockets, were purchased by the Palestinian Authority (PA) support the repeated claims of the Israeli government that PA Chair Yasser Arafat is a dangerous man, ready and willing to resort to terrorism to achieve his aims.

Regrettably, it now appears that not only has Arafat failed to clamp down on the terrorist organizations that operate within Palestinian territory, he is actively willing to pursue a policy of violence on his own. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has repeatedly proclaimed his unwillingness to negotiate with terrorists. Unfortunately for Arafat and for the Palestinian cause, there now seems to be very little possibility of any thaw in relations between Sharon and the PA.

Given the current state of the region, achieving anything resembling peace will require calm and responsible leadership. Although this is hardly a revolutionary idea, it is one that Arafat seems to have been unable or unwilling to grasp. Honest negotiations can bring peace. Katyusha rockets will not. Sadly, if Arafat continues to ignore this vital fact, he will prove correct Israel’s claim that he has become irrelevant to the peace process.

After the mindless violence and destruction of 2001, the new year seemed to provide an opportunity for countries to turn their backs on terrorism and to search for peaceful, democratic resolutions to disputes. A week later, nothing seems to have changed at all. The weapons seized in the Red Sea were reportedly shipped from Iran, America’s supposed ally in the war against terrorism.

The road to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East and elsewhere is long and difficult. But that road, albeit the one less traveled by, is the only one worth taking. Violence begets only violence, as Arafat should have learned by now. Such gunboat diplomacy is a sad relic of the past; Arafat and his ilk should not be allowed to impose it on the future.