Let’s review the moral metaphors: Ariel Sharon is comparing the Palestinian Authority to Al Qaeda. Arafat, from his bunker, says the best way to understand what is going on now is to think of the Israelis as Nazis. Even if both comparisons are simplistic and flawed, the historical analogy that comes closer to the truth should prevail in public debate. When it doesn’t–when the phonier metaphor begins to hold sway in world opinion–then something has gone seriously wrong at a level much deeper than the current crisis.
For Israelis, the analogy is simple enough. On September 11, Arab suicide bombers flew their planes into American buildings; now Arab suicide bombers are blowing up innocent people in Israel. The United States went to war in Afghanistan to break up terrorist networks; now Israel is breaking up terror networks among the Palestinians. One could argue that the analogy actually understates the threat to Israel. Imagine if Al Qaeda terrorists based in, say, Puerto Rico, were sending suicide bombers into communities all over the United States.
BATTLING BOGUS ANALOGIES
But the fact that I and some other commentators see is that the comparison doesn’t matter. What matters is what people see on television, and right now that’s Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships seeming to wage war on civilians. When you combine those pictures with Arafat’s peerless ability to play the victim, Sharon’s brutal history and obliviousness to the futility of his military strategy and a flaring up of anti-Semitism around the world, it gives life to Arafat’s Nazi analogy. It shouldn’t. For any fair-minded student of history, the comparison is an outrage. But it does matter.
That is the metaphorical reality that confronts Powell. His job is to advance the proper analogy and discourage the noxious one and the policies that have helped sustain it. To do so requires moving past the usual diplomatic niceties to reinforce President Bush’s well-articulated speech. Usually, diplomats take the edge off of their leader’s rhetoric, smoothing over relations to advance the policy (in this case, building support for a war against Iraq). Powell must do the opposite, laying down a clear and tough message. Iraq can wait.
BLUNT TALK
Powell must bluntly tell Arab leaders that we buy the Al Qaeda metaphor, that whatever their “streets” are saying, suicide bombing is simply not acceptable under any circumstances. He can concede that historical analogies are never perfect, and the Palestinians have legitimate political grievances. But he must make it clear that for all the complexities of the region, the Bush Doctrine lives: The United States regards backing Palestinian suicide bombers as tantamount to backing Al Qaeda. Powell should make sure Arab leaders understand that if they refuse to denounce the bombings, they are seriously jeopardizing their relations with the U. S., including the aid that props up regimes like Hosni Mubarak’s in Egypt. If fighting terrorism is truly the new centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy, we must act like we mean it.
The consequences of Powell failing to deliver this tough message are severe. If he just papers things over, suicide attacks will be legitimized as a political instrument. Then the “streets” we’ll be worried about will eventually be our own. Suicide bombers championing some cause or another will be a part of almost daily life. And the U.S. will hardly be the only target. When he visits Madrid for an international conference this week, Powell might remind our European allies that if they let suicide bombing succeed, the Eiffel Tower and everything else they cherish won’t be safe–ever.
NO ‘MORAL EQUIVALENCE’
But Powell has some metaphor work to do with the Israelis, too. He must explain that the Nazi comparison, on display last week from Brussels, Belgium to Paterson, New Jersey, is not just deeply offensive. It’s also avoidable. The Israelis have always prided themselves on confronting the world as it really is, not as they want it to be. Well, the world really is susceptible to this awful metaphor, and Israel must take concrete steps to deprive their enemies of it. That means withdrawing troops from the West Bank and, yes, negotiating with terrorists. If they don’t negotiate with terrorists, they increasingly become terrorists themselves in the eyes of the world. That’s unfair; there is no “moral equivalence.” But it’s reality.
For a society that has so often stood almost alone against the world, this will be a tough sell. The Israelis have already proven, at Camp David, that they want peace more than the Palestinians. They gave 95 percent of the land back–a more-than-fair compromise–and Arafat said no. Even the doves within Israeli society are understandably hardly in the mood to make concessions to someone who clearly seeks their total destruction. But Powell should use America’s great leverage to at least insist that the parties start talking again. Israel must be told that while it still views itself as David, the rest of the world sees Goliath.
A CRUCIAL MOMENT
Powell should also remind the Israelis that the more time that elapses after September 11, the harder it will get for them. Already, many Americans are falling for the bogus historical analogies between the Palestinians and others seeking liberation. Throwing stones at Israeli tanks, even blowing up Israeli military positions, might fall within a historical continuum from Menachem Begin’s Irgun to Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Cong to Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress. But suicide bombing that targets civilians, not military targets, is something new. If it continues, of course, it will soon seem old, and not so unusual. Then the Israelis will have even less claim on world opinion.
The same goes for the U.S-led war on terrorism. If suicide bombing in Israel comes to be seen as just another tactic in a war of liberation, then how will we sustain outrage about the global threat? Will we only be able to fight terrorism that has no political agenda? Whether this particular Powell trip succeeds or not, a lot more is riding on the new U.S. engagement than peace in the Middle East. Too bad there’s not a metaphor big enough to capture it.
