People should refuse to demonize Peres. You can forget for a second that the man was once one of Israel’s most hardline hawks and ignore that he remains both a patriot and one of Israel’s smartest politicians. And it is mostly obvious by now that his goal of a New Middle East was misguided.
But that was an idealism developed by taking a relatively nuanced look at how far Jews have come in the last 70 years and wondering why they couldn’t go just a little bit further. He’s certainly not mendacious, and those who think that he’s weak are ignorant of history and dull to people’s sensibilities. And even if none of that were true, critics from the right would still have a moral responsibility to treat him with kid gloves: the odious phrase “the Oslo traitors” needs to be expunged from polite discourse as an ugly remnant of murderous incitement.
All that said, what the hell is he thinking:
Israel should transfer to the Palestinian Authority lights arms as part of a series of goodwill gestures Prime Minster Ariel Sharon intends to present PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in their meeting next week, Vice Premier Shimon Peres told Israel Radio on Friday. The Palestinians “are apparently facing many problems,” Peres said. “The light arms are really needed in order to place law and order and to fight Hamas.”
Yes, light arms are needed to fight Hamas (personally, I think that the somewhat larger fighter planes in the Air Force that Peres founded and nurtured are needed to fight Hamas, but I don’t get to vote in cabinet meetings). And he’s right that light arms don’t threaten Israelis all that much. But they threaten Israelis at least somewhat – and since Abbas won’t fight Hamas, giving the PA arms accomplishes nothing while risking disaster.
