Michael Oren Lectures on Israel's "Stunning" Intifada Victory
Stavsky, Eitan
Issue date: 11/22/05 Section: News
Historian and author Dr. Michael Oren addressed students and faculty in Beren Campus's Levy Lobby on November 1. The lecture, entitled "Israel Update: Assessing Trends and Facts," analyzed Israel's recent confrontations with terror and was sponsored by the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center for International Affairs and Stern College for Women.
Oren began the lecture by defining the bloodshed that began in September of 2000 as the "seventh Arab-Israeli war," which was "as much a war as any that had come before" in that "one side sought to annihilate the other." He proceeded to describe the war's challenges, which included the fact that it was an "unusual type of war" for which Israel was "totally unprepared...with no idea...[of] how to deal with [the] suicide bombings" that characterized it.
In addition to its unusual nature, the war's difficulties included a lack of support for Israel's war effort from both the international community as well as from parts of Israeli society, according to Oren. "The international community was extremely hostile to us...and the Israeli left was not behind the effort," he explained.
As a result of Israel's inability to deal effectively with the war, Israeli morale suffered tremendously. The war damaged Israel's tourist industry - "one of its great money-makers" - to such an extent that plans were considered to convert the King David Hotel, Jerusalem's premier vacation spot, into an apartment complex. "Restaurants were empty. Theaters were empty....Israel's morale was breaking," he said.
Upon describing Israel's uncertain state, Oren proceeded to explain how Ariel Sharon led his country to victory in its war. "By holding his fire again and again" in the face of terror, Sharon gained the support of both the Bush administration and the Israeli left. By the spring of 2002, after the devastating Netanya Passover bombing, "Israel and Bush...finally understood" the nature of the war Israel was facing, and that it "wasn't about settlements," said Oren.
Oren began the lecture by defining the bloodshed that began in September of 2000 as the "seventh Arab-Israeli war," which was "as much a war as any that had come before" in that "one side sought to annihilate the other." He proceeded to describe the war's challenges, which included the fact that it was an "unusual type of war" for which Israel was "totally unprepared...with no idea...[of] how to deal with [the] suicide bombings" that characterized it.
In addition to its unusual nature, the war's difficulties included a lack of support for Israel's war effort from both the international community as well as from parts of Israeli society, according to Oren. "The international community was extremely hostile to us...and the Israeli left was not behind the effort," he explained.
As a result of Israel's inability to deal effectively with the war, Israeli morale suffered tremendously. The war damaged Israel's tourist industry - "one of its great money-makers" - to such an extent that plans were considered to convert the King David Hotel, Jerusalem's premier vacation spot, into an apartment complex. "Restaurants were empty. Theaters were empty....Israel's morale was breaking," he said.
Upon describing Israel's uncertain state, Oren proceeded to explain how Ariel Sharon led his country to victory in its war. "By holding his fire again and again" in the face of terror, Sharon gained the support of both the Bush administration and the Israeli left. By the spring of 2002, after the devastating Netanya Passover bombing, "Israel and Bush...finally understood" the nature of the war Israel was facing, and that it "wasn't about settlements," said Oren.