Chairman Shteinitz: According To Our Schedule, Not Theirs

From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material)

Israel National News | 6 March 2003

Note: Dr. Yuval Steinitz is a member of Professors for Strong Israel (http://www.professors.org.il/), a racist, pro-settlements academic group.
Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Yuval Shteinitz, told Arutz-7 today that he agrees with the Cabinet decision made last night not to do anything and to essentially wait until after the Iraqi war:
Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Yuval Shteinitz, a resident of Haifa, told Arutz-7 today that he agrees with the decision made last night not to do anything and to essentially wait until after the Iraqi war: “I don’t like this pattern of ‘they attack, we attack.’ What, when we thwart 40 attacks in the period of a few weeks, we do nothing, and then when one attack finally succeeds, suddenly we retaliate? There is a Palestinian Authority, and its people, that is waging a war against us, and we have to fight them on our own schedule, not on theirs. If we automatically retaliate when they attack, it would mean that when they stop, we must also stop, and then instead of firing Kassams and shells, they’ll just manufacture them, improving and increasing their range and preparing for all-out war. We have to fight against them whether their weapons are firing or are merely on hold.”
Shteinitz said that we must “destroy the terrorist infrastructures, which include their educational system that inculcates entire generations with hatred and the desire to murder and destroy Israel; and radio and television which even if they broadcast a weak condemnation of terrorism, gives off a general air of support for terrorism; and for Arafat himself, who is able to give monetary support to terrorists and their families. I say that Arafat should be expelled – although if we already waited this long, I don’t negate those who say that we can wait another month or two in coordination with the Americans.
Arutz-7’s Haggai Segal asked, “Why exactly would it bother the Americans if we expel him now? The Arab countries are already totally against an American attack on Iraq, so how will our expulsion threaten Arab ‘support’ of the Americans?” Shteinitz said that it’s not true that the Arabs are strongly opposed to a U.S. attack on Iraq: “They say they are against – but that’s for public consumption. But in the field, they are helping the U.S. very much in terms of logistics, especially in Kuwait, but also in Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, and others.”
Regarding the partition being built between roughly along the 1967 ceasefire lines between the Arab-populated areas of Judea/Samaria and the rest of Israel, Shteinitz does not have much confidence in its ability to keep terrorism out. “Terrorism knows how to adjust to new situations,” he said.