Some 1,000 wars have occurred in Western Europe (including Greece and Rome) during the past 2,500 years. The world associated with Western civilization has thus experienced, on an average, one war every two-and-a-half years! It follows that war is the norm of international relations, hence, that what is called peace is little more than a preparation for war. It also follows that treaties of peace may be worse than worthless.
This is the conclusion of Lawrence Beilenson’s book The Treaty Trap (1969). After studying every peace treaty going back to early Roman times, Beilenson concludes that treaties are made to be broken. Moreover—and of special significance for Israel—he shows that treaties for guaranteeing the territorial integrity of a nation are useless to the guaranteed nation, and worse than useless insofar as they engender a false sense of security. Such treaties can only benefit nations governed by rulers intending to violate them whenever expedient.
There are crucial lessons to be drawn from these facts, especially for Israel confronted by Arab or Muslim autocracies.
First, there is no such thing as a “peace process,” except in the minds of fools or in the self-serving deceits of scoundrels. Even Middle East expert Daniel Pipes has admitted that the Israel-Egypt peace treaty of 1979—which he supported—has been a failure, if only because Egypt has facilitated the supply of arms to Gaza terrorists.
Second, the only rational way Israel or any civilized country can maintain peace with Arab-Islamic regimes is to be prepared for war; and in this age of weapons of mass destruction, Israel must be capable of preemptive war.
Third, only when Muslim regimes abandon the ethos of jihad will they be sincerely amenable to peace. To be realistic, however, for such regimes to abandon this 1,400-year mentality, they must be devastated to the extent of searing into their consciousness a hatred of war—precisely what was done to militaristic Germany and Japan in World War II.
Yes, but what democratic leader has the wherewithal including the ruthlessness required for such a task, given the moral relativism and effete humanism which now dominate the mentality of the democratic world, where civilization is succumbing to nihilism?
