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Face to Face with Terror
A Patriot writer’s trip with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Part 1 of 2
By Kerry Eskenas
Posted on 08/28/05
Editor’s note: In the September issue of the California Patriot, news writer Kerry Eskenas introduced us to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization that supports democratic nations and denounces the terrorists who try to undermine them. In this follow-up to her report in the September issue, Ms. Eskenas describes her trip to Israel with the foundation, where she learned about counter-terrorism.
I think it’s important to define terrorism before describing my experience in Israel learning about counter-terrorism with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD). Boaz Ganor, the Director of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Israel, told my group that terrorism is “the intentional use of violence aimed against civilians in order to attain political goals.” In an action-packed two weeks, I traveled around Israel to gain an understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as to learn how the United States might succeed in its War Against Terror. Israel has been under attack since it was established in 1948, and it has survived because of rigorous counter-terror measures that curb some civil liberties but which are necessary to save lives. Israel’s experience in dealing with terrorism makes it a relevant case study for the United States after 9/11.
One of the highlights of my trip was a visit to Gilboa Prison, the newest and most secure prison in Israel. When we were told that we would get to speak to some convicted terrorists there, I had no idea that my group would be taken to the highest-level security block of the prison, which contained terrorists who were sentenced from seven years to life. I had expected that they would be handcuffed or behind bars, but dozens of terrorists walked freely before us since they were given a break on a daily basis. Three of them decided to talk to us.
The first was a Palestinian university student who was also a member of Fatah; the second was a Christian who was also an American citizen, and the third was a member of Hamas. What surprised me most about their remarks was the absence of any denial that they had committed horrendous crimes. They kept explaining that there is daily suffering for the Palestinians and that “desperate times call for desperate measures.” One of them claimed that he “does not celebrate” when he hears of attacks such as 9/11 or the London bombings this summer. However, he added that “every action has a reaction,” and therefore Western nations should be more careful when making foreign policy decisions. None of the terrorists referred to themselves as such, instead opting for the more pleasant term of “freedom fighter.”
One of them told us that he was not a terrorist because all Israeli men, women, and children are actually soldiers. Since there are no civilians in Israel, according to him, he was fighting a legitimate type of warfare. Another remark that surprised me on this visit was made by the Hamas member, who told us that if he could press a button and make all Israelis die so that the Palestinians could regain all the territory, he would not choose to do it. Since the stated goal of Hamas is to conquer the entire state of Israel and, since his status as a terrorist proves his disregard for innocent lives, I would think that he would press such a button quite happily. I was left to conclude that he was insincere and, like the others, was only trying to win our sympathy for his method of fighting for the Palestinian cause.
Another highlight of my trip was a visit to the West Bank, in which we met Yoel Tzur in the Jewish settlement of Bet El. In 1998, terrorists fired 120 bullets into his car, killing two of his family members and injuring the others. He told us that the most difficult part of coping has been trying to return to normalcy and not move to the margin by living in fear or in hatred. He emphasized that extremists care only about ideology, and that demands for land and wealth are just distractions from the main goal of their attacks. For this reason, he believes that terrorism won’t end until either the West is conquered by the extremists or Arab children are no longer taught to hate Israel and the West.
I was also very surprised during my trip to enter a terrorist prison cell and observe a television (on which prisoners were allowed to watch Al Jazeera and the Hezbollah channel) as well as a PlayStation. When we asked why the Israelis were being so nice to them, the prison guards responded that Arafat, while verbally denouncing terrorism, had bought these items to make the terrorists’ stay in prison more pleasant. I also learned that the Israelis are very careful when interrogating prisoners because the world tends to hold Israel up to a different standard than other countries; every mistake could be used as a propaganda device in favor of the Palestinian cause. According to the prison guards, “something like the Abu Ghraib scandal could never happen in Israel.”
I noticed that Israel makes decisions based solely on security necessity. When I visited the so-called “apartheid wall” in Israel, it stunned me to realize that the wall I had heard so much about in America was, in large part, a fence. When we were driving down a highway and I saw a large concrete wall, our tour guide informed us that this wall hadn’t been built by Israel at all. Instead, it had been put there by a Canadian construction company. This company had built the highway that we were driving on, and they had wanted to block Palestinian gunfire so that people would feel safe enough to travel on that road. I learned that the separation fence/wall hurts economic prospects for the Palestinians who are now unable to travel to Israel easily, but it is only there as a security necessity. Israel has made clear that the “wall” will come down once the terror attacks cease.
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