David Aikman is an award-winning print and broadcast journalist and author. He writes for The Trinity Forum and has posted two columns over the past two months regarding the Mideast peace summit that was held in November, 2007.

I followed the story of the summit for a variety of reasons: I am interested in the eternal conflict between the descendents of Ishmael and Isaac. Another reason is my familiarity with the site chosen for the summit: the United States Naval Academy. My two sons graduated from the Academy and I have a great deal of respect for the institution.  My primary interest however is the state of diplomacy regarding the Mideast.

Here are the two articles by Mr. Aikman:

November 5th article: Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations

December 13th article: A Second Look at Annapolis

I posted responses to both of these articles and decided to summarize here:

Mr. Aikman acknowledged that Palestinians have a desire to see Israel driven into the sea.  Although this has been a Muslim rallying cry for nearly sixty years, I suggest the problem has a wider scope than is commonly understood; it is a cornerstone of Islamic policy that our diplomats fail to grasp.  Muslim contempt for the Jews is embedded deeply in the Qur’an, which is why Muslims stubbornly refuse to the recognize the state of Israel. 

Much ado was made over the Saudi delegation’s refusal to walk through the main entrance if the Israeli delegation preceded them. This is in keeping with the Islamic worldview, based in their holy book, which contemptuously describes Jews as ’sons of monkeys and pigs.’  The Israelis graciously used a side entrance so the summit would not end before it began.

So why would the Muslim states even agree to a summit? From their perspective, only ‘apostates’ from Islam would be willing to negotiate with Jews, which is what Anwar Sadat was branded, and is why his assassination was a certainty.

I believe their willingness to go through the motions is strategic.  Islam has been consistent throughout history in its arrogant use of peace treaties: the purpose is to deceitfully distract the enemy while fortifying and strengthening Islam in preparation for the inevitable attack. This tactic is spelled out clearly in the Qur’an and was practiced by Muhammad and his followers throughout the ages. It is still being practiced in the 21st century.

Islam covets the visibility of the Palestinian refugee plight because it distracts Western diplomacy. We squander our political capital on symbolic gestures and fail to engage our advesary on meaningful turf.

An illustration should suffice: the Oil-for-Food debacle in Iraq. The United Nations passed meaningless security resolutions for years and enforced them with an oil embargo.  In their frustration to prove the UN’s relevance, they developed an ingenious program to circumvent the embargo in order to provide food for the starving Iraquis. This was a classic liberal recipe that played well in the media: invent a problem to showcase your compassion, stir in a huge revenue source, season it with equal parts graft and kickbacks, and cook it as long as possible.

The outcome was equally classic: Saddam lined his pockets and strengthened his military (WMDs notwithstanding). Certain UN power brokers retired comfortably while the unwashed masses still starved. The only thing missing from the debacle was Saddam mugging for the cameras, “Let them eat cake.”

We cannot afford to be distracted by insincere gestures for peace in the Mideast.  The only Mideast peace acceptable to Islam is to re-absorb the pieces of a dismantled Jewish state.  For those who cannot understand this, please refer to exhibit 1:

Mr Aikman noted the continued teaching of hatred towards Israel in Palestinian schools as a key problem for lasting peace. Once again, I contend that the problem has greater scope.  It is not just with Palestinian schools. Saudi Arabia has spent billions of oil profits to plant mosques and Madrassah schools worldwide – not just in Palestine. Their charter is to adhere to virulent Wahabbi doctrine in their steadfast loyalty to the Saudi kingdom. Every Friday, faxes and emails with the weekend’s sermons and marching orders are dispatched across the globe from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  The purchase of Saudi oil thus contributes to more than one kind of global warming.

In my response to Mr. Aikman, I suggested that the Palestinian crisis should no longer be on center stage. We have been engaging Islam on many fronts: militarily, politically, ideologically and theologically. Quietly, but inexorably, another front has developed: Demographics.  Muslims are infiltrating industrialized countries to replace the shrinking indigenous workforce (my next blog post will address this).  The trend is at the crisis stage in western Europe.  Muslim babies now represent 40% of all births in many European cities. Muhammad has become the most popular name for newborns in Amsterdam. Even in Great Britain, one in five babies are named Muhammad.

I’m convinced the peace summit was a symbolic gesture that garnered nothing substantive.  I fear we lack sufficient political capital at home and abroad for a cohesive plan to arrest the advance of militant Islam and its attendant violence.  We resort to a global ‘whack-a-mole’ with no clear objective.

Western diplomacy needs a wake-up call.  Wringing hands leaves you defenseless when the scimitar descends upon your neck. 

Other blog entries you may find interesting:

The New Dark Ages: A Long Eurabian Night
Hand-Wringing Diplomacy: Mideast Peace is an Impossible Goal
Islam: What the West Needs to Know
A Woman’s Place in Islam
Islamic Law Requires Breast Feeding of Male Co-workers
What is the Qur’an? Archaeological Find Invalidates Islam’s Holy Book
Love Your Enemies and Pray For Those Who Persecute You
Madrassah Schools: Why They Pose a Threat to Western Civilization
Violence in the Bible: 1st Response to a Muslim
Validity of Scripture: 2nd Response Presents The Bible as Superior to the Qur’an
The Historic Alliance of Christianity and Science
DNA and the Flood: The Biblical Account is Written in Our Genetic Code
Jihad.com: Islamofascists Are Recruiting Via the Internet
A Brief History of Islam
Submission: The Movie That Led a Muslim to Assassinate Theo Van Gogh
Honoring America’s Fallen Warriors
Profile of A Reluctant Hero: Why Christians Should Defend Themselves
The Enlightenment of Atheism