PEACE? -- YEAH, WITH ROCKETS AS A SIDE DISH

By Sig Demling

History of the past half-century demonstrates that whenever Israel wins a war it loses the peace.

This is as evident as Spring following Winter or as sure as the latest spate of Arab rockets fired at Eilat.

Since Barack Obama's focus lately has been fixed on the heinous terrorist -- one of the president's least favorite words -- attack in Boston, he can be forgiven for ignoring the most recent assault on Israelis.

But the targeted Jews cannot ignore the threat because there is a connection between Boston and Eilat. In each case innocent citizens of a free country have been targeted for murder by hidden perpetrators.

The Boston Marathon blasts succeeded in killing and maiming both participants and spectators because it was easy to hide explosives amid thousands of onlookers. It has happened before, thanks to Islamic militants and, for sure, attempts will be made again.

Rockets that exploded in Eilat may not have murdered any Israelis but they were meant to kill and would have murdered many Jews had the Grad explosives gone off in a populated area. The Arabs -- be they in Gaza, Lebanon or the West Bank -- have an imperative; kill Israelis whenever and however possible.

And that's why those who zanily press for a "two-state solution" or a "lasting Arab-Israeli peace" haven't gotten it and still just don't get it.

For the umpteenth time Hezbollah is stockpiling rockets; only now in record numbers. The noodnicks in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood would go to war with Israel if the MB wasn't making a holy mess of a country even worse than what was done during the Hosni Mubarak regime. Meanwhile, the Hamas general staff allows attacks such as those aimed at Eilat to be launched while busily crafting yet another assault on the Middle East's only legitimate democracy.

And why shouldn't Hamas do it again? After all those terrorists get away with it all the time.

Of course whenb Israel retaliates in its defense, the Jewish state momentarily triumphs on the ground -- and then, paradoxically loses loses at the peace table.

Which brings us back to the rockets dispatched to Eilat and how Israel "winning" a war produces a bloody peace.

Start with the fact that Israel could have smashed Gaza to smithereens in the last Arab-provoked invasion. But, as always, Uncle Sam intervened before Jerusalem finished the job. America and its European pals forced Israel to sign a truce that -- most importantly -- was supposed to once and for all halt the rocketry.

But as any resident of Sderot, Beersheba, the Negev or Eilat will affirm, peace in the sky lasts only until the Hamas warlords in Gaza decide to renew their bombs-to-Israel assaults. Thus, by any equation, Israel wins the war but loses the peace.

A major aspect of this dilemma is that none of the parties which forced Israel to the peace table -- are you listening Obama? -- have been willing to indicte the culprits. If the Americans and those in the European Union -- are you listening Catherine Ashton? -- worked as hard calling out Hamas and Hezbollah as criminals as they did pushing Israel to sign a truce, one could say that peace might be possible. But it's not at all possible, no matter how Obama shakes it because the Arabs bottom line reads: Kill Jews; forget anything else.

Meanwhile, the White House plays its endlessly silly game by pretending to be our pal with rhetoric while hosing Jerusalem with underhanded deeds. The Jerusalem Post's Caroline Glick X-rayed Uncle Sam's emissary and his recent landmark trip to Israel with the following conclusion:

"Obama praised us to high heaven," writes Glick, "and told us he has our back. And then he told us we should force our leaders to give Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to our sworn enemies even as they teach their children to aspire to kill our children.

"Obama surrounds himself with people who, like him, prefer fantasy to reality. In Obama's world, Islamic Jihad is about the West, not about jihadists. In Obama's world, the most pressing issue on the international agenda is apartments for Jews in Jerusalem and Efrat. And in Obama's world, what Israelis need more than anything else is for leftists Europeans to love us."

Israel does not need the EU's kind of love nor does it need an American Secretary of State John Kerry to follow in Hillary Clinton's footsteps to promote a "two-state" solution. If that Palestinian state ever came into being, you can bet that the first thing to happen would be a Hamas take over -- a la Gaza -- and the second thing to happen would be rockets flying from the Arab side into Israel.

The sham -- and shame -- of it all is that Jerusalem unfailingly gets suckered by Washington. Exhibit A has to be Obama's visit which because of its unique quality -- the president didn't discover Tel Aviv until this year -- was hailed as if we were witnessing the second coming of the Messiah.

Instead of the Messiah, we got Mister Meddlesome.

Among Obama's "accomplishments" was forcing Benjamin Netanyahu to make nice with Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Bibi's apology for the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident was supposed to smooth over Israeli-Turkish relations. That's what the folks on Pennsylvania Avenue were proclaiming. But that was merely another example of White House delusion.

Bibi's reward for being suckered by Obama was Erdogan's follow-up. For one thing, he's planning a visit to Gaza to enhance his relationship with Hamas which is hellbent on destroying Israel. And for another Turkey has nixed Israel's participation in a NATO meeting involving Mediterranean countries. Ergo: despite Israel's apology, Erdogan refuses to normalize ties with Israel.

If that isn't a lesson for Israel's Prime Minister then he should re-read the fine print of so-called peace treaties signed with Hezbollah and Hamas and then torch them along with his apology to Turkey. Making peace with those determined to kill you makes sense only in a world of masochists.

Once and for all, Bibi must exit that world, Stage Right. And as for the endless visits to Israel of Obama and his delegates such as Kerry, every one of them should be billeted at a Sderot hotel. Why? Because they don't get it. They don't understand the endless terrorism confronting Israelis.

"Obama," Caroline Glick concludes, "has no idea what he was getting into when he came here."

Ditto Kerry and the latest smoke-blower from Washington, Chuck Hagel.

A couple of weeks staying in Sderot might wise them up a little -- that is, until they get back to the White House and their boss points out how he really has Israel's back -- sideways!