Editorial
Terror Strikes Israel
Again, and this time with even worse horrific results, Israel has been struck by deadly terror. Suicide attacks on December 1 and 2 struck in Haifa and Jerusalem, killing over two dozen human beings.
by Fred E. Foldvary, Senior EditorA bomb exploded in a bus on Sunday in Haifa. Two terrorist bombs were detonated in Jerusalem on Saturday night. A third explosion from a car bomb struck at the rescue workers. These terrorist acts followed other recent attacks. Several observations can be made of this.
First, nothing that Israelis have done in the past can in any way justify or excuse such mass murder. The intentional killing of innocent persons, no matter what their identity, is murder, and evil.
Second, the policy of the current government in Israel has failed. The government has refused to negotiate until there are seven days of calm. This refusal is wrong in principle, and now we see it is futile in practice. Talking is better than not talking. When in doubt, communicate!
God did not rest for seven days and then create the world. He first worked for six days, and then rested. Human beings should do no less. We must work on all fronts to solve conflicts, and then only rest when we are finished.
When one is attacked by such evil perpetrators, there are two logical responses. One is to determine the policy cause of the acts, and change the policy to eliminate the evil. The second is to find, punish, or eliminate the actors. Both policies can be done simultaneously.
The fact is that Muslims don't like to be occupied by non-Muslims. They have fought occupation everywhere: Chechnia in Russia, Afghanistan against the Soviets, Kosovars against Serbian domination, Algerians against French colonialism, Pakistanis against Hindu rule, and many other examples. Muslims have endured harsh rule by Muslim authorities, but when non-Muslims try to rule them, the result is rebellion. Israel is experiencing this phenomenon now.
Muslims are willing to live peacefully in democratic and relatively free societies with non-Muslim majorities, as in the United States, but non-democratic domination of Muslims does not work. It is even more dangerous today with weapons of mass destruction easily available and global networks ready to use them and indoctrinated fanatics eager to die.
Perhaps this horrific attack will result in a reoccupation of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) by the Israeli government in order to root out the terrorists. This terror and constant killings of Israelis is self defeating for the Palestinian cause. It has caused only more repression, poverty, and misery for Palestinian Arabs. Neither side seems to be able or willing to learn anything.
Unfortunately, some Palestinians are making maximal demands impossible for the Israelis to accept. They regard the occupation as not only including the West Bank and Gaza, but all of the former British Palestine, including pre-1967 Israel. They want all Jews and their decedents who came in after 1948 - some say even after 1890 - to leave, or be exterminated. There is no way to negotiate with such demands. The Israelis will not allow another holocaust. If the Arabs stage a mass attack, Israel will retaliate in kind, resulting in millions of deaths in the Arab world.
Many Palestinians say that peace can only come if the Israelis withdraw from all the West Bank and Gaza, including east Jerusalem. But Israel dare not withdraw under terrorist pressure. Once it were to withdraw the settlements, the next demand would be for Jews to leave Israel as well, since many Palestinians and Arabs regard all of Israel as occupied territory. Suicide bombings would continue even if Israel abandons all the West Bank and Gaza.
Even if Jews were to leave Israel completely, it would not stop the violence. So long as Jews exist outside of Israel, they will regard Israel as their ancestral homeland and properly theirs. So the Palestinian Arabs would have to attempt to exterminate Jews everywhere - in America, Europe, Africa, even on the moon if Jews were to establish a colony there.
Since America, Europe, South Africa, and other countries will not allow its citizens to be mass murdered, the Palestinian attackers would also be at war with America and Europe. Palestinians who insist on the extermination of the Jews are placing themselves at war with the entire world, and as the Taliban has now learned, this is a war that cannot be won.
The only solution to this conflict is equal self governance by all parties and a sharing of the benefits of the land. A confederation of self-governing states, with each person under the government of his choice, acceptance of the rights of all to exist in the territory, and the payment of rent for lands occupied, is the only viable solution. Neither side is moving towards peace. In the Palestinian side, there is hateful propaganda against Israel and Jews, and on the Israeli side, there is counterproductive collective punishment with little hope offered for a decent life.
The U.S. government could be helpful in bringing peace, but so far it has just sent envoys who call for an end to the violence but provide no peace plans. The U.S. needs to propose the confederal solution and insist on its adoption. If we simply cry "peace, peace!" there will be no peace. The war is already begun, and will not end until justice is served.
Copyright 2001 by Fred E. Foldvary. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, which includes but is not limited to facsimile transmission, photocopying, recording, rekeying, or using any information storage or retrieval system, without giving full credit to Fred Foldvary and The Progress Report.
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