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Even America's worst bigots have found ways
to live peaceably in the same community with other races, regardless
of their private feelings, but the Arabs of Palestine are simply
unwilling to tolerate the presence of Jews. Unfortunately,
this childish mentality translates into serious violence that far
exceeds anything the Ku Klux Klan ever accomplished - or probably
dreamed - yet it is a bigotry to which the progressive Left has lent
tacit endorsement over the years.
So hated is Israel that 3,000 innocent people were murdered on 9/11
merely for the stated reason that their government supports Israel's
right to exist. In the days since, the same Muslims who
clucked their tongues over the attacks (as one might over spilled
milk) show far more concern for rights of Islamic terrorists held at
Guantanamo, than for all of the misery that these religious fanatics
mete out on the rest of us. (Apparently the proper role of
dhimmis is to submit to our fate rather than resist).
These same great moralists have been preaching a message of dialogue
and appeasement, telling the targets of terror to extend unilateral
concessions and assuring us of reciprocation. Of course,
Israel has been hearing the same promises over the years as well.
Enter Gaza - the new benchmark by which the policy of appeasement
can be measured. The borders for the tiny strip of land were formed
after the 1948 War and for 20 years it was "occupied" by Egypt (as
the West Bank was by Jordan). For some reason, those
"independence-minded" Palestinians weren't calling it an occupation
at the time. That only started after 1967, when Egypt lost the
territory after attacking Israel. Suddenly a Palestinian
"homeland" was of such paramount importance that Muslim mothers were
sending their children to die for the cause of killing Israelis
while Western progressives cheered them on from the sidelines.
For decades Israel was told that the violence against them would
stop if they withdrew from the land and conceded it to the
Palestinians. Of course, they had every reason to doubt the
sincerity of an enemy that has broken its word at every opportunity.
Case in point is the tahdia (declared calm) - the so-called
Palestinian truce against Israel that began a year ago in January.
Instead of peace, Israel experienced nearly 3,000 separate terror
attacks that killed 45 people and injured 406. No less than
160 suicide attackers were stopped by security forces - although
seven got through.
Yet, Israel went through the motions of trust and unilateral
appeasement in September as instructed by the enlightened Left,
handing over Gaza and even relinquishing control of the Egypt-Gaza
border despite grave concerns over weapons smuggling. The
Palestinians got what they had been asking for, and now the chance
to prove themselves to the world.
Did the assurances of peace materialize? Did the rocket
attacks stop? Did the violence end? Did the lives of
Palestinians improve?
How shocking it must be to the
pro-Palestinian international community that the answer is a
resounding "no" to each of these questions. Rather than cease,
the rocket attacks on Jewish communities have escalated.
Former synagogues were desecrated and turned into armories. In
fact, the withdrawal of Israeli security has resulted in the
saturation of rockets, missiles and Islamic terrorists into Gaza,
where there is now even an al-Qaeda presence.
Following the handover, Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas actually
pledged to leave the terrorists within the strip fully armed.
The result, predictably, has been a violent free-for-all, with
regular shootouts between the militant factions. Government
buildings have been taken over on occasion, police stations shot to
pieces, political killings galore, and the kidnapping of Westerners
is now common.
Even the parents of Rachel Corrie were
briefly taken hostage by Gazan militants, until they were able to
convince the gunmen that they could still be an asset to the very
people who put their daughter into the blind spot of an Israeli
bulldozer three years ago.
The famed border between Egypt and Gaza has become a disaster zone
now that Palestinian activists with stolen equipment have punched
holes in the barriers. Gazans have been flooding across
illegally to create havoc in Sinai, and it's safe to say that the
families of two slain Egyptian border guards might have a different
interpretation of the Israeli handover.
Rather than improving, the lives of Palestinians are caught up in
the spiral toward anarchy. After decades of fostering
hostility and violence, the people are now being consumed by the
very monster they created. More aptly they suffer under the
legacy of intransigence established by their Arab forbearers, who
rejected agreement after agreement for autonomy, merely because a
Jewish State was to be acknowledged - something that was
unacceptable to these racial and religious purists. A series
of generations rejected peace and opted for war, losing more ground
each time, but enhancing their self-determined grievance
nonetheless.
Gaza teaches us that the path to peace is more complex than merely
satisfying the demands of terrorists. For decades the Israelis
demanded that the Palestinians lay down their arms as a precondition
to independence. Finally, after utter futility, the tiny
nation yielded to international pressure (that sanctimonious
community that claims to abhor bigotry, yet offers a wink and a nod
to Arab hate criminals) and "disengaged" from an enemy that has not
the least bit of interest in doing the same. The concession
was viewed as weakness and the demands were raised.
Gazans are even poised to celebrate the death of Ariel Sharon, the
man responsible for Israel's unilateral act of appeasement.
The lesson of Gaza is that our enemy isn't like us, and we have to
acknowledge it. They aren't interested in compromise or
conciliation. They seek absolute victory over us, as their religion
commands, and will use deception to exploit our moral sensibilities
and defeat us. They have no qualm against taking and turning
appeasement into advantage and opportunity.
Go back to the List of Islamic Terrorist Attacks
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