THERE MUST BE PALESTINIAN CIVIL WAR BEFORE PEACE

Will Abbas Bring an End to Conflict? by Bruce Thronton
For the sake of argument, let’s give Abbas the benefit of the doubt and assume that his embrace of Arafat—like his assertion that going after the terrorist militants is a “red line that must not be crossed”—is merely campaign rhetoric necessary in order to pull off the elections and get himself elected, not to mention keeping himself alive. Let’s consider Abu Daoud, mastermind of the 1972 Munich slaughter, a liar when he said that Abbas kissed his cheek and wished him luck when Daoud set out to organize the Munich attack. Let’s assume that Abbas is sincere about finding a negotiated settlement that respects the right of Israel to exist.

Even if all that were true, the elephant in the room is still being ignored: the Palestinian militants like Hamas that are explicitly dedicated to the destruction of Israel and to the use of terrorism to further that aim. As long as these groups exist, no settlement is possible, for Israel is not going to sacrifice the lives of its citizens to give Abbas or anyone else the time to find some other solution to the violence that does not involve killing the terrorists who kill Israelis. Israel should not be asked to treat its citizens as “loss leaders” in order to achieve a “peace” deal that may or may not come and may or may not last.

Quite simply, those Palestinians sincerely committed to the “two-state solution” must go after and kill those Palestinians who are committed to the destruction of Israel, and whose murders provoke Israel’s legitimate responses that unfortunately make life hard for the Palestinians. And yes, that means there must be a civil war. The so-called “moderate” Palestinians have to recognize that their aspirations are subverted by those among them who want to kill Israelis more than they want to live in freedom and prosperity, and that their suffering is caused by the actions of such terrorists that compel Israel to do whatever it can to protect its citizens, which after all is the primary obligation of any state.

Instead, we have given the Palestinian Authority 20 million dollars and have promised 200 million more, and Abbas has been invited to the White House. Haven’t we been through all this before with Arafat—the soothing rhetoric of peace, the photo-ops at Camp David, the millions of dollars, all followed not by peace but by political thuggery, fiscal corruption, and more murdered Israelis? We have to learn that as long as terrorism even Yet here in the West we refuse to put this question to these “moderates” and to condition our political and financial support on the one action that will eventually resolve the crisis.seems to pay dividends, terrorism will continue to be used as a tactic. And giving money and prestige to someone who refuses to destroy terrorists and calls them “martyrs,” and who implicitly endorses terrorism as a legitimate tactic, is simply ensuring that indeed terrorism will be used.