Whose fault is it? Whose fault will it be?

Submitted by Jeremy Slavin (Israel), Aug 11, 2005 at 11:04

The critics of Israel are incorrect, and you know it Mr. Pipes. So does every other supporter of Israel. So it doesn't do to join in the criticism of Israel at this most sensitive of times which takes a similar tone - that what Israel does somehow effects what the Palestinians say or think in a negative way. They (the other critics) say the occupation, treatment of Palestinians, etc. leads to terrorism, and you and others say that the pullout will lead to terrorism...either way, with your arguments or theirs, one gets the sense that no matter what Israel does, Israel is to blame.

Islamist/Arab nationalist terrorists may take heart from an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, but does it really make all that much sense to say that Israel's keeping 8,000-9,000 settlers in well-tended, well-armed ghettoes surrounded by a potentially hostile population will defuse terrorism any more than pulling them out will increase it? So the terrorists see it as a retreat...so what? If we don't see it that way, do their opinions really matter? They'd attack Israel pullout or no pullout. Why agree with them?

There was terrorism against Israel before the Six-Day War, before Israel captured Sinai, east Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. There has been terrorism since the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war, as anyone who has lived in Israel, turned on the TV news or opened up a newspaper can attest to. And there will be terrorism post-disengagement, not because of the disengagement but because terrorists are in the business of killing, whatever cause they espouse and whatever excuse they (or we) give for their reprehensible and inexcusable actions.

When the first post-disengagement terrorist attack occurs, shall we blame the Israeli government and the pullout, or the terrorists? When the Palestinians increase their demands, which they would do whether or not there was a pullout, should we blame the Israeli government and the pullout or attribute it to Palestinian inflexibility and designs on Israel which are both already well known?

When the first post-disengagement terror attack occurs, don't blame the pullout. Blame the terrorists. When the Palestinians increase their demands, don't blame the Israeli government. Blame the Palestinian leadership in such cases, not the Israeli leadership. This is the Palestinians we are talking about, after all. The people who never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

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