Thoughts on "Jihad" and the current crisis.

Submitted by Anonymous (United States), Jun 22, 2002 at 18:44

Like most Americans, on the morning of September 11, I sat watching in stupefied, incredulous horror as the World Trade Center Towers collapsed.
That very same day I saw with disbelief, on the news reports, crowds of Palestinian men, women, and children parading down the streets of Ramallah, celebrating the collapse of the towers, cheering, waving Palestinian flags, carrying banners with anti-American slogans, passing out sweets, verily jumping for joy, in a din of honking vehicle horns, shouts of exuberance, and laughter; while at Ground Zero, hundreds of Rescue Workers, Firefighters, and myriads of volunteers from every walk of life, sifted through the rubble looking for survivors!
In the following weeks we all have have watched in horror, on the news, the unspeakable carnage being wrought by the current wave of suicide bombings in Israel.
I watched in dismay one particular report in which a Palestinian woman, her teenage son by her side, was telling reporters proudly, how she had told her son to become a suicide bomber.
On one of the latest incidents, a bus-load of commuting people, and children going to school, were blown up by an explosion of such ferocity, that it tore off the roof and sides of the bus from the chassis. After watching the images of the contorted wreckage, the line of body bags lining the sidewalk, and the rescue workers picking up pieces of body parts from the debris and putting them in black plastic bags, the report showed the mother of the suicide bomber, holding a picture of her murderous son, a look of silent approval and satisfaction om her countenance.

I personally believe in the unalienable right of every human being to believe and worship, or not, according to the dictates of their conscience. However, after witnessing the events of September 11 and all that has transpired since: the campaign of of senseless murder and terror being waged by these followers of Islam, abetted by its teachings, I have come to the sad conclusion, that no matter how tolerant, and open minded we may wish to be, there is no place in the modern World Community for Islam, or any other religion, or religious belief, for that matter, that promotes wether by the name of "Jihad" or any other name,that such unspeakable acts of carnage be commited, and in the case of Islam, even goes on to promise a "heavenly" reward to those who perpetrate them!!!
Any and all religious beliefs that promote that its followers engage in such acts of mass murder, violence, and terror, should be suppressed by the World Community, and the children of these cultures educated in principles, and values, that affirm, and respect the sanctity of life.
Though cherishing diversity, and pluralism, the conscienable Nations of the World, must develop, agree upon, and implement, in the face of the crude realities we are facing, realistic "policies", that balance common sense with our altruistic desire for political correctness.
For one thing, though in the past I favored the formation of a P.L.O. Palestinian State as a viable compromise to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East, I have sadly come to the conclusion, in light of the failure of the Camp David Peace Initiative, the events of September 11, and subsequent events, that the formation of a P.L.O. Palestinian State, will not end the conflict, but only entrench it, elevating it to a higher level of violence and bloodshed, until the obliteration of the State of Israel, is achieved.
In light of the present circumstances, I believe that the only humane solution, with a chance of actually stopping the suicide bombings and the violence, and that would allow Israel to secure its borders against further incursions, is to negotiate the relocation of all Palestinians and Israeli Arabs within Israel and the occupied territories, through monetary compensation, and political pressure, to Jordan, which after all comprises 75% of historical Palestine, and shares a common ethnic, cultural and religious background with the Palestinians, as evidenced by the Jordanian, and Palestinian flags.

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