[Jerusalem Post] Barry Rubin - What many in the West think motivates Palestinians - getting a state, ending the occupation - are of no interest in their own right. Fatah and PLO strategy rests on the belief that defeat is staved off as long as you keep fighting. Their only true victory is to continue the struggle. This is why the "cycle of violence" concept is useless. Palestinians don't attack Israel because Israel attacks them, but because that is their sole program. Inflicting damage on Israel via rocket attacks serves no Palestinian strategic objective except to make people feel good about damaging Israel. Celebrating martyrs simply means bragging about your own casualties. Given the current Palestinian ideology and strategy, the conflict is unsolvable, and there is no way to stop the violence. Yet Palestinian tactics are unworkable and its military strategy is self-defeating. The Palestinians can harass Israel, but not much more. In private (though virtually never in public), Palestinian intellectuals sound a lot like me.
2006-07-12 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive