(Washington Times) Jack Kelly - Either the Bush plan or the Clinton plan would work if both Israelis and Palestinians were willing to live with each other. Neither has because the Palestinians aren't. Recent opinion polls indicate a large majority of Palestinians wants to destroy Israel. The intifada will continue until many more Palestinians than at present see greater benefits from liberty, democracy, and peace, and many more Palestinians than at present see greater harm from continued conflict. In other words, the intifada will continue until things get much better in Iraq, and much worse (for terrorists) in the West Bank and Gaza. Our soldiers in Iraq are not attempting to negotiate with the Ba'athists. They are hunting them down. There will be no peace in the Middle East until the Israelis do to Hamas and Islamic Jihad what we have been doing in Afghanistan and Iraq. The notion has developed that killing Jews should be, at worst, a misdemeanor. But it is hypocritical for us to launch a worldwide war on terror when our women and children are killed, and to demand that Israelis show "restraint" when theirs are slaughtered. The deliberate targeting of noncombatants is evil. No cause in the world can justify it. Only when this truth is recognized by the Palestinians - and by our diplomats - can there be peace in the Middle East.
2003-06-19 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive