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Bridges, Bombs, or Bluster?
(Foreign Affairs) Madeleine K. Albright - The Bush administration deserves credit for pushing for reform of Palestinian institutions. The creation of political freedom is essential to allow the emergence of a new generation of Palestinian leaders, comfortable with democratic ways. At the same time, democracy - if it does come - is unlikely to produce a Palestinian government willing to make peace on terms Israelis will accept, or at least not for many years. The Pew survey found that 80 percent of Palestinians do not believe they can realize their rights while coexisting with an Israeli state. The Palestinians must reject terror - not because the U.S. or other outsiders want them to, but because terror, far more than Israel, is the enemy of the Palestinian people. It is destructive not only of the Palestinian economy and Palestinian territorial hopes, but of the people's very soul. As long as murderers are hailed as martyrs, there can be no real peace, nor any Palestinian state worthy of the name.