(U.S. News) Mortimer B. Zuckerman - In the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians, prevented from killing Israelis by a barrier, are busy murdering one another in factional warfare of gunfire, arson, and kidnappings. Violence is the syntax of debate among Palestinians. The flat-Earth assumption of the justices in The Hague, reinforced by the UN General Assembly vote on July 20, is that all Palestinians are ready to live in peace with Israel. If Israel complied, scores more Israelis would be blown up by suicide bombings. Building a fence is one of the most civilized ways in which nations can defend themselves, in Shakespeare's words, "against the envy of less happy lands," when they share a border with armed attackers who lack an effective government to constrain them. The Palestinians cannot avoid their security responsibilities while denying the Israelis the right to defend themselves, and they must pay a territorial price for the four years of terror they unleashed, for terrorism cannot be seen to succeed.
2004-07-26 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive