(The New Republic) Martin Peretz - Thomas Friedman in his September 11 column observed, "Suicide bombing is becoming so routine here that it risks becoming embedded in contemporary culture." The massacres are not becoming routine for Israelis. For Israelis every bomb feels almost like the first bomb. Israelis are being murdered, but they are not being deadened. And, if suicide-bombing risks becoming embedded in contemporary culture, it is the culture of one people, not two. What is routine among the Arabs of Palestine is the joy that more Jewish blood has been shed, that their revenge has once again been visited on a liberal society that is not entirely indifferent to moral thinking about its deadly enemies. There is no cultural prestige to killing Palestinians among the Israelis. But the cultural prestige of killing Jews suffuses the culture of the Palestinians.
2003-09-19 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive