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Don't Push Israel to Give Territory to Terrorists

[Wall Street Journal Europe] Tom Gross - A small miracle occurred in Israel on Nov. 5. Kinneret Chaya Boosany gave birth to her first child. Six years earlier, Kinneret, then 23, was blown up as she worked as a waitress in a coffee shop in Tel Aviv. She suffered burns over 85% of her body, her doctors gave her a 2% chance of survival, and she remained in a coma for 88 days. She is just one of the thousands of Israelis - both Jews and Arabs - injured by Palestinian suicide bombers sent on their deadly missions by either the Islamist Hamas movement or the Fatah faction headed by "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas and his predecessor Yasser Arafat. The number of Israelis killed in terror attacks has been greatly reduced in recent years after the government built a security fence to make it harder for bombers to get through. Her story is worth reflecting on as Hillary Clinton arrives in Israel. Barely a day goes by way without Jimmy Carter and assorted European politicians calling on Mr. Obama to coerce Israel into hastily withdrawing from more land no matter the security risks. Like most Israelis, Kinneret Chaya desperately wants peace with the Palestinians. It is my experience of covering the region as a reporter for many years that no one wants the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to be peaceably resolved more than Israelis do. But Israelis are also very aware of the dangers of naively handing over territory to terrorists, as was done during the presidency of Secretary of State Clinton's husband in the 1990s. The writer is former Jerusalem correspondent of the London Sunday Telegraph.
2009-03-03 06:00:00
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