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The Face of Palestinian "Resistance"

[Commentary] Jonathan Tobin - Last week an axe-wielding Palestinian terrorist slaughtered a 13-year-old Jewish boy and wounded another in the town of Bat Ayin, a Jewish settlement a few miles southwest of Jerusalem. In much of the world, the attack will be considered an understandable reaction on the part of a Palestinian humiliated by the sight of Jews living in that part of the country. Bat Ayin is part of the Gush Etzion bloc of settlements, an area settled by Jews prior to 1948. In 1948, the Gush Etzion bloc was attacked by Arab gangs and after a long siege, overwhelmed by the attackers who were aided by Jordan's Arab Legion. Most of the Jewish inhabitants were massacred. After this territory was retaken by Israel in June 1967, some of the survivors of the 1948 attack returned to the area and began the work of restoring Jewish life to this part of historic biblical Judea. In recent years we have heard much about the suffering of Arabs living in the West Bank who have to put up with the inconvenience of roadblocks and a security fence, both of which are the direct result of a campaign of terrorism aimed at Israelis. What we don't hear much about is the constant harassment and attacks on Jews who live in the West Bank. As the attack on Bat Ayin confirms yet again, the hatred and violence directed against the settlers is a measure of the Palestinian antipathy for Jews, pure and simple. The writer is the executive editor of Commentary Magazine.
2009-04-07 06:00:00
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