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Palestinians Do It Again - Miss a Peace Opportunity

(Chicago Sun-Times) Editorial - The responsibility for this escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rests with the Palestinians who have yet again turned their backs on peace. Rather than take the withdrawal of Israel from Gaza as an opportunity to build a future for their children, they instead refused to relinquish their embrace of a culture of hate and death. Just last year, the Israelis uprooted Israeli communities in Gaza and left the strip. Opponents within Israel complained that it was opening the way for the creation of a terrorist state, that the Palestinians would engage in fantasies of how Hamas and other terrorists had sent the Israelis running. The optimists hoped the Palestinians would get serious about the business of self-governing. With their economy in shambles and the international community ready to help them with aid and advice to build a functioning society, the Palestinians showed where their priorities are. In new elections they chose Hamas to run their government, selecting a terrorist organization pledged to wage eternal war on Israel and Jews. Hamas in April appointed a terrorist with a history of firing rockets into Israel to head a "security force." The latest outrage was the kidnapping of a wounded Israeli soldier over the weekend. This attack was no spur of the moment affair, but was carried out through a tunnel out of Gaza that had taken months to dig. The fundamental requirement for any movement toward peace is for Abbas, the Palestinian Authority, and the Palestinians themselves to reject terrorism and disarm the terrorists. It's the one step they never seem to want to take.
2006-06-28 00:00:00
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