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Life after Gaza

(U.S. News) Mortimer B. Zuckerman - # The idea of a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel is not credible to anyone who experiences the demonic nature of the hatred or reviews the threats continuously promulgated by the Palestinian leaders in every forum--mosques, schools, radio, newspapers, television, the Internet--everywhere. # Where is the pro-peace, pro-prosperity, and pro-freedom wing of the Palestinian people determined to dismantle the terrorist groups, as called for by President Bush? # Western sympathy and aid for the Palestinians should now be conditioned on the Palestinians' unequivocal answers to six questions: 1. Will there be a decline in incitement to hatred or a change in the rhetoric of Palestinian officials when speaking in Arabic to their people? 2. Will the Palestinians continue to be directed toward the destruction of Israel, or will they seek to build up their own nation-state? 3. Will there be a stable government with real control of the territory that will stop terrorism and disarm radical groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a terrorist paramilitary group ruled by Fatah? 4. Will Palestinians continue to claim Israeli withdrawal as a victory through terrorism, thereby justifying more terrorism? 5. Will the billions of dollars of new aid disappear into the private bank accounts of their leadership groups, as it has for years, or instead be put into programs for the welfare of their people? 6. Will they dismantle the refugee camps that, despite all the foreign aid, have been a permanent condition of Gaza life and resettle their people in decent housing? # Without the right answers to these questions, it will be impossible for Israel to make further concessions and withdrawals, especially when the message from the international community is always that they are never enough--no matter what the Palestinians do.
2005-08-29 00:00:00
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