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Keep Winning

(Jerusalem Post) Editorial - The Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and other terrorist Palestinian factions have been devastated by repeated IDF/Shin Bet raids. Successive generations of terrorist leadership have either been killed by the IDF or forced into hiding for fear of their lives, thereby disrupting planning and operational capabilities. The killing of Hamas leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi have led to the longest (relative) peace Israel has known in nearly four years. If the intifada seems over, as some people now dare to whisper, it is because the IDF is winning. We have spent the last several years listening to sanctimonious lectures about how: (1) there is no military solution to the conflict; (2) any "escalation" on Israel's part leads to a commensurate Palestinian escalation; (3) "walls never solved anything;" (4) what the Palestinians need is hope, not fear. All this turns out to be demonstrably false. Israeli military escalation has led, unfailingly, to Palestinian de-escalation. Israeli concessions - giving the Palestinians hope - has merely created openings for violence. The danger now is that the appearance of success will lead to a relaxation of effort, possibly encouraged by international pressure to show good will. This would be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. As we come closer to the moment of pulling up stakes in Gaza, it will be necessary to take the anti-terror campaign to a new level of intensity. No Palestinian living in a future Palestinian state should be in any doubt as to Israel's will and ability to defend itself and its citizens against opportunistic aggression.
2004-06-15 00:00:00
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