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Confronting State Sponsors of Terror Is the Only Option

[Washington Post] Michael Oren - For the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israel is facing hostilities on two fronts. If Israel yields to international appeals for restraint and allow tensions to subside, it would accelerate a process in which Syrian- and Iranian-backed terrorist groups in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon can keep the country in a state of perpetual military mobilization, paralyzing it economically and deepening its diplomatic isolation. To deny the terrorists this victory, indeed to survive, Israel must take bold action to fundamentally alter the security situation on its northern and southern borders. Paradoxically, Israel has been attacked from the two territories from which it unilaterally withdrew with the approval of much of the international community. But Israelis have learned that unprovoked violence against them raises little outcry in the world and that failure to react to isolated acts of terror invites unremitting terror. Israel cannot hope for quiet along its borders as long as Hamas leaders continue to direct terror with impunity from Damascus and as long as Hizballah receives orders from Syria and Iran. By eliminating the terrorist leaderships in Gaza and southern Lebanon and deterring Syria and Iran from prodding their proxies to war, Israel can restore a reasonable level of security to its citizens. Such measures will also be implicitly welcomed by Israel's Jordanian and Egyptian neighbors, who are similarly threatened by these same terrorist groups.
2006-07-14 01:00:00
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