I realize the risk I take by forwarding this article now, but I thought some here would find the content interesting. The article can be found at <http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-cherry020502.shtml>.
Arafat�s False Symmetry Spinning terrorism. By Kevin M. Cherry, deputy director of policy, Empower America (<http://www.empoweramerica.org>) February 5, 2002 9:20 a.m. Appearing in the op-ed pages of the New York Times on Sunday (<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/03/opinion/03ARAF.html>), Palestinian Authority President Yassir Arafat announced (fanfare, please) "the Palestinian vision." This vision incorporates "an independent and viable Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967." No word, of course, on how those territories came to be so occupied. (Hint: Threat of impending attack forced Israel to seize them.) It incorporates the Palestinian state as "an equal neighbor alongside Israel with peace and security for both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples." No word, of course, on the fact that the people have been living "alongside" each other for decades, with little peace and no security. As Arafat puts it, the Palestinians "seek true independence and full sovereignty" and "the right to control our own destiny and to take our place among free nations." No word, of course, about the unprecedented offer made by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2000 that would have all but realized the thus-described vision of Arafat and the Palestinians. Palestinians, Arafat tells us, "are ready to end the conflict." But nary a word about the continuing terrorist attacks against Israelis. After describing to us in breathless terms the oppression and desperation of the Palestinian people, Arafat condemns terrorism: "[N]o degree of oppression and no level of desperation can ever justify the killing of innocent civilians. I condemn the killing of innocent civilians." Except he does not end there: "I condemn the killing of innocent civilians, whether they are Israeli, American or Palestinian; whether they are killed by Palestinian extremists, Israeli settlers, or by the Israeli government." Missing from the description of terrorism condemned by Arafat is one critical word: "intentional." Arafat defines terrorism as any killing of innocent people � thus equating the Palestinian suicide bomber who blew up a bat-mitzvah ceremony and the Israeli military's attempts to kill those who plan such attacks; equating the suicide bombers of September 11 and the American military operation in Afghanistan aimed at preventing future such attacks. Most of us can recognize a moral difference between those categories, and it lays in the intention of the act: Do we intend to kill innocent civilians � as many as possible � or do we do our best to avoid killing innocent civilians? Arafat, of course, must not hint at this distinction. For his claims to "the power of justice" rest on identifying Israeli violence with Palestinian violence. They rest on creating the impression of a moral equivalence between the Israelis and the Palestinians. But it is a nonexistent equivalence. In the wake of the tragic suicide bombing at a bat mitzvah last month, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made this point well: <block quote> [Palestinian sympathizers] make this false symmetry saying, "Ah, well, Palestinian civilians are being killed, Afghan civilians are being killed. But that's the whole difference. They are unintentionally being killed by America and by Israel. [On the other side,] they're deliberately massacred here in the most innocent circumstances. </block quote> A philosophy professor of mine once said that philosophy is the art of making distinctions. Pacifism, for example, fails in being unable to differentiate between the violence of the U.S. military in Afghanistan and that of the September 11 hijackers. And Arafat fails in being unable to distinguish accident from terrorism. Unable � or unwilling � to distinguish between actions worthy of sorrow and actions worthy of censure and condemnation. Arafat does offer one small hint for the future of a successful Mideast peace process. "There are those," he wrote, "who claim that I am not a partner in peace. In response, I say Israel's peace partner is, and always has been, the Palestinian people." Perhaps Israel would be best served by recognizing, as Arafat himself apparently does, that he is not "a partner in peace" and making their appeal � an appeal rooted in democracy, liberty, equality � directly to the Palestinian people. -- Ronn! :) God bless America, Land that I love! Stand beside her, and guide her Thru the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans, white with foam� God bless America! My home, sweet home. -- Irving Berlin (1888-1989)
