<< At this link http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/03/27/1017206115677.html
is an artcle by an ex Jerusalem Post reporter, David Bernstein. He's commenting on how the latest series of suicide bombers are not Hamas religious fanatics but secular Palestinians using themselves as a weapon of last resort.>> Yesterday's bombing that killed at least 20 people sitting down for a Passover seder was carried out by Hamas. <<I found it a very balanced and objective statement of what is going on, and why it cannot be continued. And while I disagree entirely with the targetting of civilians, as does Bernstein - soldiers, let's face it, are fair game - he points out that the bombers are using just about the only weapons available to them. And that for all that Israel does not target civilians directly for retaliation the increasing Palestinian civilian death toll shows that the Israelis are getting less and less fastidious about the "collateral effects" of their retaliation. >> It's "the only weapon available to them" if you buy their premise, which is not to produce peace but to prevent peace. Hamas openly admits that they are attempting to provoke Israeli retaliation (although they would claim that they are the ones doing the retaliating) in order to make things as bad as possible. I disapprove of what the current Israeli government is doing. There are signs that many Israelis are also beginning to disapprove it too. If enough of them disapprove, they can vote Sharon out of office and install a government that might change things. Where are the people on the other side who disapprove of what is being done in THEIR name? ARE there any people on the other side who disapprove of the constant, deliberate massacring of ordinary civilians? If so, what can they do about it? Can they vote out those responsible? No. And if there aren't any Palestinians who disapprove of the massacres, then how is Israel ever to make peace with them? I'm for ending the occupation, dismantling the settlements, letting the Palestinians have a state, even with part of East Jerusalem as its capital. But only if the Palestinians will agree to forever renounce any claims to Israel proper. Will the Palestinians do this? Will the rest of the Arab world? I hope so, but I'm not sure. There certainly are Palestinians who swear they never will (I know, there are Israelis who swear they will never give back any of the occupied land; but Israel already has given back some of the territory it occupied in 1967 - just ask Egypt). With whom is Israel supposed to make peace? With Hamas, which repeatedly insists it want to kill Jews - and does so with sickening regularity? If there were an Israeli group that set of bombs in Palestinian towns, in restaurants and on buses, hypocrites in the rest of the world would shriek with fake outrage. Nobody seems to give a damn when it's just Jews being murdered. This is not to defend the excesses of the Israeli army. As I've said before, I consider Ariel Sharon a murderer. He doesn't particularly want peace (I don 't think he really wants war - I think he just wants the Palestinians to shut up). But Ariel Sharon won't be there forever (hopefully, he won't be there much longer). And he can be replaced by Israelis who want peace and are willing to try to achieve it. Including dismantling the settlements. The Palestinians have NEVER tried making peace. Not real peace. Even after signing the Oslo accords, they did not really remove the clause from their national covenant calling for the total destruction of Israel. Their textbooks print the most outrageous anti-Semitic lies. Their religious leaders pretend there never was a Jewish presence in Jerusalem. The Arab states have never recognized the flip-side of their demand that Israel should trade land for peace - that they themselves must trade peace for land. The truth is, the Arabs and Palestinians still dream of getting rid of Israel. Some of them still dream of simply killing Jews. From my point of view, although peace is imperative, it's hard sometimes to figure out how to achieve it. Tom Beck "I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I didn't realize I'd also see the last." - Jerry Pournelle
