Two Comments
Reader comment on item: Hope for the Middle East

Submitted by I Brodsky (United States), May 21, 2002 at 21:08

I basically agree with Dr. Pipes. But I think continued optimism is contingent on Sharon completing Operation Defensive Shield by doing the same in Gaza. Plus, I think Netanyahu is right: Israel must destroy the PA and its terrorist leader, Yasser Arafat.

In response to a couple of others' remarks:

* The settlements is a phony issue. The settlements simply permit Jews to live in areas they have inhabited for 3,000 years. What the Palestinians are demanding is a Jew-free state living side by side with one that grants more rights to its Arab minority than Jews ever enjoyed under Arab rule. Really, the Palestinian demand is just dressed up ethnic cleansing. They have demonized "settlers" in Hebron who are simply replacing the Jewish community that was massacred there in 1929 by Arabs. If Israel can have an Arab minority, why couldn't Palestinians have a Jewish minority in their state? (Answer: they don't want a state, they want to destroy Israel.)

* Yes, the Brits endured bombing raids, but those raids weren't a legitimate act of self defense in response to British aggression. I think Israel must make the cost of continued suicide/homicide attacks so high that the average Palestinian will turn against Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the other barbarians. Not only has the frequency of suicide/homicide attacks decreased since Operation Defensive Shield, but for the first time in a long time we are hearing Palestinian voices speaking out against the PA and its tactics. Now if only the US State Dept. could be brought to their senses...

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