The Nature of the Beast
Reader comment on article: To End the [Palestinian] Violence

Submitted by RM Paine (Australia), Jan 8, 2003 at 05:47

Dr. Pipes:

I feel so sorry for the Jews who are being ripped to bits in Israel. It is clear to me now that a peaceful negotiated settlement in Palestine is nothing more than a warm and fuzzy dream, for peace is not the nature of these Arab fueled terror networks.

I have been of two minds on the issue of a path to a peaceful Palestine resolution. On one hand, it would have been wonderful for the Arabs to stop their 1400 year old cycle of violence, terror; yet, on the other hand, experience tells me to look to the nature of the beast...just as a snake does not fly we should not expect a sharks to give us a friendly lick. It is now crystal clear that we are actually dealing with a group that only admires FORCE, and thus will ONLY respect the laws/rules of the civilized world-- a successful coexistence of human beings-- when they are more afraid of the rule of law than they are of their homegrown terror networks. Anything short of terror, for them, is just a weakness...what a shame!

I am reminded of that tale about the Scorpion and the Frog, which may shed some light on this predicament: "…A scorpion wanted to cross the stream, so he asked the Frog to carry him across the water on his back. The Frog said, "But if I help you, you will sting me and kill me!" The Scorpion promised not to sting the Frog because if he did he would drown, and assured the Frog that he would be so grateful that he would not Sting him. The Scorpion convinced the Frog to give him a ride. Half way across the stream the Scorpion stung the Frog. The Frog was mortally wounded, and said, just before sinking, "But you said that you would not sting me?" The Scorpion replied, "But it is my nature!"…"


Sincerely,
RM Paine

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