Straight Talk and Moral Clarity

Today’s bomb in the Hebrew U cafeteria was the most vicious attack this week, but not the only one. Two Israelis were shot to death on Tuesday in an Arab village near Ariel. A Palestinian bomber exploded in downtown Jerusalem Tuesday, wounding five people. A Palestinian terrorist armed with two knives entered the home of David and Orna Mimran in Itamar at 3 a.m. and attacked the sleeping couple, wounding both; eight Itamar residents were murdered in two similar incidents in the past two months.

Today’s bomb in the Hebrew U cafeteria was the most vicious attack this week, but not the only one. Two Israelis were shot to death on Tuesday in an Arab village near Ariel. A Palestinian bomber exploded in downtown Jerusalem Tuesday, wounding five people. A Palestinian terrorist armed with two knives entered the home of David and Orna Mimran in Itamar at 3 a.m. and attacked the sleeping couple, wounding both; eight Itamar residents were murdered in two similar incidents in the past two months.

Yet it remains unclear to some people just what problem needs to be addressed. Sen. George Mitchell (of the “Mitchell Report”), for one, can’t figure it out:

The problem always is the first step. And it’s clear in my view that they have to be relatively simultaneous, that they have to be relatively reciprocal, that they must be of equal, relatively equal weight. You can’t ask someone to take a step of 10 yards in response to a step of 10 inches… A cessation of Palestinian-Israeli violence will be particularly hard to sustain unless the government of Israel freezes all settlement construction activity.

Sen. Mitchell thinks you can’t tell the Palestinians to stop stabbing people in their beds, shooting them or blowing them up in city streets FIRST. You have to tell Jews to stop building houses on disputed land at the same time. He is wrong, but not alone. Judith Kipper (Brookings) and Edward Abington (PA lobbyist), opined this week that the Administration needs to provide “incentives” for the Palestinians to stop killing Jews, namely enforcing an Israel-only construction freeze. The Washington Post calls Jewish housing, “one of the most troubling irritants to Palestinians.” Being blown to bits or stabbed in bed are among the most troubling irritants to Israelis.

“Incentives” will not stop those for whom dead Jews are a net plus, and a “settlement freeze” is just a concession to pocket while they plan more bloody deeds.

On the other hand, the President did provide incentives to the Palestinians by offering them a way out of the morass into which their leaders have led them. He offered democracy, liberty, and financial and political support. He offered them a seat at the table of the civilized world. But they have to stop terrorism FIRST.

So, score one for straight-talk. Amb. John Negroponte announced that the U.S. expects any future UN Security Council Resolution to contain four elements or face a veto:

• An explicit condemnation of terrorism;
• A condemnation by name of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, the Islamic Jihad and Hamas groups;
• An appeal to all parties for a political settlement of the crisis;
• A demand for improvement of the security situation as a condition for any call for a withdrawal of the IDF to positions they held before September 2000.

Moral and political clarity are most necessary in dark times.