The American Spectator

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Never Again

1.17.06 @ 12:01AM

PEACE THROUGH VICTORY
Re: P. David Hornik's On the Left, Terror, and Friends:

P. David Hornik's outstanding analysis of Israeli Leftist support for Palestinian terrorists aims at tracing fundamental reasons for this phenomenon. And he rightly points out a strong elitist element involved.

It has been my observation that it is precisely from the class of frustrated intellectuals, who believe themselves smarter than anyone else, who believe governing power should rightly be theirs, that this kind of treasonous identification most frequently comes.

This is of course not something exclusive to Israel, but given the evils of suicide-bombing Palestinian terrorism, it takes one of its most reprehensible forms here.
-- Shalom Freedman
Jerusalem, Israel

There is a point that P. David Hornik has missed. And that is a lack of respect for the opposition. Arafat didn't want PEACE -- he wanted VICTORY.

I think that Arafat was a deplorable person, but looking at him solely in terms of the head of the PLO, he wanted victory. Did this make him a bad person (as I say, leaving aside everything else -- his personal behavior, his terrorist tactics, etc.)? No!

Suppose a British diplomat had dropped down in Washington in 1863 and went about ringing his hand about the terrible carnage of the Civil War -- all those brave men being killed and maimed.

The Brit says, "We must have peace. Everybody wants peace."

So he goes to Lincoln and says "Mr. Lincoln, do you want peace?"

Lincoln: "Certainly Mr. Brit. Just get Jefferson Davis to lay down his arms and we can have peace."

So the Brit goes to Richmond and sees Jefferson Davis and says, "Mr. Davis, do you want peace?"

Davis: "Certainly Mr. Brit. Just get Mr. Lincoln to let the Confederacy go and we can have peace."

So the war went on.

Is it so difficult to understand this about, for instance, the Palestinians? Yes, very likely most Palestinians DO want peace, but that doesn't count because they are under the thumb of their leadership. Very likely most Germans didn't want to invade Russia, but that didn't count because Hitler was in charge. And Hitler DID want to invade Russia.

So with the Palestinians. They have a warrior religion, they have a tactic -- suicide bombing -- and they want ALL of Palestine. Why is that so difficult for people to understand?

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