Posted on 07/01/2014 9:02:05 AM PDT by SJackson
The murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank has sent shock waves through Israeli and Palestinian society and raised fears that the relatively quiescent Arab-Israeli front will explode into a new war.
A stormy Israeli cabinet session considered a variety of retaliatory options for the killings of Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrah, including another major military operation against Hamas in Gaza and further boosting Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.
In fact, the steps already taken by Israeli authorities in the 18 days between the boys’ disappearance and the discovery of their bodies under a pile of rocks not far from their settlement homes amounted to pre-emptive relation: Hundreds of Hamas operatives in the West Bank were arrested and five young Palestinians killed by Israeli forces responding to violent protests. In the immediate aftermath of the confirmation of the murders, Israel destroyed the homes of the suspected killers and bombarded largely empty fields in Gaza while Hamas leaders went into hiding.
Israel is right to hunt down the two Palestinians who are believed responsible for the killings; to do more and inflict additional mass punishment on the entire Palestinian population is simply to perpetuate the violence and deepen generations-old grievances.
Israel and the West Bank have been relatively quiet during a period of intense turmoil in the region but it was naïve to assume they would stay that way in the absence of serious peace negotiations.
During nine months of talks, Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu never tabled a proposal demarcating possible borders for a Palestinian state, while profiting from cooperation by Palestinian security forces.
The U.S.-mediated negotiations collapsed in April after Netanyahu reneged on a third promised Palestinian prisoner release and the Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas sought recognition from 15 U.N.-related agencies. The final shoe dropped last week when the State Department announced that Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, was resigning as U.S. special envoy for Arab-Israeli peace and returning to his Washington think tank.
Recent polls show deepening pessimism among both Israelis and Palestinians about the prospects for a two-state solution. Sixty percent of Palestinians on the West Bank now believe that an Israeli state and a Palestinian state cannot peacefully co-exist. Nearly half – 45 percent – of Israelis agree with them.
Strong leadership could change those numbers. But Abbas is old and thinking about stepping down while Netanyahu wants to stay in power and fears being outflanked by politicians to his right. Meanwhile, the Barack Obama administration appears to have given up. It never put forward its own peace plan, acknowledging that it lacked the political will to try to compel either party to accept U.S. ideas. These days, U.S. officials are more concerned about staving off Israeli objections to a potential nuclear deal with Iran and saving what remains of Iraq than trying to resolve what is still a core issue provoking anti-U.S. and anti-Israel sentiment throughout the region and the wider Muslim world.
Short-termism also infects Israelis, who fear taking any risks for peace and seem to believe that military might alone will preserve their control indefinitely over territory that soon will be neither majority Jewish nor democratic. To rely on military power alone, however, condemns Israel to a never-ending cycle of violence and diminishing international support.
The late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin used to say that Israel should “fight terrorism as if there is no peace process and pursue peace as if there is no terrorism.” Unfortunately, Israel’s current leaders have forgotten the second part of the equation.
The Palestinian leadership, too, bears responsibility for not confronting a clan that has a history of undermining peace agreements and even acting counter to the direction of Hamas. The murder of the Israeli teens is a major blow to the unity agreement Abbas reached with Hamas last month; how the Palestinian Authority deals with this incident will likely determine the future of that accord. However, an overly aggressive Israeli response will only strengthen groups even more radical than Hamas, and make it more difficult for Abbas to cooperate with Israel in security matters going forward.
As shown by the growth of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIL) – now styling itself hubristically as the Islamic State – the Arab world is seething with anger and frustration. Much of that anger is now playing out in fighting between Arabs. Inevitably, however, Israel and the United States will also be targets. Israeli leaders must think carefully about how they retaliate for the deaths of these unfortunate teenagers, one of whom was a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen. They should not let this tragedy escalate into a larger confrontation that will only embitter and endanger more Israeli and Palestinian young people in the future.
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The Voice of America weighs in.
If it doesn't, we should consider joining the community of nations in expressing our mild disappointment.
This is not just a simple case of murder of three Israeli kids - this is about a policy of hate perpetuated by Hamas against Israel and all Israelis.
“Israel is right to hunt down the two Palestinians who are believed responsible for the killings; to do more and inflict additional mass punishment on the entire Palestinian population is simply to perpetuate the violence and deepen generations-old grievances. “
Another do gooder....Hey Barbara, I doubt you’d be this calm if it were you son or daughter strung up by Hamas...
“The Palestinian leadership, too, bears responsibility “
Ya don’t say.........
The demented ratings of a madman, which Rabin certainly was.
The author is just plain wrong. These people have demonstated time and again they cannot peacefully coexist and share this Earth with civilized people. There was absolutely no cause for the abduction and murder of these kids. What's more, these types of actions occur under the auspice of the Hamas leadership.
Voice of America - once a reliable source of the position of American people in international considerations and dealings.
Now the propaganda arm of the Current Regime has turned this kidnapping and murder of three Israeli youths into a pious call for “not overreacting”, when the reaction so far has been of relative restraint. These were murdering and unrepentant members of the Hamas mob, which has not been repudiated by the Palestinian Authority.
The PA may respond, or not, as it wishes, by disassociating themselves with the Hamas terrorists. Should they take the part of Hamas, then they are also part of the target when Israel takes retaliatory measures.
Exactly! There isn't a shred of sorrow, remorse or shame from those rabid dogs and their supporters. They're all the same, and should be dealt with that way.
Government funding for VOA should end, same with NPR and PBS
call your Senators and congressman and demand we stop funding the Pally authority.
Abbas sat by and did nothing to find the kids.
The PLO is still a terrorist organization, in 20 years of the peace process they never changed their charter as they promised to under the Oslo accords.
In fact I cannot think of one promise they made that they kept.
No doubt, the terrorists do the same, albeit in reverse: “Pursue terrorism as if there is no peace process, and fight peace as if there is no terrorism”
Once again the people who were abused are asked to stay calm and not seek revenge. When has this policy ever worked? It has never benefited Israel to give in to these people. They had peace for awhile, every time they kicked butt.
I suppose the reader is expected to agree with this, on the surface, reasonable declaration. But examine it. Isn't the entire Palestinian (a misnomer) population where these wanton killers came from? Were they not inculcated within this population with hate and violence toward Jews from their earliest days? To imply that the Palestinkian (yes, I have a bias) population at large is innocent and should not suffer the consequences of terrorist acts that have their basis in their culture, and by criminals embedded within it, is fatuous.And this embedding often makes it nigh impossible to punish only the perps. I don't agree that it will necessarily perpetuate the the violence and deepen generations-old grievances. Were the Israelis to "go easy" in retaliation for the murders it would not reduce the implacable hate toward them one whit.
I suppose the reader is expected to agree with this, on the surface, reasonable declaration. But examine it. Isn't the entire Palestinian (a misnomer) population where these wanton killers came from? Were they not inculcated within this population with hate and violence toward Jews from their earliest days? To imply that the Palestinkian (yes, I have a bias) population at large is innocent and should not suffer the consequences of terrorist acts that have their basis in their culture, and by criminals embedded within it, is fatuous.And this embedding often makes it nigh impossible to punish only the perps. I don't agree that it will necessarily perpetuate the the violence and deepen generations-old grievances. Were the Israelis to "go easy" in retaliation for the murders it would not reduce the implacable hate toward them one whit.
Israel, you just sit there and take it! The barbarians are murdering and killing and it’s up to you to not escalate things, got it!?
Whoops for double click.
Typical liberals: “Do not hold us accountable for our actions. We will cry and throw another temper tantrum and call you names.”
People are starting to dislike Palestinians ... starting to see them as monsters. They’re coming across more and more like a violent Chicago Street Gang - but without the charm.
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