Soccer Dad

A double blow. to decency and to logic

I figured some distinguished member of the MSM would equate Thursday night's brutal terror attack with Israel's (diplomatic) response. It took 2 days for the NY Times to produce "A Double Blow to Mideast Peace":

The honeymoon didn't last very long. Less than a week after Palestinians elected Mahmoud Abbas as Yasir Arafat's successor and the relatively dovish Labor Party joined Israel's cabinet, hopes for an early return to diplomatic dialogue have been abruptly crushed by the familiar one-two combination of a deadly Palestinian terrorist attack and a precipitous Israeli overreaction.

Israeli over-reaction? Israel didn't fire missiles at any buildings; but apparently responded to some specific terror threats and broke off diplomatic efforts. That's an overreaction?

Nobody expected Israel to simply ignore Thursday's attack by armed militants in Gaza, who used explosives, grenades and automatic weapons to kill six Israelis and wound five others. Nor can it be expected to negotiate with Palestinian leaders who equivocate in word or deed about terrorism. But that is not the situation Israel faces, as someone as canny and experienced in these matters as Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, must surely recognize. Yet yesterday Mr. Sharon ordered all Israeli officials to cut off contacts with the Palestinian Authority until it acts to curb such terrorist violence.

Let's understand the nature of the terror attack first.
Arutz-7 reported that the terrorists took advantage of a humanitarian effort to launch this attack:

The Karni Crossing is one of several crossing points between Gaza and the rest of Israel. Trucks arriving with goods for either side are loaded and unloaded in a back-to-back method; a wall with openings separates between the trucks on the Israeli and PA sides. Just this week, as part of the gestures towards the PA, Israel began to keep the crossing open until 11 PM, in an effort to allow the delivery of more goods - clothing, food and construction materials - from international bodies to the PA. The terrorists struck just minutes before the end of the extra shift.

Further Arutz-7 reports that members of PA Security were involved in the attack:

PA security officers are suspected of involvement in the multi-pronged attack Thursday evening that killed six at the Karni Crossing, according to senior defense officials quoted in the Washington Post. The bombers and gunmen who carried out the attack were let through several levels of PA security to reach the targeted area, according to the officials.

Preliminary results of an IDF and Israel Port Authority inquiry show that the terrorists were given forged entry permits and granted entry to the Karni facility by members of the PA security force. The terrorists arrived by truck, with a bomb and guns hidden beneath produce. The three terrorists attached the bomb to the heavy gate between the PA and Israeli sides of the Karni facility. After the bomb went off, knocking out the power in the terminal, the terrorists passed though to the Israeli side and began shooting at Israeli drivers and security guards before they were themselves killed. Videos of the explosion and the terrorists were broadcast on PA TV stations in Gaza later that same evening.

So when Israel lessened its security to provide humanitarian aid members of Abbas's security services took advantage and arranged a terror attack against an Israeli target. That seems like sufficient reason to me to break off talks with Abbas until he asserts control.

In sharp contrast with Mr. Arafat, Mr. Abbas has been clear and unwavering in his view that anti-Israeli violence has been and continues to be extremely harmful to the Palestinian cause. For that reason, the Gaza militants behind Thursday's attack struck not only at their Israeli victims, but also at Mr. Abbas's new and not yet fully consolidated political leadership. In choosing to respond by cutting off all Israeli contacts with the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Sharon has become their unwitting ally.

The previous paragraph had informed us that Israel need not be "...expected to negotiate with Palestinian leaders who equivocate in word or deed about terrorism." This paragraph tells us that Mr Abbas has been "unwavering in his view that anti-Israeli violence has been and continues to be extremely harmful to the Palestinian cause." That's not equivocating? He doesn't condemn terror as a bad thing by itself, but only because it harms his cause. If that's not equivocating - by the Times own testimony - I don't know what is.
What's also interesting is that by crediting Abbas with self-interest the Times is implicitly endorsing Israel's "overreaction" that set back the "Palestinian cause." If the Palestinian infrastucture hadn't been so damaged no doubt Abbas would still be claiming that terror worked (at least publicly.)
Finally,

Getting a grip on Palestinian terrorism requires action in at least two areas. One of these, rebuilding the shattered Palestinian police forces, has barely begun. The other, demonstrating to skeptical Palestinians that nothing can be gained through terrorism but a great deal through peaceful negotiations, will now have to wait until diplomatic contacts are resumed. We hope that at least some of the good will that was in the air earlier this week can survive that wait.

"Rebuilding the shattered Palestinian police force" will aid the cause of peace? As noted above, the Palestinian police force was complicit in the terror attack. And that's not the only thing the police force is good at, Powerline notes in "Due Process, Arafatistan Style":

It appears that the routinization of murder in Arafatistan continues without notice or comment anywhere but in the Israeli press.

and goes on to quote from an article in the Jerusalem Post about the summary executions of a couple of men who probably fell out of favor with gunmen and whose murders were then excused as being those of "collaborators."
No what's needed is accountability. Exactly what Ariel Sharon is trying to instill in his opposite number in the PA. Whether or not Abbas gets it, it's clear the editors of the NY Times don't.
It is even more offensive that even after Israel withdrew from Gaza, Jericho, Bethlehem, Shechem (Nablus), Tulkarem, Jenin, Kalkilya, Ramallah and Hebron that the editors can claim that Israel must take actions to convince, "... skeptical Palestinians that nothing can be gained through terrorism but a great deal through peaceful negotiations ..." They had gained a lot by negotiation (albeit backed with terror) and instead of being willing for settling for anything less than a whole loaf launched a full-out war on Israel. Only Israel's eventually decisive response reduced the effects of that war.
The Times by minimizing what Israel has done over the past twelve years, despite constant Palestinian bad faith is perpetuating the grievance not encouraging peace. The Times has taken an approach - and still does -that makes it an enabler of terrorists.
Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Posted by SoccerDad at January 17, 2005 9:06 AM