Terror’s Reward

The Palestinians, who reacted to 9/11 by dancing in the streets, tore up multiple proposals that would have brought them peace, a viable state, and half of Jerusalem. In their nihilistic and self-destructive fury (about which I blogged here a few days ago) they chose bus-bombings and the cold-blooded machine-gunning of civilians. Where did it get them? According to a column by Charles Krauthammer today, their terror campaign has been suffocated by the Israelis’ targeted killing of the terrorist leaders and the Wall. Could it be that so many of those who opposed its construction secretly agreed with the aims, and in some cases the methods, of the terrorists?

After all the evil I heard from Palestinians during my visit there, I left feeling a certain sympathy for their grievances. Their own brutal tactics extinguished that sympathy. I still believe that the Palestinians ought to have a state of their own, but it ought to be a damn sight smaller than the one they could have had in 1993. The missing ingredient in the war against global terrorism is deterrence. The Palestinians’ choice of terror over peace ought to have a price.