Posted by Dan Ewert : 4/02/2002 10:58:00 PM (Archive Link)
There’s an article on CNN.com about the EU’s opinion on the situation in Israel. Here’s what the Spanish Foreign Minister (Spain currently holds the rotating EU presidency) Josep Pique had to say, “One thing is to fight terrorism, and another is to dismantle the Palestinian Authority’s power structure.” So where is the distinction here? Where has there ever been a distinction? The PLO has had terrorism as one of its central tenets since its inception and there’s little to show its importance has decreased. The empirical evidence would seem to say that it’s as strong as ever. And why shouldn’t it be? The PLO has been committing terrorist acts for years and they only worked in the Palestinians’ favor. More negotiations, more concessions. The sort of backlash they’re getting now has not only been long in the making, it’s also very well deserved and justified. I feel little sympathy for them.

Another quote from the article concerning Senor Pique’s statement: “An immediate ceasefire, he said, is necessary to return the troubled region to a ‘minimum normalcy.’” Minimum normalcy. Does this mean going back to suicide bombers occasionally blowing up civilians while the Arab Street smiles and the U.S. compels Israel to do nothing but sit back down at the negotiations table? The avowed and implied goal of the Palestinian and Arabist movements is the complete elimination of Israel and Jews in general. Had he lived, nobody would have suggested that Israel sit down to discussions with Hitler and I see no reason why they must do so here.