Time Immortal

“We sanctify life, not death,” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday during a Mount Herzl ceremony for victims of terror attacks.

“I cannot help but think of how deep the moral gap is between us and our enemies,” he said. “We make every possible effort to limit and focus our attacks on the terrorists and we never intentionally harm the innocent. We don’t have jihadists, shahidim or mothers who joyfully send their children with bomb belts to blow themselves up in packed buses or in busy malls.”

It’s a pity that Olmert’s actions, as Prime Minister of Israel, haven’t always demonstrated the understanding of his terrorist enemies as his words do here.

Still, he makes a valid point, one which is worth repeating.

Update: Welcome, Steynians!

Not in the sense of, you know, investing any of that foreign aid capital into urban renewal projects, mind you. I’m talking about the other sense of the phrase: making amends and joining forces again.

The heavily-funded Fatah-headed seems to be preparing to reunite with the Islamist Hamas, effectively channeling international aid to a united terrorist front.

Several Fatah leaders, led by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, visited Hamas leader Thursday in Gaza City, the first time the parties have held direct talks since the Hamas military takeover in Gaza last summer. A-Zahar is one of the founder of Hamas. The Islamist group decided to place him in the position of Foreign Minister rather than Prime Minister due to his known support for the killing of Jewish civilians. The visit followed a phone call from Abbas to a-Zahar, whose son, a terrorist leader, was killed in an IDF strike.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he will not continue negotiations with Abbas if Fatah renews attempts to forge an alliance with Hamas. Billions of dollars in aid money, as well as arms and training, have been supplied to Fatah on the condition that it act against Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups.

However, Abbas�s regime intends to spend 40 percent of the recently-pledged international aid in Hamas-controlled Gaza, according to a senior PA official.

You know, we seem to have this delusion going in the West here that terrorist groups — like Hamas and Fatah — can be negotiated with or placated somehow. That just is not the case, unfortunately. The leader of Hamas was chosen in part for his supportive attitude toward the murder of Jewish civilians — you cannot negotiate with such people.