Time Immortal

Arab terrorists kill ten at a Jewish seminary. At least one terrorist is shot in the head by a student who happened to bring a handgun to the seminary that day. Meanwhile, in Gaza, Palestinians flowed into the street cheering for joy at the news of yet more dead Jews.

Just another day in Israel, unfortunately.

This was a barbaric act, these shootings, and equally barbaric is the public celebration of the deaths of Jewish seminarians in the streets of Gaza City. Hamas even offered their blessings upon “the operation,” although they apparently did not claim responsibility.

I read something interesting on another blog that was a remark about genocide: against the threat of genocide, there can be no disproportionate response. That’s a sentiment with which I’d mostly agree, although I might tighten it a bit: against the threat of genocide, there can be no response — short of genocide in reverse — which can be considered disproportionate.

I think that, on the whole, Israel has shown a commendable restraint in how it has dealt with the past few decades worth of terrorism and attempts by various Muslim nations to effect genocidal plans against her. For having done so, Israel’s every action is condemned even more harshly by the rest of the world, while attacks against her are excused as being “the most one can expect” from an “oppressed people” such as the Palestinians.

I do not pretend that Israel is blameless, nor that she has always been in the right. But by the same token, the Palestinians have received billions — has it been trillions yet? — in foreign aid monies, most of which has then been forwarded to Israel in the form of Qassam rockets. Does anyone out there think that there could not be peace in the region of Israel almost overnight if the residents of Palestine gave up Jew-killing as their national sport, purged the religious fanatics from their government, and turned those aid monies over to urban renewal projects and the development of a comprehensive education system? Of course, the problem with the Palestinians building themselves a viable nation-state is that, if they give up the conflict with Israel, then they will have no other issue with which to stoke up global sympathy for their (mostly self-inflicted) “plight,” which might dry up the flow of UN payments somewhat.

And we wouldn’t want that to happen, would we?

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.