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Saturday, February 26, 2005

Peace Now

The Moose hopes that progressives take a consistent stand against terrorism.

The Moose has commented recently that Israeli Prime Minister Sharon has heroically taken some "Nixon goes to China" steps to bring a rapprochement with the Palestinians. Unlike his world wide critics, he is actually putting his life on the line to attempt to achieve a peace accord.

By advancing a pull-back from Gaza and the West Bank, Sharon is now the subject of death threats from Israeli extremists. Given what happened to Rabin, those threats are very real.

Yesterday's terrorist attack on Israeli teenagers at a Tel Aviv nightclub is not just a test of the peace process for Sharon and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, but also for the international critics of Israel and Sharon. It is argued that the only path to peace is through the Israeli withdrawal from territory. Now that the Israelis are starting to do just that, will the Europeans, in particular, not only roundly condemn the terror, but also apply international pressure on the Palestinians to crack down on their terrorists?

The Moose isn't holding his breath.

The Moose is not a Sharon man. His affinity is for the Labor-kibbutz tradition. But, he recognizes that no country will commit suicide by allowing terrorists to purposely slaughter their youth. From the Times story,

"The explosion sent bodies sprawling and covered the street and sidewalk with blood, body parts and debris. Cars were mangled and windows were blown out. Store signs came crashing down and wires dangled from buildings along the beachfront strip.

"Ambulances rushed the wounded to hospitals, while members of the volunteer ZAKA recovery service patiently gathered small pieces of flesh from the street to prepare for proper Jewish burials, which call for the entire body to be interred."

The Moose has never been enthusiastic about the Israeli settler movement. However, every nation has a right to defend itself against random terror. That is not a conservative principle. It is a basic right of national survival.

Let the critics speak.
-- Posted at 8:03 AM | Link to this post | Email this post