Terror Strikes Again

So the Sabbath comes to an end and I turn on my computer only to find out that the certain elements of the Palestinians want to see them live under Israeli dominion forever. Just another attack on occupation forces, right?

I want to say that these Palestinians are working hand and hand with the fanatics on our side (albeit unintentionally). But there's absolutely no moral equivalence between the crazies on the Israeli side and the Palestinian terrorists. Palestinian extremists murder innocent people. Israeli fanatics just say dumb, hurtful things. Until Israeli extremists start murdering Palestinians at random, there's no comparison between these two groups.

Apparently Islamic Jihad took responsibility, although one of their leaders denied it. The rationale is they gave Israel a month to give into their "demands" and Israel didn't live up to their "obligations." So they decided to derail any chance of Palestinian self-control. Right on point, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz decided to delay transferring some Palestinian cities to PA control.

It's time for the PA to finally do something about these crazies. Abu Mazen won the PA presidency by a huge margin. If there is such a thing in that society, he has legitimacy. He has to start pretending he's a national leader and get these people to disarm. Truces are not enough. If they won't disarm willingly, he has to do it for them. Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada constantly rails on about how the Palestinians cannot be expected to fight a civil war for Israel.

"If Palestinians feel that Abbas' Palestinian Authority is receiving international aid and support only to act as a proxy police force on behalf of a deepening Israeli occupation, it will rapidly lose what legitimacy it has. Abbas' problem was well illustrated by one Palestinian police officer in Gaza who told the Associated Press, "I will never raise my weapons against the [Palestinian] fighters ... I can only ask them not to fire." No Palestinian leader can order Palestinians to engage in civil war on Israel's behalf. "

If militias in the US decided to attack Canada for refusing to support us in Iraq, could the US government just hold their hands up and decline to stop them on the grounds that we shouldn't fight civil war to protect Canada? One of the functions of a security force is to protect other countries from one's people. If Abu Mazen cannot control Hamas, Islamic Jihad and his own Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (or whatever they're called now), then Israel is wasting its time dealing with him. This is his test. Let's all hope he has the courage to pass.