The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
On his recent visit to the Middle East, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney voiced the Bush administrationÕs belief that a Palestinian state is Òlong overdueÓ and vowed to help make that goal a reality. But does U.S. backing for Palestinian statehood advance our security? Only if you think weÕre better off fostering a new terrorist state. That may seem excessively harsh given President George W. BushÕs mantra that Palestinians just want Òthe opportunity to use (their talents and) gifts to better their own lives and build a future for their children.Ó The Bush line is that the terrorists and their supporters are but a fringe element that will be marginalized under the new state, which will coexist Òside by side in peaceÓ with Israel and the Western world. But listen to Palestinian clerics at Friday sermons, calling for violent attacks on Israel. Look at the lurid posters in the homes and shops of ordinary Palestinians, passionately glorifying ÒmartyrsÓ and terrorist kingpins. Look at their coordinated digging of tunnels to smuggle in weapons and explosives. Look at the popular collusion with Islamist militants and their stream of recruits. Recall the years of ferocious attacks against Israeli towns. If the mass of Palestinians just want peace and a better life, they would not despise and war against the only state in the region, Israel, that protects individual rights and that offers a standard of living far superior to (even the richest) Arab regimes. They would be far better off, freer and safer, if they put away their rocks, bullets and dynamite belts and sought to live and work in Israel (as some once did). Instead, they flood the streets to protest negotiations about peaceful co-existence with Israel. Ideologically, their dominant factions are the Islamic totalitarians of Hamas and the nationalist terrorists of Fatah. These differ only in their form of dictatorship Ð religious or ethnic. Both promise their followers, one way or another, to wipe out Israel. That hostility to Israel, the only free nation in the Middle East, should make any U.S. president stand firmly against the Palestinian cause. Particularly in a post-9/11 world, Washington should recognize that U.S. security is strengthened by preventing Islamist terrorists from securing another stronghold and training ground.
