Enough is never enough

Editorial

While Israel struggles to keep to the "road map" for peace, Palestinian demands become wilder and wilder. There is always, it seems, one more roadblock the Palestinians put up to prevent progress.

For a long time, the issue was the "right of return." A specious demand, the "right of return" purports to allow people to return to their pre-1948 (or pre-1967) homes, which sounds fair enough. In reality, it would result in the destruction of Israel.

But when a stunning public opinion survey indicated that Palestinians don't actually expect a literal right of return, but would accept a symbolic conclusion, such as some sort of compensation, a new roadblock to peace had to be found.

The security fence being erected by Israel seemed like the next perfect foil. How outraged Palestinian activists are that Israel should erect a barrier to prevent terrorists from killing its citizens. One wonders why like-minded activists in the United States haven't demanded an end to the security measures instituted after 9/11, which impede the rights of terrorists to enter the country to kill.

The American president has jumped on the bandwagon, singling out the security fence as a barrier to peace, ignoring the irony that George W. Bush comes from a state with similar barriers intended to keep out non-citizens who merely want to make a living.

In the bravest (or craziest) effort at peace, Israeli leaders have released scores of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. Unlike most Arab states, which lack western standards of due process, inmates in Israeli prisons have been incarcerated after fair hearings. The release of those prisoners, almost inviting the Palestinian terrorists to kill more Israelis, is responded to with jeers that not enough prisoners were released.

Israel could tear down the wall, release all incarcerated terrorists, invite every former resident to move into their ancestral homes – and it would still not be enough. Thanks to incessant indoctrination that takes place in the Arab education system, media and body politic, the destruction of the state of Israel remains the overriding goal of a significant number of Palestinians. While leadership by relatively fresh faces like Prime Minister Abbas could, over time and with an enormous amount of effort, move Palestinian opinion toward mutual coexistence, that dream remains remote. In the meantime, Israel should resist short-sighted pressures to invite self-destruction.

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