Empathy For Israel

Last Saturday night, two Palestinian suicide bombers turned a popular gathering spot for young people in the center of Jerusalem into a scene of unimaginable carnage. The nearly-simultaneous bombings in the Israeli capital killed 10 young Israelis and injured more than 100 others. The attacks can be compared in their cruelty and horror to a bombing in the center of Harvard Square on a busy Saturday night. We express our deep sympathy for the families of the Israelis killed in the attacks.

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas claimed credit for the murders as retaliation for the killing of a senior Hamas leader by the Israeli army. The group also claimed responsibility for a suicide bus bombing in Haifa on Sunday morning that left 15 Israeli civilians dead. The death toll may rise as those who were wounded die of their injuries. The attacks that Israel endured over the weekend were among the most deadly of the latest intifada.

We condemn the bombings as brutal acts of unjustifiable terrorism and hope that the U.S.-led pressure now being put on Palestinian Authority (PA) Chair Yasser Arafat will force him to destroy all terrorist elements within his territory. And if Arafat cannot act swiftly and forcefully to end Palestinian terrorism, he should be replaced by someone with greater leadership ability and political support. The Palestinians have suffered under Arafat’s corrupt leadership for years and if he cannot control terrorists, they would be justified in finding a new leader who can.

The latest wave of suicide bombings in Israel has pushed the relationship between Israel and the PA to the brink of war. The Israeli cabinet resolution that the PA is “a terror supporting entity” is the clearest indication that Palestinian reliance on terrorism as a tactic in the ongoing conflict is likely to meet even harsher Israeli responses in the future. Israel has already launched attacks against symbols of the PA’s power in the West Bank and Gaza. Whereas in the past President George W. Bush has urged Israel to show restraint in its response to terrorism, the administration has changed its message, giving a silent green light to Israel to choose its responses to the latest attacks.

Although it is unclear whether the move is a strategic shift in U.S. policy, Bush has used language in recent days that implicitly compares Israel’s struggle against terrorism to the United State’s own ongoing campaign. Although the two situations cannot be directly compared—the political situation in Palestine is far more complex than the one in Afghanistan—we applaud the administration’s unambiguous support of Israel in this matter.

After a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Washington on Sunday, Bush called on Arafat to break up terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad that operate openly in Palestinian-controlled territory. In another sign that it is taking a new look at the situation in Israel, the administration has moved to freeze the assets of a large Muslim charity in Texas that has suspected links to Palestinian terrorist groups.

Arafat is the only leader in a position to put an end to the terror and establish a cease-fire. He must act now to arrest the Islamic militants who have launched wave after wave of suicide attacks on Israel over the past months. If he cannot control them, then it is time for the Palestinians to find a new leader. If Arafat has really lost control, it is in neither the Israelis’ nor the Palestinians’ interest to allow him to keep power any longer.