Roadmap to nowhere

Matthew Hoy
By Matthew Hoy on September 7, 2003

After Mahmoud Abbas' "resignation" last week revealed him to be little more than Yasser Arafat's public face, news out today is Arafat has "formally nominated" Ahmed Qorei to replace Abbas.

It's befuddling why this latest development occupies such a prominent place on many Internet news pages -- it's not news, it's theatre.

A few weeks ago, when more the most recent suicide/homicide bomber detonated himself on a Jerusalem bus, I was furious. In my post regarding that horrible terrorist attack, I had originally written a series of actions that I thought Israel should consider taking. I removed them from the post before I posted it, because I thought the ideas were just too outrageous and would likely earn me an influx of hate mail.

But now that any hope of peace between Israelis and Palestinians is at least a generation away, Israel should act not with an eye toward an eventual peace, but to actually winning a war.

The following are my completely politically impossible suggestions:

First, the wall separating Israel and the West Bank should be completed. The area adjacent to the wall -- on the Palestinian side -- should be heavily mined. The wall should enclose all legal settlements and be located in the best position to provide Israel with defensible territory. All Palestinians should be evicted from "Arab East Jerusalem." The Dome of the Rock will be closed until Islamist terrorism stops worldwide. All Israeli forces will pull back from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A Palestinian state is created immediately.

Second, no non-Israeli Arabs should be allowed to work in Israel -- they often serve as a cover for terrorists. Immigration should be encouraged for Jews from countries with hostile populations, i.e. France.

Third, Palestinian prisoners with blood on their hands should be executed and buried in pigskin. All others should be deported.

Fourth, any attacks on Israel from Palestinian territories will be met with overwhelming and indiscriminate force. No more surgical strikes on militants. Instead, carpet bombing. (Why should Israel be held to a higher standard than the Palestinians?)

Fifth, Yasser Arafat and the "political" leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others terror groups are no longer off-limits. They are now high-priority targets.

I thought all of these suggestions would be so "out there" that Israel would never have the political will to act. That was until last week when the Israeli Air Force went after Hamas "spiritual" founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

It's very unlikely that these suggestions would be implemented. If Israel were to find the political will to take these drastic threats, they'd face outrage and vilification from the world community. Of course, Israel already faces outrage and vilification from the "world community."

Feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me your thoughts, I'm curious to what others think of the future of Israel with the road map now sitting on the floor of the car amid the empty Coke cans and Hostess Twinkie wrappers.

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