For the first five months of the current violence, Israel’s response was non-existent. For the next 13 months, Israel’s response was half-hearted at most, and included the destruction of empty buildings – sometimes repeatedly – and the arrest of low-level underlings followed by their release after questioning.
From April of this year, Israel’s response has grown. Actual terrorists have been arrested, many have been killed, and of late, the actual homes of actual terrorists and their families have been destroyed.
Still, this is not nearly enough. Sufficient evidence of this lies in the graves of at least 22 more Israelis killed this week by Palestinian terrorism. For each attack, one organization or another continues to “claim responsibility”.
Such claims of responsibility constitute an interesting tool in the hands of terrorist organizations. We never hear the gunman himself call up a radio station and advertise that he did it. We never hear the bomber, or even the person who sent him, threaten to kill Jews. What we hear are the organizations – the names that represent hundreds of thousands of people all over Judea, Samaria and Gaza – that claim responsibility.
We also don’t hear about angry organization members demanding their membership dues back because of the irresponsible or criminal actions being perpetrated in their names. This would only happen in a society that cares more about itself than about harming others.
And then we have the Israeli and western media, which has largely chosen to ignore such claims of responsibility when they really matter. In the aftermath of yet another attack, one question always asked is “which organization is claiming responsibility?” That question seems to occupy almost as much priority as how many wounded and dead.
But within a matter of hours, the media is reporting on activities and arrests of Hamas “members” and Islamic Jihad or Fatah “activists”. Never is the word “terrorist” used, despite the official government positions around the world that these organizations are terrorist organizations. By refusing to label these terrorists as they are, the media bears some culpability for the continuing legitimacy of these organizations and the apparent refusal of the Israeli government to wipe them out.
It is quite handy these days to pin the ultimate responsibility for all terrorism on Yasser Arafat, and indeed, he does bear a measure of responsibility for every Israeli death due to Arab attacks. But at the same time, Prime Minister Sharon refuses to either expel or kill Arafat, a move that would be fully justified given Arafat’s role as the world’s leading terrorist and the current international consensus that terrorism is a crime against humanity.
But Arafat is not the only one responsible. He is not heard (thankfully) on Israeli radio stations gloating about having killed more Jews. His elimination on its own will not end terrorism (though it will go a long way to re-establishing Israel’s deterrent capability). The ultimate responsibility lies with the organizations that finance, plan, and execute the attacks, and with all those who continue to support these organizations.
I would wager that the majority of Palestinian “civilians” are supporters of one or another of these organizations in one form or another. If that is the case, it would justify a full-scale war of defense by Israel with the intent of eliminating all terrorists and all terror supporters from Israel’s midst. Only then will such attacks end so that Israel can get down to the true business of peace-making.
Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Yehuda Poch is a journalist living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission of the author only.
