topic by
Celia
4/28/2002 (18:34) |
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While the U.N. will be investigating how many Palestinian gunmen and civilians were killed by Israeli troops in Jenin, they will not be investigating the wanton execution of three Palestinians in Hebron without hearings or trials for suspected collaboration with Israel. That is known as lynching, defined in the dictionary as 'murdering an accused person by mob action and without lawful trial.' But that is routine Palestinian justice, and that is not the first time that such lynchings have taken place.
According to the April 24 Boston Globe, 'The three Palestinian men were rousted from their beds yesterday morning, hands trussed behind their backs and gags shoved in their mouths. Then they were shoved and yanked over to Salam Street, where they were shot dead as a mob of their compatriots cheered and jeered. … Even telling a Jew the name of the street on which you stand is a betrayal of the people, one of the masked gunmen told onlookers at the execution scene. … During the heavy fighting of the first three weeks of April, militias summarily executed dozens of suspected informants, some simply for having had business dealings with Israelis.'
The Palestinian Authority has done nothing to curb this form of mob justice. It reminds us of what happened early in the intifada when two Israeli reservists happened to mistakenly drive into Palestinian territory and were brutally murdered by a frenzied mob. That 'incident' has been forgotten by the media and the U.N.
Yet, the Palestinians are demanding that their gunmen holed up in the Church of the Nativity should be handed over to the Palestinian Authority for trial in Gaza, where no doubt they will be acquitted as patriots. Israel is anxious to arrest about 30 of the gunmen, wanted for deadly attacks on Israelis.
We don't expect the U.N. or Europeans or Palestinian sympathizers to be concerned with Palestinian justice as practiced against other Palestinians. Their only concern is what Israel does in its own defense against the barbarism of the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, three Armenian Orthodox priests managed to escape from the church with the help of Israeli troops when they hung a sign from a window away from the gunmen which read, 'Please help us.' After they escaped, they reported that the militants smashed crucifixes, urinated on relics, and destroyed furniture and glass. The priests themselves, dehydrated and starved, were treated in a rough, threatening manner by the gunmen.
It is becoming more and more obvious that the only way that Palestinians and Israelis can ever become reconciled is if a new leadership develops among the Palestinians. The present leadership represents the self-destructive, barbaric policies of Yasser Arafat. There can be no peace as long as Arafat remains the leader of the Palestinians. Obviously, there are many rational Palestinians who would like to make peace with the Israelis, but they don't dare say a word or make a move while mob justice rules the territory.
We have been told over and over again by the Palestinians that there can be no peace as long as Israeli settlements remain in the West Bank and Gaza. A million Arabs live in Israel, so why can't 200,000 Jews live in the West Bank and Gaza? Why must Arab Palestine be Judenrein? The settlements were built on unoccupied land and did not displace any Arab towns or villages. With Israel being as small as it is, the settlements are little more than suburbs of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. Besides, both Samaria and Judea are just as much part of the Promised Land as the rest of Israel. Jews have as much right to live there as the Arabs.
But since Arafat has done everything in his power to whip up the most bitter and murderous hatred of Jews among Palestinians, the likelihood of peace in the near future seems quite remote. Meanwhile, the best the Israelis can hope for is a reduction in suicide bombings and other terrorist acts against them. Otherwise, there will have to be more incursions in Palestinian territory.
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