The desperate lie about the suicide bombers

By Thomas L. Friedman
April 3 2002

The outcome of the war now under way between the Israelis and
Palestinians is vital to the security of all of civilisation. Why? Quite
simply because Palestinians are testing out a whole new form of
warfare, using suicide bombers - strapped with dynamite and
dressed as Israelis - to achieve their political aims. And it is
working.

Israelis are terrified. And Palestinians, although this strategy has
wrecked their society, feel a rising sense of empowerment. They
feel they finally have a weapon that creates a balance of power
with Israel, and maybe, in their fantasies, can defeat Israel.

As Ismail Haniya, a Hamas leader, said recently, Palestinians have
Israelis on the run now because they have found their weak spot.
Jews, he said, "love life more than any other people, and they
prefer not to die". So Palestinian suicide bombers are ideal for
dealing with them. That is really sick.

The world must understand that the Palestinians have not chosen
suicide bombing out of desperation stemming from the Israeli
occupation. That is a huge lie. Why? To begin with, a lot of other
people in the world are desperate, yet they have not gone around
strapping dynamite to themselves. More important, President Bill
Clinton offered the Palestinians a peace plan that could have ended
their desperate occupation, and Yasser Arafat walked away.

Still more important, the Palestinians have long had a tactical
alternative to suicide: non-violent resistance, a la Gandhi. A
non-violent Palestinian movement appealing to the conscience of
the Israeli silent majority would have delivered a Palestinian state
30 years ago, but they have rejected that strategy, too.

The reason the Palestinians have not adopted these alternatives is
because they actually want to win their independence in blood and
fire. All they can agree on as a community is what they want to
destroy, not what they want to build. Have you ever heard Arafat
talk about what sort of education system or economy he would
prefer, what sort of constitution he wants? No, because Arafat is
not interested in the content of a Palestinian state, only the
contours.

Let's be very clear: Palestinians have adopted suicide bombing as a
strategic choice, not out of desperation. This threatens all
civilisation because if suicide bombing is allowed to work in Israel,
then, like hijacking and aeroplane bombing, it will be copied and will
eventually lead to a bomber strapped with a nuclear device
threatening entire nations. That is why the whole world must see
this Palestinian suicide strategy defeated.

But how? This kind of terrorism can be curbed only by
self-restraint and repudiation by the community itself. No foreign
army can stop small groups ready to kill themselves. How do we
produce that deterrence among Palestinians?

First, Israel needs to deliver a military blow that clearly shows
terrorism will not pay.

Second, America needs to make clear that suicide bombing is not
Israel's problem alone. To that end, the US should declare that while
it respects the legitimacy of Palestinian nationalism, it will have no
dealings with the Palestinian leadership as long as it tolerates
suicide bombings. Further, America should make clear that Arab
leaders whose media call suicide bombers "martyrs" aren't welcome
in the US.

Third, Israel must tell the Palestinian people that it is ready to
resume talks where they left off with Clinton, before this intifada.
Those talks were 90 per cent of the way towards ending the
occupation and creating a Palestinian state.

Fourth, US or NATO troops must guarantee any Israeli-Palestinian
border.

"The Spanish Civil War was the place where the major powers all
tested out their new weapons before World War II," says the Israeli
political theorist Yaron Ezrahi. "Well, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
today is the Spanish Civil War for the 21st century. A big test is
taking place of whether suicide terrorism can succeed as a
strategy for liberation. It must be defeated, but that requires
more than a military strategy."

The Palestinians are so blinded by their narcissistic rage that they
have lost sight of the basic truth civilisation is built on: the
sacredness of every human life, starting with your own.

If America, the only reality check left, doesn't use every ounce of
energy to halt this madness and call it by its real name, then it will
spread.

The devil is dancing in the Middle East, and he's dancing our way.

Dual Pulitzer Prize-winner Thomas L. Friedman is the author of
From Beirut to Jerusalem and the foreign affairs columnist
for The New York Times, where this article first appeared.