A favored talking point of the Palestinian Authority is Israel’s supposed disdain for peace with the Palestinians. But Tuesday’s vicious murder (h/t Ha’aretz) of four Jewish “settlers” - two men and two women, one of whom was pregnant - along Route 60 in the West Bank ought to make even the most naively optimistic liberal realize which party in this equation is averse to peace.
According to YNet News, the attack was a “well-planned ambush” by a group of terrorists, who fired on the civilians’ vehicle and then came up to the car to shoot the victims at close range, repeatedly. There is no doubt the murders, for which rival political/terrorist factions Fatah and Hamas have blamed each other, were timed to occur just before the start of today’s Washington talks between President Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Obama White House took its time condemning “in the strongest possible terms” (h/t AFP) the killings but said the talks would go on as planned. But the Jewish state should not pay the price for Mr. Obama’s increasingly anemic poll numbers, which the president no doubt believes would recover somewhat if he were to become the U.S. leader who finally brokered Middle East peace. For Israel to take part in any sort of discussion about the normalization of relations with a terror-sponsoring entity is itself lunacy. But to proceed with said discussions in the face of renewed cold-blooded terrorist acts is simply intolerable. For the sake of his country and those worldwide who work to root out terrorism, Mr. Netanyahu should cancel his promised attendance at these talks. Terrorism should not be rewarded.
