December 5, 2005

Once again, the Palestinian leadership has chosen to “condemn” the latest Palestinian homicide bombing using verbiage sterile of contrition, instead lamenting how such disobedience “…harms the interest of the Palestinian people…”(PM Mahmoud Abbas) and warns that “…it could also hurt the elections."(Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat).

Statements such as these are preaching to the wrong choir, for while they may poignantly reiterate to fellow politicians the folly of such a political misstep, they do nothing to challenge the propensity of the bloodthirsty to act again.

As long as the world allows the Palestinian leadership to fulfill their moral obligation by responding to such acts in benign, political jargon, then murderers who are ‘not really into politics’ will have no pause for repose as they prepare their explosives like a duck hunter prepares his buckshot; his only thought being how many Israelis he’ll “bag” today.

                                                           - Simon Mirsky