Why They Fight (Pro-Israel editorial)

The Washington Post ^ | Friday, July 14, 2006 | Charles Krauthammer

[MinorityRepublican]

Next June will mark the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War. For four decades we have been told that the cause of the anger, violence and terror against Israel is its occupation of the territories seized in that war. End the occupation and the "cycle of violence" ceases.

The problem with this claim was that before Israel came into possession of the West Bank and Gaza in the Six-Day War, every Arab state had rejected Israel's right to exist and declared Israel's pre-1967 borders -- now deemed sacred -- to be nothing more than the armistice lines suspending, and not ending, the 1948-49 war to exterminate Israel.

But you don't have to be a historian to understand the intention of Israel's enemies. You only have to read today's newspapers.

Exhibit A: Gaza. Just last September, Israel evacuated Gaza completely. It declared the border between Israel and Gaza an international frontier, renouncing any claim to the territory. Gaza became the first independent Palestinian territory in history. Yet the Gazans continued the war. They turned Gaza into a base for launching rocket attacks against Israel and for digging tunnels under the border to conduct attacks such as the one that killed two Israeli soldiers on June 25 and yielded a wounded hostage brought back to Gaza. Israeli tanks have now had to return to Gaza to try to rescue the hostage and suppress the rocket fire.

Exhibit B: South Lebanon. Two weeks later, the Lebanese terror organization, Hezbollah, which has representation in the Lebanese parliament and in the cabinet, launched an attack into Israel on Wednesday that resulted in the deaths of eight soldiers and the wounding of two others, who were brought back to Lebanon as hostages.

What's the grievance here? Israel withdrew from Lebanon completely in 2000.

[muawiyah]

Don't believe it. The staff over at the Washington Post leap for joy and give uulations as the rockets fall into Israeli homes.

[ClearCase_guy]

Krauthammer is excellent.

This boil will continue to fester for decades more -- unless the doctor prescribes harsh medicine.

[Rocko]

Don't believe what?

[Gay State Conservative]

Krauthammer gets it.Leftists don't.Having dealt with Krauthammer when he was a student at Harvard Medical School and I worked at an affiliated hospital,I can attest to the fact that he's a very impressive guy.

[Convert from ECUSA]

"Don't believe it. The staff over at the Washington Post leap for joy and give uulations as the rockets fall into Israeli homes."

Ain't that the truth! The Washington Pravda is only useful for lining bird cages and litter boxes.

[muawiyah]

Krathammer is OK, but did you check out the title of this thread? It credits the WarshPost with his comments.

It's not possible ~ the "newsies" at the Post never agree with him, and it would be highly unlikely for them to have an "editorial" that did so.

[Convert from ECUSA]

Krauthammer gets it. He is one of a couple of token Americans similar to the token Americans employed by the New York Slimes, who are permitted to write for the rags once in a while when the main-slimes want to show how "tolerant" and "diversified" they are.

[marvlus]

Of course Krauthammer is excellent. He gets it, while most of the European leaders don't, and all of Islam is stupid.

[azcap]

Should read (Pro-Israel Opinion Piece) not "Editorial". When I saw that headline I thought for a moment that someone at the Post had a religious experience but then I saw that it was just a Krauthammer piece. He is excellent but he is not the Washington Post.

[Tolik]

Charles Krauthammer Nailed It!
Moral Clarity BUMP !

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[jazusamo]

Excellent piece. Krauthammer's common sense and statement of the basic facts remind me of Dr. Sowell's writings.

[Edgerunner]

The hammer strikes!

[SunkenCiv]

alas, already posted:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1665525/posts