For almost two months now, Palestinians have been conducting their most recent wave of terror using anything they can get their hands on - guns, knives, molotov cocktails, rocks and even their own personal vehicles - to kill Israelis. Israel has responded to this latest wave of terrorist attacks the same way it has for decades: More police, more soldiers, more checkpoints...Well, you get the idea. But of course, none of these security measures will put a permanent end to Palestinian terrorism. So what will? My answer to this question doesn't involve trying to negotiate a two-state solution or unilateral territorial withdrawals, because both of these haven't worked. Israel has been trying for more than two decades since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993 to give the Palestinians a country of their own, only to be turned down multiple times because Palestinian leaders aren't looking for a state of their own to coexist alongside Israel. They're looking to destroy the State of Israel and replace it with a state of Palestine that would no doubt end up being just like the rest of the Arab dictatorships. Israel has also tried handing back land to the Palestinians without any prearranged agreements. But did Israelis get peace in return? No. Just more terrorism, in the form of rockets reigning down on their towns and villages. So much for the argument that removing the so-called occupation would lead to peace.
So what else can be done to end Palestinian terrorism once and for all? I think the first step is to get rid of the entire Palestinian leadership altogether, because they are the ones that have been inciting young Palestinians to commit acts of terrorism ever since Israel achieved independence. Hence, I believe that Israel should imprison, exile, and if necessary, even kill each and every senior Palestinian leader both within the pre-1967 armistice lines and in Judea and Samaria. Not one should remain. Not one should have the opportunity to further incite Palestinian youth to injure and kill Israelis. Once this is done, Israel can begin re-educating Palestinians to live in peace with their Jewish neighbors.
For at least one generation, I believe that Israel will have to exert strong control over Palestinian education and mass media in order to create a new Palestinian ethos that is economically productive and friendly to the continued existence and prosperity of the State of Israel. Palestinians must be taught what their current leaders refuse to teach them: The fact that the Jewish people have the right to independence and self-determination in the land of their forefathers and that opposing this right is morally wrong and counterproductive to their well-being. In time, a new Palestinian leadership should emerge that will support the State of Israel rather than seek to destroy it.
At the same time that Israel is re-educating the Palestinians and weaning them off their decades-old diet of anti-Jewish hatred and Islamist fascism, it must also make massive investments in Palestinian social and economic infrastructure so that the Palestinian people will enjoy the same socio-economic fruits of Israel's existence that Jews do. Hence, Israel must make a concerted effort to ensure that it narrows the gap in living and education standards that exists between Jews and Arabs in the country. After all, the Palestinians will never accept Israel, let alone support it, if they do not reap the benefits that come with the state's existence and continued prosperity.
The reality is that it is up to Israel to resolve the problem of Palestinian terrorism by itself. The current Palestinian leadership only seeks to fuel this terrorism while the rest of the world naively and foolishly continues to blame Israel for causing Palestinians and other Israel-haters to commit terrorist acts against it. Talk about blaming the victim.
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