But there is another revealing dimension to this story. The murderers of Muhammad Abu Khdeir seem to be fringe extremists; Israeli leaders from across the religious and political spectrum reacted to his killing with revulsion and unambiguous condemnation; and Israeli authorities acted with great dispatch in hunting down the killers. And yet the Palestinian street has seized on the horrific crime as somehow reflecting mainstream Israeli values and reacted with seemingly obligatory violence.
If these eruptions are spontaneous or popular uprisings, we have one more indication that many Palestinians are incapable of appreciating what it takes to make peace with Israel. And if the violence is the product of cynical manipulation on the part of Palestinian leadership, Mr. Abbas and company are certainly not the “partners for peace” they are still touted to be by the Obama administration. Either way, the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians seem rather bleak at this point.
As we went to press Tuesday, it appeared Israel was on the verge of a major confrontation with Hamas. In addition to rousting Hamas operatives in the West Bank as it searches for the murderers of the three Israeli teens, Israel is attempting to dismantle the Hamas terrorist infrastructure that has taken root there – something that the PA was supposed to do years ago. Israel is also countering the rocket launchings from Gaza, where Hamas holds sway, with air strikes and preparations for a possible military incursion.
We can only hope – though with far less optimism than we’d like – that President Obama and Secretary Kerry come to realize how the abduction/killing of the three Israeli teenagers has highlighted the perniciousness of Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to bring Hamas into his government. By doing so he has set the stage for a potent Hamas terrorist presence in the West Bank and, more than likely, an eventual Hamas takeover similar to its seizure of the Gaza Strip.
Plainly, it is illogical to expect Israel to permit Hamas to effectively break out of the Israeli ring around Gaza and establish another terrorist center in the West Bank. Israel must be fully supported in its efforts to pursue its security interests – which happen to coincide with those of the United States.