Last week, a Palestinian terrorist killed seven Israelis in cold blood. It was the worst terrorist attack in the country in years. The number of terrorist attacks in Israel has spiked significantly over the past year. So what is our government going to do about it?
Well, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently announced some new measures, including terminating the national insurance benefits of families of terrorists and revoking their residency and citizenship. Also, the houses of terrorists will be immediately sealed before they are demolished. Of course, legislation will be required to enact these new measures, but that shouldn’t be a problem with the coalition’s majority in the Knesset.
I would agree that these measures are a step in the right direction, but I also think that if Israel wants to put an end to Palestinian terrorism once and for all, it’s going to have to do more. A lot more. In fact, I think the Israeli government needs to be daring and take steps that many would consider extreme. Both short-term and long-term steps.
In the short term, Israel needs to completely disarm the various Palestinian militias and dismantle the entire leadership of the Palestinians, including the Palestinian Authority, whose president, Mahmoud Abbas, is now in the 19th year of his 4-year term. Abbas and the PA may pay lip service to the so-called two-state solution, but they do nothing to promote a future in which Israelis and Palestinians live side-by-side in peace and security. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The PA incites the Palestinian people to commit acts of terrorism against Israelis just as much as Hamas and Islamic Jihad do. It pays lifetime salaries to Palestinians who commit terrorist acts against Israelis. Its textbooks encourage Palestinian children to idolize and follow the examples of individuals who have been killed or jailed for committing acts of terrorism against Israel. The PA even names schools after prominent terrorists. Moreover, the PA-controlled media is filled with content inciting terrorism tailored to Palestinians of all ages.
The PA isn’t part of the solution. It’s part of the problem. Therefore, its leaders must be silenced. I would suggest that Israel expel the leaders of the PA along with those of the other Palestinian factions. Let them seek sanctuary in any country that will take them. Israel will be doing Palestinians a huge favor by expelling their leaders, who have done nothing but enrich themselves by perpetuating the futile struggle to destroy the Jewish state.
I do not suggest dismantling the PA itself, but rather replacing its current leadership with new leaders that will steer the Palestinians on a new path. A path towards peace and coexistence with Israel. This process will very much resemble the manner in which the Allied Powers removed the entire Nazi leadership of Germany following their victory in World War II.
After the Palestinian leadership is expelled and replaced, the long-term process of de-radicalizing the Palestinian people can begin. The Palestinians’ school system and media must be purged of material that incites them to commit acts of violence and terrorism against Israelis. Instead, school textbooks and media would be revised to promote a future in which Israelis and Palestinians coexist in peace.
It will probably take at least a generation, but once Palestinian society is de-radicalized, the Palestinian people can gradually be given more autonomy, and eventually statehood. As much as I would like to see Israel hold on to all of Judea and Samaria, it simply isn’t possible if Israel is to maintain its Jewish majority. If there is to be an Israel in the future, there must also be a Palestine.
{Written by Jason Shvili and reposted from IsraelHayom}
