the Centrist

The best way to understand the mindset of militant Islamists in this century is to review their action in the past century.  By the 19^th century the Holy land had fallen into disrepair.   The area was controlled by the Turkey (Ottoman Empire 1299-1923) who allowed a repopulating by Jews.  By the turn of the last century its main ethnic groups were Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Palestinians.  After World War I, and the defeat of Turkey, the British assumed control of the region.  In 1917 they (see “Rebirth Pains” WD Bellavia p26) made an agreement with both the Jewish and the Moslem Palestinians which came to be known as the Balfour Declaration.  The area of present day Jordan was to be mainly Islamic, and the remainder of Palestine was to be Jewish.  When Jordan was partitioned (interrupted by World War II) in the early forties, the first order of business was to confiscate all Jewish lands and exile those former citizens to the other side of the river.   These refugees, Jewish Palestinians, were soon absorbed into Palestinian society. In the new nation of Jordan, the Moslem Palestinians, no longer were known by that name, rather they became known as Jordanians.  After World War II and the holocaust the world had lost its anti-Semitic zeal for a spell, and on May 15, 1948 Israel was born.  It was a sliver of a state, and not nearly what had been agreed upon by the Balfour Declaration.  But even that was not acceptable to the surrounding Islamic Nations as they immediately declared war and invaded tiny Israel.  The Arab nations promised any Palestinian Muslims who left their homes and waited in camps by the Jordan  would not only be given back their land, but after the Jews were driven into the Mediterranean Sea, they would be rewarded by gaining the Jewish lands and businesses.  The Israelis warned that if those Palestinians left their lands and sided with the invading Arab Nations their lands would not be restored to them.  The Israelis won that war for independence and as time passed many more.  These displaced Palestinian Moslems became known as Palestinian ‘refugees’.  Rather than be invited into Jordan or other Arab Islamic Nations, they were abandoned.  As time passed the media framed them as representative of the ‘cruelty’ of ‘occupying’ Israel.  This enmity between Moslem and Jews has become the basis for hostilities between Islamic radicals and the rest of the world to this day.  One need only recall the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul and the assassination of Robert Kennedy to remind us of the depth of intent at blaming the west for all of the ills suffered in Palestine.  Even so, it has been America which has led the world in attempts to broker a solution throughout the years

It was the Clinton Administration that proved to me that there would never be a “Palestinian Solution”.   That Administration did all in its power to appease the Palestinians.  Under the leadership of Prime Minister Barack, Israel accepted almost every term put forth by the Palestinian Moslems.  Rather than rejoice for winning a diplomatic coup over a much stronger opponent, the Palestinians reneged on the agreements and declared a jihad (fatwa) against Israel.

            Apparently tired of fighting, the shortsighted Israelis completed the initiative put forth by Prime Minister Sharon before his tragic stroke and returned territory to the Moslem Palestinians.  Conservatives warned these lands would become nothing more than regions from which to train terrorists, launch missiles, and lob artillery into Jewish towns.  True to form the Palestinian leadership, under Hamas, fulfilled that prophecy.  Open hostilities began about two weeks ago after a tunnel had been dug undermining an Israeli military position and the subsequent kidnapping a soldier. 

            This example plus the actions by radical Islamists have revealed their inability to live peacefully with any … including: Tanzania, Kenya, Turkey, Nigeria, Libya, Russia, Chechnya, France, the Netherlands, the Baltic States, the Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Great Britain, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iraq, Spain, Australia, Lebonon, Syria, the United States, etc.  It is time for Americans on both sides of the political spectrum to open their eyes to the necessity of complete victory in every facet of the War on Terror.  Perhaps the terrorist plot in Canada underscores the futility in appeasement. Canada is a nation which has done everything to distance it self from the United States, but succeed from North America.  Yet it was the target of a heinous Islamo-fascist plot.  Furthermore, civilized society must understand that, although it might be true that radical Islamists may not represent their religion properly, they are neither principled, nor small in number.  They are legion, deceptive, and lethal.  After all the above nations are still waiting for even a reasonable minority of Islamic clerics to apologize for murderous attacks carried out ‘in the name of Islam’.  Add to those attacks the plethora of plots which have been prevented and one should grasp the undeniable fact that the civilized world is in a war for its very survival.  Moreover, it is a war without borders.  Finally, with the terms of engagement defined by the enemy, the Federal Government has the obligation to track those who would destroy Americans, and prosecute any who knowingly aid and abet the enemy by revealing details of legal and successful programs which have prevented terrorism from its homeland