So Much for the Cease Fire

There was another suicide bombing in Israel today. One Islamic Jihad spokesman admitted guilt for the bombing, while another said that Islamic Jihad “remains committed to the cease fire.” A representative of Sharon’s government said that the bombing shows the Palestinians’ cease fire agreement “not worth the paper it is written on and is no substitute for what he termed relentless real action to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure.” Which, of course, the Israelis already knew.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minster Mahmoud Abbas has canceled his Wednesday meeting with Ariel Sharon, acknowledging that his administration is in crisis.
If the Israel/Palestinian conflict existed in anything like a rational political environment, I would say that Israel has called the terrorists’ bluff and made a valuable point about the futility of dealing with Palestinian governments that are either terrorist or too weak to do anything about terrorism. The question is where Israel goes from here. Presumably they will return to an aggressive suppression of the terrorists, which, contrary to the conventional wisdom, has been successful in reducing the level of terrorism.

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