Palestinians, Terrorism and You

“Peace in the Middle East” may make for a snappy bumper sticker. But a more relevant message to send to fellow motorists - and to the presidential motorcade in particular - is “Free Palestine.” Because getting that message right would not only mean peace between Israel and its neighbors, but also the elimination of the greatest reason people target the United States and its allies in the first place.

Two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, with smoke plumes still rising from the mountains of rubble that used to be the Twin Towers, President George W. Bush assured the world that, “No group or nation should mistake America’s intentions: We will not rest until terrorist groups of global reach have been found, have been stopped and have been defeated.”

For all the “have beens,” however, the president now stands on the precipice of becoming a has-been. And if there's one thing anyone possessing a brain stem can be certain of today, it's that, with few exceptions, those plotting against the United States and its friends haven’t been found, haven’t been stopped and haven’t been defeated.

The reasons are myriad, but if one outshines the rest it’s a little place called Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, along with other cities that together make up the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. Year after year, as it's been for decades, this elephant in the room goes ignored even as it sways from side to side and rams its body into the wall, causing everyone’s cocktails to almost spill, but not quite.

Despite several UN resolutions, the world has been unable - or unwilling - to dislodge Israel from the territories for half a century. That in turn has given Israel free rein to force Palestinians to live very much like cattle: daily schlepping their way toward checkpoints where, single-file, the young, the old, the infirm and the pregnant endure being humiliated by Israeli soldiers barely out of high school, with those fortunate enough to pass through only finding another checkpoint a hundred yards away.

Rinse, and repeat.