We have seen the results of a controlled experiment. Arafat, confined to the de facto jail cell of his office in Ramallah, is nearly cut-off completely from the outside world. The maximum military pressure is on the man supposedly responsible for Palestinian terrorism. Yet the suicide bombings continue.
The situation suggests a question: Is Arafat the problem? At one time, before all the broken promises, Arafat may have been the problem. But as the saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." No longer is Arafat the problem. The problem, now, is Israel's moral paralysis. Secondarily, in an act of contributory negligence, the problem is the western world's moral cowardice to support Israel in their own self-defense.
Israel can no longer wait for terrorists to solve their terrorism problems. It is clear to any thinking person that there is nowhere else for Israel to go. They have surrounded Arafat, are monitoring all or nearly all communications coming from his office, and are preventing him from even scratching his ass without everyone in the Israeli government knowing about it.
The terrorists tell us the truth if we care to listen. As when Iran refused to join the American-led coalition against terrorism, the terrorist group Hezbollah declared its opposition to the Saudi peace plan at last week's Arab summit in Beirut. Hezbollah has vowed attacks on Israel, even if Israel were to leave occupied Palestinian territories. Does anyone still think that "land for peace" will stop people who want to blow themselves up? Is it land that suicide bombers want?
Israel's choice is clear: self-preservation or self-destruction. If they choose self-preservation, they must do more than lock Arafat in his office and turn his electricity off and on again. They must do more than knock a few walls down with a few tanks. They must occupy all Palestinian territory.
