MYTHS AND FACTS
By Mitchell G. Bard
MYTH
"'Palestinian terrorism is a byproduct of the 'cycle of violence' perpetuated by Israel."
FACT
The heinous attack on March 11, 2011, in which two Palestinian terrorists infiltrated the Israeli town of Itamar in the West Bank and brutally murdered a family of five, including a four-year-old son and a three-month-old daughter, has the international media once again discussing the “cycle of violence” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. According to numerous international news agencies, violent attacks by Palestinians are part of a cycle of violence that is perpetuated and escalated by actions on both sides and that cannot be stopped until Israel gives in to Palestinian demands. For example, the Los Angeles Times wrote that the tragic event was only part of a “continuing cycle of violence” while the BBC and CNN both highlighted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement of extended settlement building as a direct reaction to the atrocious attack.499 The Palestinian Authority, through spokesman Nabil Abu Reudeina, condemned Israel for extending this cycle of violence, calling it “wrong and unacceptable,” and warned it could lead to even further escalation of the conflict.500
Suggesting that Palestinian terrorism is just part of a cycle of violence for which Israel also bears responsibility is akin to equating the arsonist with the firefighter. The terrorists are like arsonists and the Israelis firefighters. You would not accuse the firefighter who puts out an arsonist’s fire, or tries to prevent him from setting one, of perpetuating arson. The terrorists are engaged in a persistent war that leaves Israel with no choice but to defend its citizens. If the terror stops, Israel will have no need to engage in countermeasures.
In his seminal work, To End a War, that followed years of diplomacy in the Balkans, U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke dismissed the idea that “ancient hatreds” had fueled that regional war and instead focused on the endemic spread of incitement through the media that had “aroused an entire generation of Serbs, Croats and Muslims to hate their neighbors.” 501 Similarly, despite repeatedly agreeing to cease such provocations (see the 1993 Oslo Accords, 1998 Wye River Memorandum and the 2003 Road Map), the Palestinian Authority continues to tolerate and instigate incitement in the media, mosques and schools. As in the Balkans, this policy has aroused a generation of Palestinians to hate both Israel and Jews. In the last quarter of 2010 alone, the PA was responsible for more than 20 cartoons, videos and speeches calling for violence and the destruction of Israel. 502
In early 2011, PA President Mahmoud Abbas personally delivered $2,000 to the family of a terrorist who had attacked IDF soldiers and the PA’s official newspaper, Al Hayat Al Jadida, promoted a soccer tournament named after Wafa Idris, the first female Palestinian suicide bomber. 503 Just three weeks prior to the attack in Itamar, PA-TV aired a video tribute to a number of “martyrs,” which included a terrorist who had killed three Israelis in a similar attack in Itamar in 2002. 504 These provocations of the Palestinian Authority have all led to what the Chairman of the Israel Ministry of Strategic Affairs, Yossi Kuperwasser, calls “an attitude of hate and demonization towards Israel” that has created “a situation where it occurs to someone to carry out a [terrorist] attack.” 505
The Western media has mostly ignored Palestinian incitement. Worse, many outlets have rationalized Palestinian terrorism, often refusing to even use the word “terrorism” to refer to atrocities. The media portrayal of the innocents murdered in Itamar is reminiscent of suggestions that rape victims “asked for it.” The fact that the family lived in a "settlement" did not excuse, justify or cause their murder. Parents and children sleeping in their beds did not deserve to be killed because they lived in a disputed territory.
The reaction of the international community should be unambiguous outrage to this atrocity and those media outlets that essentially have blamed the victims should be chastised for their moral, ethical and journalistic lapse.
"I expect the international community to sharply and unequivocally condemn this murder, the murder of children ... There is no justification and there can be neither excuse nor forgiveness for the murder of children ... This requires [more than] unequivocal condemnation. This requires a halt to the [Palestinian] incitement. I demand that the Palestinian Authority stop the incitement that is conducted on a daily basis in their schools, mosques and the media under their control. The time has come to stop the incitement and begin educating their people for peace."
— Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister 506
Note:
Footnotes are posted at Myths and Facts for further references.
