If you will, imagine the following situation. Using underground tunnels, terrorists infiltrate the American border and proceed to abduct an American GI and take him or her hostage. The abducted soldier is held in captivity where he or she is deprived of food, beaten and probably tortured. Pretty infuriating, huh? If you have any sense of patriotism or human decency you would probably think that something should be done about this. Negotiations or even military action of some sort should be undertaken to return this soldier to his or her family. After all, the GI was not abducted while on a patrol in foreign territory or while on an offensive operation, but rather kidnapped while relaxing in base. Either way, you would not expect the United States government to sit idly by and do nothing in the face of this soldier's plight. A reaction would be necessary.
I am presenting this hypothetical set of circumstances to address a comparable situation in Israel. Last Sunday Hamas militants, striking from bases in the Gaza Strip, abducted Corporal Gilad Shalit, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier, and took him captive to an undisclosed location within Gaza. Although attempts were made at a negotiated solution to the abduction, these efforts have floundered and Israel has launched military offenses into Gaza in order to repatriate Cpl. Shalit and hunt down the terrorist leaders responsible for his kidnapping.
As is natural and expected in the international community's relationship with the Jewish state, Israel has been roundly condemned for these actions, or rather, for taking any action in the face of this new round of wanton aggression by Palestinian terrorists. It would be far more suitable, in the opinion of these esteemed members of the international community, for the Israeli government to simply allow the terrorists that besiege the small state on all sides to simply take advantage of Israel's willingness to find a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict in the region. As far as they are concerned, Israel has no right to protect its own citizens.
This recent turn of events calls into the spotlight the double standard that the international community employs when dealing with Israel. For some reason, it is perfectly reasonable for "freedom fighters" -- cough, terrorists -- to willfully abduct Israeli soldiers, but totally out of the question for Israel to react in any way. Israel, like any other sensible nation, has a responsibility to protect its citizens -- military and civilian alike -- from external aggression. Why is Israel held to a higher standard than the rest of the civilized world? Why is Israel expected to suffer more violations of its integrity in a year than any other country deals with in a decade and sit by quietly? This pattern of thought on the part of the international community is unrealistic, duplicitous and belies a considerable amount of anti-Semitism.
Even more troubling than the discriminatory double standard to which the world holds Israel is the implication this incident has for the future of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Israel made a colossal leap of faith in turning over the Gaza strip to the Palestinian Authority in the hopes the Palestinians would make a serious effort to contain and control the radical, terrorist elements of their population. So far this bold maneuver, which involved the Israeli Defense Forces physically uprooting Israeli citizens from their homes, has resulted in the election of the radical terrorist faction Hamas to majority status in the Palestinian parliament, numerous rocket attacks and raids from the Gaza Strip and finally, the abduction of Cpl. Shalit.
This disturbing chain of events calls into question the veracity of Palestinian claims to be genuinely interested in peace with Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' apparent inability to rein in these radical elements within his population suggest that the Palestinian people themselves desire not a diplomatic settlement with their Jewish neighbor, but rather, its destruction. Rather than looking to the future of the Middle East, they are looking back in a vain and bloody attempt to turn back the clock on the past half century. The abduction of Cpl. Galid Shalit may very well signal the opening of a new and far darker chapter in Israeli-Palestinian relations.
