The Slaughter of Israeli Children
continued...
We present here the victim's names and faces, and a brief description of their young lives and tragic deaths.
In the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months... We extend out hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness.
This unequivocal Israeli statement is not new. It is taken from Israel's Declaration of Independence, read out when the state was established on May 14, 1948. It is as relevant today as it was 54 years ago.
Since its very inception, Israel's existence has been threatened by Arab countries and organizations refusing to recognize its right to exist, and which have repeatedly tried to use violence to defeat it.
Finally, in 1993, it appeared that Israel's untiring efforts to reach an understanding with the Palestinians were starting to bear fruit.
In Oslo, the frozen capital of Norway, representatives of Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization held secret talks during which they agreed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through peaceful means."
Palestinian terrorists, through their brutal and inhuman actions, have cut themselves off from the civilized world.
No nation in the world would stand by quietly in the face of the devastating terror that has hit Israel within the last two years. Every state has an obligation - a responsibility - to protect its citizens.
Yet Israel is a nation that yearns for peace. Its war is not against innocent Palestinians, but rather against the terrorists themselves, as well as those who dispatch, finance, harbor and give them succor.
Israel's war is not aimed at innocent Palestinians, with whom it hopes someday to live side-by-side in mutual respect. Indeed, terrorism must be crushed to make way for a better future. A future where pragmatic leaders can compromise; where life has sanctity; where peace can blossom. Infants and Children - Victims of Palestinian Terror*
The third millennium began with a horrific wave of terror attacks throughout the world: in Asia, the Middle East and the United States. The motives behind those carrying out these attacks are different, as are their goals, but all have selected terror as their principal weapon to achieve their political ends.
With total contempt for moral values, human rights and international law, these groups and organizations have chosen to use deliberate violence against innocent civilians. Terrorism's immediate goal is to plant fear in the hearts of potential targets, to disrupt normal life completely and create public pressure on decision makers in order to force them to capitulate to the terrorists political demands.
From the terrorist's perspective, Israel's civilians serve a twofold purpose. First they are the targets of the terror assaults. Secondly, the terrorist hopes that the Country's citizens will be so horrified by the attacks that they will pressure the government to give in to their extortionist demands.
In the eyes of the terrorist, the more brutal, savage and deadly the attacks, the more effective they are likely to be.
The Palestinian terrorists are among the "pioneers" of modern terror. They helped "blaze" the terror trail with a series of high-profile airplane hijackings in the l960s, and have proven themselves especially savage and cruel ever since.
Armed Palestinian terrorists attacked a school bus in 1970, taking children from the Avivim Moshav to their nearby school, killing 12 children.
In May 1974, Palestinian terrorists attacked a bus with students from Safed, who were touring in Ma'alot, killing 22 children.
More recently, in June 2001, a suicide terrorist blew himself up while standing among a crowd of teenagers waiting in line to enter a discotheque at the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv, killing 21.
In December 2001, two suicide bombers blew themselves up at almost the same time on Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall - crowded on that particular Saturday night with youths celebrating a friend's birthday - killing 11.
In May 2001, Palestinian terrorists brutally murdered two young hikers they happened to come across near the community of Tekoa. Using rocks, they smashed the boys faces beyond recognition.
In March 2001, a Palestinian sniper shot and killed a ten-month-old Jewish baby girl in Hebron.
In August 2001, Palestinian terrorists shot up a car full of Israeli teenagers in a drive-by shooting, killing a 17-year-old girl.
These acts of terror succeeded in achieving one of the terrorists aims - sowing fear and planting terror among the population.
From time to time, the moral question of deliberately targeting civilians - especially children - in the context of "Palestinian resistance" is raised in Palestinian society. The terror chiefs, however, repeatedly deflect all such questions, claiming that no Israeli citizen - boy or girl, man or women, civilian or soldier - can be considered innocent.
That so many Israeli children have been murdered within the last two years - perhaps more than anything else - illustrates the depth of cruelty and lack of humanity implicit in Palestinian terror.
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