Word: israelã
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...Israel??s recent military operations, the largest since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, have come under intense international scrutiny and scorn. Even Israel??s near-unswerving ally, the United States, has reprimanded Israel for its invasion of Palestinian refugee camps. The chief concerns are that Israel??s operations will result in the deaths of innocent civilians, no different from the actions that Palestinian militants have taken against Israeli civilians, and that the violence will escalate even further...
...Israel certainly cannot rely on the PA or Arafat, and it cannot rely upon terrorists to heed the words of Bush or U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. Israel has not entered Palestinian towns in order to plant bombs in supermarkets, to kill infants, or blow up customers at cafes. Israel??s military operations, which have unfortunately (yet not purposefully) killed some innocent civilians, operate out of the need to protect the state and citizens of Israel. They operate out of the sheer necessity of ending terrorism. Talk of eliminating the “causes” of terrorism...
There are roughly six million people in Israel, and 418 Israelis have been killed in terrorist attacks since the PA-backed Palestinian uprising began in September 2000. To put this death toll in perspective, in proportion to Israel??s size, this is the rough equivalent of seven attacks of the magnitude of the World Trade Center (in which about 3000 people died). The U.N. can condemn Israel??s military operations and targeted killings, but it is too easy to condemn from afar. If Israel wishes to protect its citizens, it must act with lethal force...
Over the past 18 months—in response to the Palestinian uprising—Israel??s military occupation has used increasingly invasive and brutal forms of repression. This is not to assign all the blame on Israel for the failure of the diplomatic negotiations at Camp David in the summer of 2000 and the violence that erupted that fall. The Palestinian leadership certainly bears some responsibility for this violence as well. Yet Israel??s response to this violence has too frequently been to punish the entire population for the acts of its leaders...
Nothing justifies terrorism. Not any grievance, no matter how justified; not any goal, no matter how lofty. Nothing. Not the legitimate desire for a Palestinian state, nor the urgent need to ensure the safety of Israel??s citizens...