06/23/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09963

TERRORISM IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Suicide bombings are killing the hopes of the Palestinian people. Nineteen people were killed and fifty injured when a suicide bomber blew up a bus in Jerusalem on June 18^th. The casualties included both Jews and Arabs, working people and students. The next day six more people were killed and more than thirty others wounded in another suicide bombing near a bus stop.

The terrorist groups responsible for these attacks are Hamas and the Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. They oppose peace with Israel. Equally, their terrorism threatens Palestinian aspirations for a state. The terrorists are the biggest threat to peace in the region. As President George W. Bush has said, "The outlines of a just settlement are clear. Two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side, in peace and security."

The chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, is responsible for terrorism emanating from the territory he controls. He must stop the terrorist attacks against Israel. Mr. Arafat has condemned the suicide bombings. But as White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, "If terrorism is to be condemned in not only words, but in deed, the Palestinian Authority needs to take additional action...to help Israel...know that Israel’s security will be maintained."

The U.S., said Mr. Fleischer, is focusing on two things: "One is making Israel more secure, and two, giving hope to the Palestinian people for their future." But, he said, "The terrorists who carry out these acts...are determined to stop a peace process from taking place, and President [Bush] will not let that happen." Israel has rights to defend itself, said Mr. Fleischer, but "the President asks that Israel continue to remember the consequences of any actions so that the path to peace, the political path, can also be pursued."

The U.S. is committed to helping Israel, the Palestinian people, and the Arab nations achieve a peaceful settlement. As Ari Fleischer put it, "The Middle East for too long has been an area of the world in which there have been two steps backward for every step forward. . . . [President Bush] wants to. . .do everything in his power to [contribute to] an environment [in] which [the peace process] steps forward, not backward."