Proportionate Response

It is a grimly familiar ritual: Israel and the Palestinian Authority announce peace talks, some Palestinians commit an atrocity, Israel responds by slaughtering a larger number of Palestinians, and various figures, like the UN Sec Gen complain of a "disproportionate response." Since I have been very critical of Israel, some assume I agree with that last sentiment, but I don't.

The mistake I believe Israel makes is failure to offer a clear choice. The Palestinians see their choices as misery and squalor versus misery and squalor plus occasional slaughters. The difference between carrot and stick is so small as to be imperceptible.

The choice I believe Israel needs to offer needs to be much more stark: a peace agreement with very generous terms and strong guarantees, incorporating a solid plan for suppression of terror versus a war in which Israel promises to crush the Palestinians, kill all who resist, and rule the survivors the way the US ruled Japan after WWII - controlling the press, deposing hostile preachers, and making all the laws.

Israel has a right to defend itself. It does not have the right to crush the Palestinians into total misery and steal their land and water. If it fights such a war, it has a clear responsibility to build a functional Palestinian society for the survivors.

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