Every Thursday night, Dr. Aaron Lerner, director of IMRA, delivers a live radio address on Arutz Sheva's English language radio broadcast. Next week, that format is going to change, but Aaron will still be posting his comments here, as he has been all along. I highly recommend them.
This week's commentary included a chilling lament that I'm going to quote here in its entirety.
It is with a heavy heart that I say that all the indications are that the nightmare we have been living for almost a decade is far from over.
And there is simple reason for this: none of the actors appear to be aware of the horribly costly mistakes they have made nor are they willing to learn from them.
Twenty were murdered Tuesday night in Jerusalem because Prime Minister Sharon succumbed to pressure from President Bush and transferred control of Bethlehem to the PA and dropped many security roadblocks, thus making it possible for a terrorist bomber to easily travel from Hebron to PA controlled Bethlehem and from there to Jerusalem.
Sharon doesn't recognize that, once again, people were murdered because he sacrificed their security to please America. Bush doesn't recognize that by pressing Israel to forfeit its security he also bears responsibility for the consequences.
We have suffered from close to a decade of deadly dangerous experimentation yet the experience has had literally no impact on the long-term decision making process.
A decade of Palestinian lies. A decade of deadly Palestinian noncompliance. A decade of Palestinian activity to implement the program of "stages" to ultimately erase Israel from the map.
And yet none of this has had any impact on Israel's negotiating position. If anything it has deteriorated.
Even before we buried our latest dead Israeli officials were promising that Israel would return to the Roadmap - that means the creation of a sovereign terror state before the end of the year - if the Palestinians would just behave themselves for the next few months.
Let's not forget: just a few days ago Defense Minister Mofaz apparently agreed to grant immunity from prosecution and punishment to any terrorist who takes refuge in a city handed over to Palestinian control. That's regardless of what they did and when they did it - as long as they behave themselves - or at least don't get caught misbehaving - after they take refuge.
And if, when things cool down, we return to this insanity, the terrorists who were involved in arranging for the Jerusalem bombing will no doubt be able to enjoy refuge in a city handed over to Palestinian control under a similar deal.
We must get our leaders to understand: So long as there are no long-term consequences to Palestinian terror the nightmare will continue.
Here's hoping the nightmare won't.
I have a short sequel to this post, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow to put it up.
