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Source: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-antidote-to-terror-is-our-unity/
Sanctifying the Murder of Innocents, the Palestinians Fall Farther Behind
(Israel Hayom) Prof. Eyal Zisser - Terrorist attacks perpetrated by evil murderers, in the heart of flourishing and prospering cities, encapsulate the history of Israel's struggle. From the outset of the Zionist enterprise, we have settled this land, building a modern, progressive state and diverse, pluralistic, and dynamic society, while the response from the Palestinians has been death and bloodshed. They rejected the UN Partition Plan in 1947; then again after the signing of the Oslo Accords, when instead of trying to establish state institutions they focused on preparing waves of terror; and another time in the wake of the Gaza disengagement, when they turned Gaza into a terror incubator. This is essentially the crux of the problem. The parents of the Tel Aviv attacker quickly praised his actions and relatives flocked to the family's mourning tent to glorify and laud his deeds. And those who label terrorists as shahids (holy martyrs) and pay salaries to their families legitimize their actions. Zionism has never sanctified the murder of innocents, and never made terrorism and armed struggle its entire purpose and reason for existence. Israel's heroes are not shahids. We in Israel continue on our journey, paying a painful price for every step, yet marching from victory to victory for the past 74 years of independence. The Palestinians, meanwhile, fall farther and farther behind. The writer is a lecturer in Middle East history at Tel Aviv University.