(Modesto Bee) Cal Thomas - Former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft writes in the Aug. 20 Washington Post that the Israelis and Palestinians must take steps "in parallel, rather than sequentially, in order to increase the prospects for building and sustaining momentum." Otherwise, he says, there will be "renewed violence." Whatever is he talking about? Violence as an instrument of policy by the Palestinian side has not stopped. It has ebbed and flowed as a strategy for extracting the maximum possible concessions from the Israeli and American sides before the coming all-out war to eliminate Israel. Any "cessations" are pauses that the terrorists use to rearm. A strong case can be made that all of the pressure on Israel for "goodwill gestures" and "confidence-building measures" has contributed to terrorism, not diminished it. American policy is to get the terrorists before they get us. That policy ought to be the parallel track for Israel.
2003-08-21 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive