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Thursday, January 15th 2004 Suicide Bombing Hurts Palestinians, Only Israeli Newspapers Care
You won't find this kind of story in any of the celebratory pamphlets that Hamas and Fatah hand out after each of their demented suicide bombings.
"Whoever ordered the bombing," said Salha, who is among about 150 Palestinian factory owners at Erez, "must have known that 30,000 mouths depend on our employment here." When bombers aren't exploding themselves, some 20,000 Palestinians pass through the Erez crossing daily. About 5,000 of them click through the turnstiles at the industrial zone, a joint Israeli-Palestinian venture, and the rest go to construction or mostly other menial labor jobs in Israel. Looking somewhat bewildered, Salha said he could hardly understand the motivation of the bomber. "After all, this hurts us [the Palestinians] much more than it does the Israelis." This routine became old long, long ago. A suicide bomber attacks Israeli civilians, and so Israel clamps down on the town or region where that suicide bomber came from. Quiet ensues, and Israel withdraws. Within a couple of weeks, sometimes within a couple of hours, a suicide bomber slips out of the now blockade-less town or region. And the cycle repeats itself, with more blockades, more curfews, more Israeli soldiers in danger, and more Palestinians miserable. However, an attack at the Erez crossing is uniquely stupid. The Erez crossing is the way that Palestinians from the West Bank get into Israel to sell their goods or to work. Shutting it down essentially deprives Palestinians in the Gaza strip of any economic option. Before the first intifada, recalls Malik, there were no checkpoints, and Palestinians could travel anywhere in Israel. "Not anymore, and today pretty much shows why." Malik had refused to give his full name, because, he said, "I have stayed off the Israeli Shin Bet's lists, and those of the PA's Mukhabarat, and I don't want that to change." We shouldn't forget that there are victims on both sides of the conflict. But we also shouldn't forget that polls show that the Israeli public overwhelmingly wants to stop the suffering, and that the Palestinian public overwhelmingly supports continuing the conflict even in the face of any peace deal short of the complete dismantlement of the Jewish state.
permalink posted by: omri -- 05:13:03 PST
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