Whatever happened to...

In the latest issue of Slate Christopher Hitchens Christopher Hitchens wonders where all the Palestinian suicide bombers went. The piece is basically an excuse for Hitchens to cut up all the excuse makers; people who blame Israeli settlers, of the security checkpoints, or the targeted killings, for creating a culture of despair. He concludes, 'Meanwhile, the wall still stands and grows, ironically expressing the much more banal and worldly fact that there are two peoples in Palestine and that sooner or later there will be two states as well.'



The wall he mentions is the Israeli security fence, built by the government to prevent suicide bombers from entering via Judea/Samaria and Gaza. Security fence is really the wrong name, victory wall is more like it. That wall delineates what will no doubt be the borders of a future Palestinian state. As I detail in a forthcoming article for a new defense policy group (more on that later) the victory was won by a ruthless campaign of targeted killing of terrorists, imprisonment of anyone with the bad luck to be a suspected terrorist, countless snatch and grab operations, and large scale military operations

Personally, I would hope the Israelis abandon some of the more far flung settlements (Hebron !) and exchange some of the Arab areas in the north for a belt of land around Jerusalem and let the Palestinians have there state in whatever's left. The Israelis have clearly won this conflict, now impose a deal.

Will's book about the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the Battle of 73 Easting, is called A Line Through the Desert. It may be purchased at Amazon