A Hopeless State by Ron Dermer May 15, 2002 http://www.jpost.com Watch out New York and San Juan. Hordes of hopeless Puerto Rican suicide bombers will soon strike in the heart of your cities. After all, that is the only logical conclusion one can reach when faced with three assumptions that are now as ubiquitous as they are specious. The first assumption is that young men and women strap explosives to their bodies because they lack "hope." US President George Bush became the latest victim of this bogus proposition when he spoke last week of the Palestinian boys and girls without hope who blow themselves up. In making this statement, the president, whose first strides in the war against terrorism were clear and powerful, took a big step backwards. The danger in believing that terrorism is rooted in hopelessness is that this thinking suggests that the way to end terror is to provide "hope" to those who practice it. In fact, the recipe for making a suicide bomber is one part fanaticism and one part hope. The fanaticism is bred in a culture of death, where terrorist recruits are meticulously brainwashed to believe that their noble ends justify any means. Still, a fanatical mindset only sets the fuse. Hope is the spark that lights it. Suicide bombers would not be so quick to die if they didn't believe that the cause they so fanatically pursue will be advanced by their sacrifice. A few weeks ago, by replacing the term "suicide bomber" with "homicide bomber," Bush seemed to recognize this reality. Yet, despite his earlier clarity on this issue, Bush's statement last week buttressed the position of those who believe that only by restoring hope and addressing the supposed grievances of terrorists can terrorism be defeated. Hopelessly misunderstanding the nature of terrorism, the guardians of conventional wisdom have also continued to cling to a second wrongheaded assumption - that the main grievance of the Palestinians is their lack of self-determination. Of course, the fact that the Palestinian national movement has been devoted since its inception to destroying, not building, a state is quickly brushed aside. Dates like 1964, when the PLO was founded to destroy an Israel that did not then have control over the West Bank or Gaza, and events such as the repeated refusal of the Arabs to accept a two-state solution, are conveniently forgotten. Today, in one final stroke of dimwittedness, the "hopeless" pursuit of self-determination has now been wedded to one final fallacy: that the thirst for self-determination can only be quenched by statehood. Only a Palestinian state, we are told, can satisfy the grievance the Palestinians so desperately hope to redress. Admittedly, there is some truth to this argument. For the vehicle of a Palestinian state is the only means through which the real Palestinian grievance - the existence of the Jewish state - can be redressed. By giving "Palestinians" control over their borders (remember the Karine A?) and their airspace, by placing 40% of Israel's water supply at their mercy, and by allowing "Palestine" to form treaties with hostile foreign states (axis of evil, anyone?), a state will give the Palestinians powers that will endanger the very existence of the Jewish state. Those who believe that Palestinian self-determination cannot be achieved with anything short of statehood confidently pooh-pooh such apocalyptic forecasts with a promise to restrict the powers of any future Palestinian state. Those peddling this nonsense might want to go to the next debate in the UN over infringements on "Iraqi sovereignty." If the United States has had difficulty keeping the sanctions against Iraq in place, one can imagine the difficulties Israel will face in restricting the powers of a future Palestinian state. Last month, when Israel exercised its basic right under international law to self-defense and destroyed terrorist infrastructure in Area A under rights that Israel retained under the Oslo Accords, the world attempted to handcuff this country and prevent it from defending itself. Imagine the shackles that would be in store is we were forced to confront a sovereign Palestinian state. Once synthesized, the three phony assumptions that have now completely cluttered the world's thinking about Israel and the Palestinians can be boiled down to the following proposition: The Palestinians are desperate because their demand for a self-determination that can only be achieved through statehood has not yet been satisfied. Those who really believe this drivel may want to warn their friends in New York and San Juan about the imminent dangers they face. After 50 years as an American colony, 50 more as a Commonwealth, and with national referendums showing no prospects for Puerto Rican independence, the day when "hopeless" Puerto Rican freedom fighters grab explosive belts is surely not far away. ---------- The writer is a political analyst living in Jerusalem.