Mort Zuckerman's 6 Questions

From US News & World Report:

The idea of a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel is not credible to anyone who experiences the demonic nature of the hatred or reviews the threats continuously promulgated by the Palestinian leaders in every forum--mosques, schools, radio, newspapers, television, the Internet--everywhere.

Since all this poison passes largely unnoticed in the West, it is necessary to spell out a few declarations of intent. Abbas himself, on the occasion of Israel's 57th birthday, proclaimed that the creation of the Jewish state was the "greatest crime in human history." More recently, he said: "Today we are beginning the march of the fishermen towards freedom. Soon you will be able to fish along the whole coast of Palestine." What could he mean when the rest of the coast of Palestine is Israel?

Where is the pro-peace, pro-prosperity, and pro-freedom wing of the Palestinian people determined to dismantle the terrorist groups, as called for by President Bush?

Western sympathy and aid for the Palestinians should now be conditioned on the Palestinians' unequivocal answers to six questions:

1. Will there be a decline in incitement to hatred or a change in the rhetoric of Palestinian officials when speaking in Arabic to their people?
2. Will the Palestinians continue to be directed toward the destruction of Israel, or will they seek to build up their own nation-state?
3. Will there be a stable government with real control of the territory that will stop terrorism and disarm radical groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a terrorist paramilitary group ruled by Fatah?
4. Will Palestinians continue to claim Israeli withdrawal as a victory through terrorism, thereby justifying more terrorism?
5. Will the billions of dollars of new aid disappear into the private bank accounts of their leadership groups, as it has for years, or instead be put into programs for the welfare of their people?
6. Will they dismantle the refugee camps that, despite all the foreign aid, have been a permanent condition of Gaza life and resettle their people in decent housing?

Without the right answers to these questions, it will be impossible for Israel to make further concessions and withdrawals, especially when the message from the international community is always that they are never enough--no matter what the Palestinians do.

Dear Mr. Zuckerman: You were off to a great start in this column, choosing the appropriate phrase "the demonic nature of the hatred." Why can't you draw the obvious conclusion? Let me help you: "And therefore there can be no weakness displayed toward those who desire to commit genocide against us. We must end this charade, get on the phone with Dr. Laura Shlessinger and then check into a battered wives' shelter immediately. Everyone knows the answers to the six questions above. They celebrate Hamas. They say what Hamas says. They do what Hamas does. Let's stop with the "give them one more chance to crack down on Hamas."