Netanyahu reacts badly

The government of Israel has reacted quickly and harshly to the suicide bombing in a Jerusalem vegetable market on July 30. It is understandable that the terrorist murders have enraged and shocked Israel. It is more questionable whether the specific responses of the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, are correct. In some ways, Netanyahu has added to the tragedy of the marketplace bombing by adding the tragedy of the end of hopes for a Middle East peace in our time.

Since the deaths of 13 people at the hands of the terrorists, Israel has reacted to events without seeming to give thought to other issues. Available evidence indicates the bombers were foreigners. There seems little doubt at all the terrorists hoped to help end the Middle East peace process. Yet virtually everything Netanyahu has done since the bombing has been aimed against the Palestinian authority of President Yasser Arafat, and his people.

Prime Minister Netanyahu is correct in much of what he says. But in his actions, the Israeli leader has reacted to the market bombing badly. He has, first of all, punished all Palestinians for the acts of a violent few. Not only are most Palestinians decent folks who yearn for Mideast peace as much as any Israeli, but the latest pair of terrorists did not even come from their community.

-- The Bangkok Post