Friday's bloody rampage in the West Bank city of Hebron is the latest, but far from last, episode in the long and violent struggle between Israelis and Palestinians. The recent atrocities were perpetrated by a fanatic Jewish fundamentalist and it can be predicted with unpleasant certainty that his actions will be reciprocated in kind by fanatic Muslim fundamentalists. What can the rest of us, Arabs and Israelis who are not dedicated to mutual destruction, do about this blood bath we are caught in?
We must stop allowing a few dedicated fanatics to dictate the policies of the rest of the populous. The members of Kahane Chai (a radical religious Jewish nationalist group) and the members of the Hamas, their Muslim counterparts, are successfully derailing the delicate and fragile peace process. The members of these groups do not want to see peace emerge in the Middle East; they prefer bloodshed. In the name of religion and ideology they are eager to rain death and destruction upon each other. They believe their existence is mutually exclusive and do not even regard each other as human beings.
As a human being, I am shocked and I grieve at the spectacle of Friday's mass murder. As an Israeli, I am incensed that I carry a responsibility by association with the actions of such a brutal murderer. Unfortunately, the actions of men such as Benjamin Goldstein implicate me and my fellow Israelis as well. The Israeli public must not let the will of a few fanatics destroy the efforts of its government to achieve reconciliation between Israel and its neighbors.
I have served in the West Bank guarding settlements that neither I nor my fellow soldiers believed should be there. I have seen friends and family grieving over the loss of loved ones who were victims of random violence. Violence that engenders more violence, and more violence in retaliation, an unending cycle. This must end.
It is my belief that in Israel and the West Bank, only separate will mean equal. Israel must withdraw from the occupied territories and enable (and even assist) a Palestinian state to come into being. Only as equals, in status if not in strength, can both Israelis and Palestinians hope to disengage from the deadly and persistent struggle that has been accompanying them for the past century.
This will mean the uprooting of the religious settlers from places such as Hebron and Beit-El where their very presence as a militant minority in the midst of a dense Arab population only serves to aggravate and assure conflict.
The Likud government has accommodated these religious settlers in the past as a matter of policy. Fortunately those days are over. The present Labor-led government of Israel should bring the past policies to a swift end. Yesterday's events should serve as a catalyst for the government's removal of these Jews from areas in which their presence is a threat to the security of Israelis and Arabs.
Such actions will not be easy to implement. Armed with a spirituality that exonerates their bloody actions, as well as automatic weapons, these settlers will not hesitate to turn their guns onto less familiar targets - Israeli soldiers. Luckily they are few in number and represent a minority among the more than 100,000 Jews who are living in the West Bank mostly for economic reasons.
It is important to make this distinction clear. The fate of the majority of these settlers should not be determined by the conduct of their extremist neighbors. Any attempts to create peace must take their well-being into consideration, and enable them to remain, if they wish, in the West Bank under Palestinian rule.
Just as Israel must strive to curb the actions of its zealots, so must the Palestinians do all that is within their power to limit the negative impact of the actions of its own fanatics. I realize that in the wake of so many deaths it is difficult not to let grief and anger dictate the tone of action.
Let us try to walk away from Friday's massacre with a renewed commitment to the creation of peace, with even greater urgency. We cannot allow the actions of a few ruin it for the rest of us. The carnage in Hebron should fortify our determination to bring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a speedy resolution, before we descend irrevocably into bloody chaos.
