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Last update - 10:41 09/03/2008
Blood, religion, and negotiations
By Haaretz Editorial
Tags: Israel

The murderous attack at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem raised anew the questions inherent in striving for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. From an Israeli viewpoint, the victims of the massacre are akin to any other eight fatalities, most of them secular, in a lethal terror campaign. All were young lives cut short maliciously, whether on a bus or a busy street, in a restaurant or a yeshiva. But in the eyes of the murderer and his dispatchers, evidently, there is an added religious aspect, like that which accompanied Baruch Goldstein's horrific crime at the Tomb of the Patriarchs 14 years ago.

The national movements fighting over the same piece of the Land of Israel have been engaged in a harsh and violent conflict for decades. No side will be able to achieve total victory in this conflict. Israel's military might will foil any effort to destroy it, and the world will not let Israel expel the Palestinians - even if it comes to be ruled by a regime devoid of legal and moral restraints. The conflict can end only in compromise, in dividing the land and arrangements for cooperation and coexistence. That is where the political activity of the past 20 years has been headed, from the Madrid Conference through Oslo to Annapolis and beyond.

Since at issue is the Holy Land, the focus of yearning in the three monotheistic faiths, it is hard to separate the national from the religious in this conflict; the state of the Jews also blurs the difference between religion and nationality on its identity cards. Nevertheless, it is clear that should the religious aspect reign supreme, it would undermine the possibility of reaching a compromise between two political entities. A believer is not entitled to forfeit absolute religious principles. Unless zealous Muslims explicitly renounce their desire to turn all of the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River into a theocracy according to their faith, there will be no peace.
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Based on what the family members of the murderer said, it appears he became worked up over the images of the Palestinians killed in Gaza, totaling some 120, during the week before the massacre. Those deaths were caused during Israeli military operations against the organizations that launch Qassam and Katyusha rockets at Sderot and Ashkelon. The political activity is aimed at breaking this cycle; the terror attack at Mercaz Harav threatens to strike a fatal blow to attempts to reach an agreement.

From the start, the Annapolis process came across as overly ambitious and sterile - a drive to reach an agreement within a year, only to shelve it for when the need arises. Its success depends on several conditions coalescing: a formula acceptable to the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority leadership, Mahmoud Abbas confronting Hamas and the rest of the rejectionist organizations, and public opinion on both sides mobilizing in support of the agreement and against its enemies. The terror attack in Jerusalem and the rejoicing it prompted among the Palestinian public threaten the chance of attaining these conditions. On top of this is Abbas' helplessness, a loss of support for the Kadima-Labor government, and the growing strength of the radical right in Israel, which opposes a compromise on Jerusalem.

This is the final chance for a combined political and military effort, for peace and against its enemies. Without such action now, the power of the moderate nationalists will wane, the religious zealots will grow stronger, and the conflict will become eternal.
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  1.   And if it were the Haifa Gymnasium? 11:18  |  Ilan 09/03/08
  2.   Haaretz` Lingo 11:18  |  Amazed! 09/03/08
  3.   Don`t fire until you see whites of their eyes 11:27  |  MARK KLEIN, M.D. 09/03/08
  4.   when will you learn that 1. "peace"=surrender to terror 2. U FOOL 11:28  |  Pavel 09/03/08
  5.   ablosutely right...but 11:31  |  ravi 09/03/08
  6.   The spirit of Peace. 11:36  |  Jean Van Daem 09/03/08
  7.   The failure of the Oslo agreement. 11:43  |  Jean Van Daem 09/03/08
  8.   peace through strenght 11:47  |  Patrick Warner 09/03/08
  9.   Key to Peace is to take Crims out of Politics. 13:16  |  Michael J 09/03/08
  10.   Oslo accords =Land for bloodshed 13:36  |  Dr Eric 09/03/08
  11.   Disaster in Middle East is caused by Israeli left!!! 13:38  |  Dr Eric 09/03/08
  12.   Careful what you ask for, Mark Klein # 3 13:51  |  Clickfool 09/03/08
  13.   Land for peace - doomed for Failure!! 13:59  |  Dr Eric 09/03/08
  14.   Land for Blood shed!! 14:03  |  Dr eric 09/03/08
  15.   ISRAELI LEFT IS LEADING ISRAEL INTO A DEAD END!!!!! 14:05  |  Dr Eric 09/03/08
  16.   No Peace 14:20  |  George Kaplan 09/03/08
  17.   BACK THEN AND NOW 14:33  |  indrajaya 09/03/08
  18.   Haaretz...you should be writing this gunk for the official Arab 15:09  |  spade 09/03/08
  19.   Haaretz editors...I`m sure that if all the Jews in the "west bank 15:13  |  spade 09/03/08
  20.   Ravi 15:19  |  Avrum 09/03/08
  21.   ENTIRE CONFLICT EXPLAINED IN LESS THAN 20 LINES 15:27  |  G. Marcus 09/03/08
  22.   Peace now-LEAVE NOW 15:30  |  Raed Kami 09/03/08
  23.   ONLY SOLUTION: GAZA UNDER EGYPT; PARTS OF W.BANK LINKED TO JORDAN 15:40  |  G. Marcus 09/03/08
  24.   when will you understand that terror comes from israel opression 15:42  |  Lo 09/03/08
  25.   Good article with one exception 15:51  |  Natallie Durson 09/03/08
  26.   Morons For Zion 15:53  |  B 09/03/08
  27.   israel is the regime devoid of legal&moral restraints! 15:59  |  lakshmi 09/03/08
  28.   #10 lo and behold amajor cretin 16:03  |  v hardman 09/03/08
  29.   Buying into the World Press 16:19  |  Jose 09/03/08
  30.   We already are in an eternal conflict... 16:44  |  Edith 09/03/08
  31.   The eight young people. 17:10  |  sandra chitayat 09/03/08
  32.   Conflict is eternal 17:21  |  _____ 09/03/08
  33.   How delusional are you? 19:03  |  Marilyn 09/03/08
  34.   Actually they were right winger boy soldiers 19:07  |  Marilyn 09/03/08
  35.   #23 --G. Marcus is going in the right direction 19:15  |  US CITIZEN 09/03/08
  36.   Human nature 19:17  |  George W. Bush 09/03/08
  37.   Clickfool, Lakshmi et al 19:25  |  Dr. Dizzle 09/03/08
  38.   Other forces are needed to defeat terror. 19:35  |  a wandering Jew 09/03/08
  39.   Re Natallie #25 19:37  |  Esther 09/03/08
  40.   no 20 ... avrun 19:38  |  ravi 09/03/08
  41.   Do you mean " the bits Israel doesn`t want", G.Marcus? # 23 19:56  |  Clickfool 09/03/08
  42.   For Sandra Chitayat # 31 20:03  |  Clickfool 09/03/08
  43.   Haaretz is anti-Jewish 20:09  |  I.M.Knotfooled 09/03/08
  44.   Dr Dizzle sings.... 20:09  |  Clickfool 09/03/08
  45.   Evil... 20:26  |  christa 09/03/08
  46.   #41 --Clickfoolery--your negative tactics are tranparent 20:27  |  US CITIZEN 09/03/08
  47.   Peace is not possible with those who want every Jew dead 21:02  |  Mark Hamil 09/03/08
  48.   Ilan # 1, is right on target, congrats ! 21:22  |  Fortuna Benmayor 09/03/08
  49.   Blood, Religion and Negotiations 21:23  |  Leo Rosenfeld 09/03/08
  50.   I wonder who wrote this error-filled editorial 21:54  |  Tosefta 09/03/08
  51.   NO PEACE UNTIL THE JEWISH MESSIAH ?? 22:49  |  Bill 09/03/08
  52.   Olmert`s friend 22:58  |  Chris 09/03/08
  53.   Bill # 50 The Lubavitcher Rebbe was the only voice that dared 23:09  |  Benjamin 09/03/08
  54.   Peace now ? Don`t make me laugh ! 23:17  |  Akram Zekaria 09/03/08
  55.   Peace is against the interest of Israel and the Jews 23:46  |  El-Birawi 09/03/08
  56.   wow Clickfool (#44) that was entertaining 00:54  |  Dr. Dizzle 10/03/08
  57.   Marilyn 01:02  |  Dr. Dizzle 10/03/08
  58.   #49 Tosefta, it`s understandable people are discouraged and 01:06  |  Smadar 10/03/08
  59.   The Editors of Haaretz should read their own paper 01:21  |  Mark Lincoln 10/03/08
  60.   iam so sorry for the grieveing parents 02:12  |  The other marilyn 10/03/08
  61.   You Cannot Negociate With Those Who Want You Dead! 02:19  |  Gilbert 10/03/08
  62.   Peace? 02:39  |  JLEE 10/03/08
  63.   Disappointment (Smadar #52; Mark Lincoln #53) 03:23  |  Tosefta 10/03/08
  64.   Dr.Dizzel the Weasel 03:29  |  pal 10/03/08
  65.   The price of stalemate is horror 03:35  |  Roger Clemens 10/03/08
  66.   OLMERT IS A DEFEATIST WHO WILL ALWAYS CAVE IN TO ARAB TERROR 05:34  |  ROB SCHWARTZ 10/03/08
  67.   Accelerate the Piece Process with more Jewish Settlement 05:37  |  Steve 10/03/08
  68.   Blood, religion, and negotiations 05:57  |  Avrum 10/03/08
  69.   Haaretz answers its own question! 06:01  |  Wallace 10/03/08
  70.   Clickfool, Natallie, Indrajaya, Lakshmi - Read the Quran - The h 06:17  |  Eli 10/03/08
  71.   Only time can tell 07:02  |  Concerned American 10/03/08
  72.   Eternal conflict would mean that Israel eternally exists 07:04  |