President Carter's Meeting with Hamas Leader Mishal

I don't know for sure why former U.S. President Carter is such a nuisance when it comes to the Middle East. I can't read the man's mind. But I suspect there are two reasons: 1) he continually seeks to be relevant in retirement and 2) he views the Palestinians as the underdogs and will do anything he can to make life harder for Israel and U.S.-Israel relations. I'm not ready to condemn that man as an anti-semite, though his increasingly venomous hostility toward Israel -- most recently, calling it an Aparteid state -- suggests he just may be.

Anyways, this week, Carter plans to meet with the leader of Hamas, Khaled Mishal, in Damascus, Syria. The Syrians allow Mish'al, and many other Hamas leaders, to live there and conduct their business freely. From Damascus, they plan Hamas strategy, coordinate Hamas training in Lebanon and Iran, and from time to time, approval specific terrorist attacks.

Carter gave an interview about his planned meeting to ABC News, which is scheduled to air on the network's Sunday morning news program. Carter reportedly will say that his meeting is OK because, some day, Israel itself will have to sit down with the group to negotiate peace. That's nonsense. There's no reason to legitimize Hamas and give it a say in peace negotiations. The right policy is to isolate Hamas and pursue its destruction. If the world sticks to that policy, it will happen.

Carter also reported says that he'll "try to induce [Hamas] to stop all attacks against innocent civilians in Israel." What about the group's attacks beyond the Green Line -- in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem? Carter views them as permissible likely because he views these areas as illegally occupied. However, they are disputed areas, according to UN resolutions, subject to negotiation. Carter is prejudging their status by blessing terrorist attacks on Israelis there. And what about that Hamas bombing a few years back in a cafeteria at Hebrew University in "East" Jerusalem that claimed Americans as casualties? Carter certainly wouldn't approve of such an attack, would he? Well, he just did.

Carter says he's "been meeting with Hamas leaders for years." And what good has it done? The group isn't any more flexible in its positions, amenable to unity with Fatah, or ready to agree to a ceasefire.

Carter's meetings serve only two purposes: 1) to bolster his own sense of worth and utility, and 2) to lend political legitimacy to a terrorist group. The world should reject his interference as counterproductive.

Terrorists: Security Fence Works

The leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose group has been responsible for numerous suicide-bomb attacks inside Israel, recently admitted that the so-called security fence Israel has constructed along the Green Line border with the West Bank has complicated his group's efforts to successfully launch more bombings, according to an unclassified Israeli intelligence report citing media accounts.

"There is the separation fence which is an obstacle to the resistance [i.e., the terrorist organizations], and if it were not there, the situation would be entirely different," said PIJ leader Ramadan Shallah.

Apparently, senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzuk agrees. He reportedly told Egyptian intellectuals and politicans: “[carrying out] such [suicide] attacks is made difficult by the security fence and the gates surrounding West Bank residents." Marzuk's comment suggests that not only the fence, but the IDF presence and their activities in the West Bank also help deter suicide attacks.

Vote McCain Because Arabs Fear Him

The continued existence of non-democratic Arab regimes encourages radicalism and terror and perpetuates the depravation of many of the Arab people, who derserve the political and economic freedoms enjoyed by much of the rest of the world. Now, leaders of those Arab regimes are coming out against John McCain's candidacy for President of the United States because he has expressed support for Israel, concern about Iran's nuclear program, and generally supports continued US political and military involvement in helping transform the Middle East. Because of Arab leaders' opposition, our choice for President this November is easier. Vote McCain! It's simple -- if he is the candidate Arab leaders want the least, then he is the candidate we need the most, to fight radicalism and promote Arab reform.

Egypt Should Arrest, not Entertain, Palestinian Terrorists

The New York Times reported on Friday that Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman hosted a delegation of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members for discussions on reaching a cease-fire with Israel in Gaza. Instead of welcoming the Palestinian terrorists with open arms and hot coffee, the Egyptian official -- whose country signed a "peace" treaty with Israel and is bound by United Nations resolutions to fight terrorism -- should have summoned his security men and arrested and jailed his guests for transfer to Israeli or US authorities. The US and Israel should demand that Egypt stop providing the political cover these terrorist groups need to survive. The solution to terrorism is not to strike a deal with these groups but, rather, to dismantle them and starve them of legitimacy.

Israeli Official: Expel Palestinian Arabs Who Support Terror

On Friday, Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter did the right thing. He said a legal and legitimate way should be found to expel Palestinian Arabs from East Jerusalem who aid and abet terrorism. A day earlier, one such Palestinian shot dead eight young Israeli boys, and wounded as many as 10 more, at a Jewish seminary, or yeshiva, in Jerusalem. Read more here.

Palestinian Terrorists Use Civilians as Shields

A new report from the public information branch of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) describes several recent instances when Palestinian terrorists in Gaza used civilians as shields to prevent IDF retaliatory attacks. In at least one case, terrorists had a child fetch and return the weapon of a terrorist shot by the IDF. On several occasions, Hamas and Popular Resistance Committees terrorists fired rockets toward Israel from within heavity populated areas and used mosque at weapons depots and as cover during IDF raids.

This information should serve as a reminder of the nature of the enemy Israel faces and of the challenges Israel faces in fighting its enemy while sparing civilians.

Terror Groups in Damascus Have No Fear

Palestinian terrorists in Damascus used to meet in secret, so as not to embarrass their Syrian hosts. Today, they held a much-publicized "conference," attended also by Syrian officials, in which calls were made to step up violence against not only Israel but Americans.

Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mish'al reportedly said, "I call for the pursuit of popular anger against the Zionists and the Americans until the blockade is lifted." Mish'al was referring to Israel's closure of its borders with Gaza after an increase in rocket attacks against southern Israel.

The fact that Syria not only allowed the conference but also attended is a reminder of how far Damascus must come before any lasting peace with Israel is achieved, and how fruitless and premature would be any Israeli concessions, or talk of concessions. Also, the explicit threat not only to Israel but to the United States must not go unchallenged. The United States should call for the UN Security Council to rebuke Syria for allowing organizations it shelters to call for violence against Americans. If the Syrian government continues to allow such gatherings, then the United States and Israel should use their intelligence-gathering capabilities to identify, track, and capture or kill terrorists who attend such meetings.