The Jewish State is facing another round of Rice diplomacy despite clear evidence that negotiations under these circumstances are simply not relevant - at least for Israel.


US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to return to Israel sometime next week for another round of shuttle diplomacy between Jerusalem and Ramallah, according to a senior Palestinian Authority official.

The PA has appealed to Rice to pressure Israel into ignoring the stepped-up Kassam rocket and mortar attacks.



The PA has appealed to Rice to pressure Israel into ignoring the stepped-up Kassam rocket and mortar attacks on the western Negev, claiming an intensified IDF response would be counter-productive to negotiations on a final settlement.


The thinking goes like this: Any major IDF offensive in Gaza would put the Hamas terrorist organization in the driver’s seat vis-à-vis its image on the PA street.


Hamas has not relinquished its stranglehold on the Gaza region since taking it by force in June 2007, but PA residents blame Israel for measures they say victimize the innocent civilians -- including shutdowns of the crossings into the area and, most recently, a 1% reduction in electricity flow to the area.


IDF air strikes on terrorists who launch increasingly accurate Kassam rocket and mortar attacks on western Negev communities are, of necessity, often carried out in residential areas. Terrorists tend to hide among the civilian population and launch the rockets from sites between buildings. Sometimes, the fighter pilots miss the mark and there are civilian injuries as a result.


A military takeover of Gaza, say PA officials, would simply result in Hamas being perceived as a victim of Israeli aggression and would inspire the Average PA Joe to stand together and be “defended” by the group. Increased popularity of the terrorist organization would eventually result in its takeover of Judea and Samaria, as well, fear PA government officials. Since Hamas has never reneged on its charter oath to destroy Israel, any chance for a “peace” settlement would be out the window.


Our last helping of Rice in this region resulted in a joint statement between Israel and the PA in which Israel agreed to major concessions, as usual, and the PA produced some words, but no action, in return. The statement of understanding was forced through by American officials just before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas took the stage at the Annapolis summit with US President George W. Bush. Within minutes, the declaration was witnessed by dozens of Arab officials who refused to shake hands or speak with Israeli leaders and who, in some cases, refused to even use the same doorway.


The great diplomatic success was achieved at Israel’s expense.


In the past 12 months, Israel has released hundreds of incarcerated terrorists who are determined to murder Jewish civilians. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has also ordered the destruction of budding Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and recently rammed through a measure requiring residents in those areas to obtain his personal signature on construction permits. Residents are now forced to beg for his personal permission to build something as simple as a balcony or patio in homes that have existed for 25 years or more.

Residents are now forced to beg for his personal permission to build something as simple as a balcony.



Perhaps he hopes to curry favor with Rice and maybe win peace in return. If so, it is a fantasy.


While all this is happening, billions of dollars, thousands of brand-new weapons and military training from the US have gone to help the PA government led by Fatah terror leader Mahmoud Abbas hang on to its control over Arab areas of Judea and Samaria. The IDF is still needed to help the PA government maintain control in those areas, however. Without that backup, PA “security forces” can do nothing -- or more likely, choose to do nothing -- to prevent terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians.


In some cases, the PA “security forces” have themselves attacked and murdered Israeli citizens.


Last month, a terrorist cell that included at least two PA “police officers” murdered two young off-duty IDF soldiers who were hiking with a third friend near Hevron. The young woman escaped and called for help while her two friends held off the attackers. In the heavy exchange of gunfire, they managed to kill one terrorist and critically injured a second, despite their own mortal wounds. The second terrorist died a short while later. His two companions took refuge at the PA police station in Hevron.


A similar attack was carried out by PA “security officers” in November, just before the Annapolis summit, in a planned drive-by attack in Samaria that resulted in the murder of a 29-year-old husband and father of two small children. The family had been expelled from their home in the town of Homesh by the Israeli government in another attempt to appease terrorists. Homesh was among 25 vibrant towns destroyed in the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria.


Hamas terrorists from the Hevron area, in Judea, were responsible for the deadly suicide bombing in the Negev city of Dimona last week. Gaza residents, including children and teens of the Average PA Joe, handed out sweets and flowers to passersby, under the watchful eye of international media cameras, to celebrate the event in which a 73-year-old grandmother was killed and dozens wounded.

The Average PA Joe in the street will embrace the Hamas terrorists in any case.



It seems to me that Israeli measures to defend its citizens, or concessions that further endanger them, will not change the facts on the ground. The Average PA Joe in the street will embrace the Hamas terrorists in any case - either because he believes in their cause or out of terror they will kill his family if he doesn’t. In either case, Israel loses if it does not take control of the situation.


International diplomacy rarely concerns itself with the safety of Israeli citizens; the best we can hope for is more helpings of Rice, a faint aid at this point given the Bush administration’s race to chalk up a Middle East success before the president ends his term.


Regardless of the possibility that some foreign aid might be lost in the process, it is essential that Israel restores its own Average Israeli Joe’s safety from PA terrorism, be it from Gaza or the PA government.


Another helping of Rice may be one helping too many.