Why the Rush to Reward Terrorism?

Commentary

Some U.S. politicians and the leaders of a few European countries pushing to recognize a Palestinian state reflect a 50-year pattern of rewarding terrorism.

The first time came in the 1970s, when the United States and other countries rewarded Yasser Arafat and the terrorism of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) with recognition as the official representatives of the Palestinian people. Well-intentioned Western political leaders promised that the PLO’s new status would offer a pathway to peace and political settlement in the Middle East.

Palestinian terrorism, in the form of airline hijackings, continued while Arafat was feted around the world as the man who would deliver peace. He never delivered, and the terrorism continued while sympathetic and “tolerant” political leaders made excuses for Arafat’s failure to keep his promises.

Throughout his rule over the PLO and Palestinian Authority (PA), Arafat and his family treated the millions of dollars in Western and Arab world aid as a personal bank account. Although he did remove Israel’s destruction from the PA’s core doctrine and constitution in 1993, Arafat and his cronies took corruption to levels far above what is considered excessive by today’s standards.

The Palestinian people remained bereft of public services and dependent on foreign organizations for their education and health care. The PA continues to reach Arafat levels of corruption to this day, all the while blaming Israel and the West for the Palestinian people’s poor quality of life.

The same cycle repeated itself in Gaza. Then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pulled out all Israeli settlers and forces in 2005. That withdrawal gave the Palestinians a perfect opportunity to demonstrate what they could achieve in the absence of Israeli forces. Gaza’s residents elected Hamas to rule the territory, throwing out the corrupt Fatah forces and PA officials.

Millions of dollars flowed into the territory as Western donors, the United Nations, and others invested in improving public services and the population’s quality of life. Instead, Hamas and its ideological ally, Islamic Jihad, stole aid and diverted funds to building missiles to strike Israel and tunnels to hide their armories and enable them to move operatives hidden from sensors overhead. They hid their weapons and military headquarters under schools and hospitals, respectively. Meanwhile, public services such as water and sewer lines went without repair or refurbishment.

From there, the terrorist pattern of attacks, kidnappings, and using innocents as human shields followed. Israel retaliated against those attacks, and each time, well-intentioned Westerners saved Hamas by pressuring Jerusalem into accepting a cease-fire. Hamas used the breaks to rebuild its forces, reconstitute its armories, and plan for the next series of attacks, each stronger than the last. Then, on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched its greatest strike of all, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages from the Jewish state.

Suffering such an outrage drove Israel to remove Hamas as a threat once and for all. The resulting war has inflicted a level of destruction not seen since World War II. The images have been horrific, but that is war—one started by Hamas and accentuated by the terrorist group’s use of its own people as human shields. It has also seized food aid. The Palestinian people are starving, but Hamas fighters, when they deign to appear, look energetic and well fed.

That should raise doubts among those urging recognition of a Palestinian state while Hamas remains a viable threat. Have today’s well-intentioned statehood advocates forgotten the history described above, or are they just ignoring it to remove the political impact of Hamas propaganda?

The pattern of rewarding terrorist movements has never ended their terrorism. It has always continued, even expanded, because the groups’ leaders used the rewards to inspire further action. Rewarding terrorism, like appeasing aggression, doesn’t discourage those acts; it encourages them. Perhaps the world should await Hamas’s destruction before progressing toward Palestinian statehood.

Statehood should remain off the table until Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been removed as threats. Otherwise, their leaders will declare victory, retain their commitment to Israel’s destruction, and prepare for their next outrage.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.