Why Negotiation Won't Work

Pravda has an interesting interview with a wannabe terrorist who was caught trying to get entrance into Jerusalem for the purpose of killing Jews. One of the oddities about this particular terrorist is that she is female. But it wasn't the revelation of the "reward" that female martyrs supposedly get (they become a mermaid), rather it was some of the other admissions that caught my eye:

"I am sorry I could not conduct the act of terrorism", she says. (emphasis mine)....

"I was dreaming of making myself a sacrifice for Palestine. Our only weapon - people like myself. Take on a belt with explosives and blow oneself up". .....

What were you thinking when you were going to take the belt filled with explosives?

I was going in a taxi from Jenin to Skhem and trying to imagine what this would be look like. I was not scared - those willing to explode themselves have no fear. I was thinking how many people would die. I was trying to figure out what would happen if I succeeded and what - if I failed. I was calculating how many Jews I should kill to consider this a success and justify my death.

And how many?

As many as possible. When I was in a taxi, I closed my eyes and was dreaming of killing more than one hundred Jews. Two hundreds would be even better. I was thinking only about this. To sacrifice myself to make hundreds of Jews dead.

I have spent part of the last few days reading through Victor Davis Hanson's Ripples of Battle [Buy From Amazon] (which I finally got a copy of) and the first battle he analyzed was Okinawa - a battle famous for its suicide attacks.

In that chapter, he pointed out the abject futility of the kamikaze efforts. He illustrated the complete useless waste of human life. He also pointed out that after a point, suicide attacks only serve to unleash the awesome destructive fury of a mobilized and ingenious West. He pointed out that this not only happened at Okinawa, but again on 9/11. I've got to believe that the Palestinians are fast approaching that point with the Israelis.

Until this attitude of the Palestinians changes, this "I want to kill as many Jews as possible," there can be no hope for a negotiated peace. What's even worse is that the Palestinians don't even seem to be trying to hide behind a veil of quasi-legitimacy anymore - they are freely and willingly admitting that they are attempting to commit terrorism.

Here's betting the Israelis go full bore at the Palestinians, long before the Palestinians accept the right to existence of the Israelis.