Counter-Terrorism is the Correct Paradigm in Samaria

Israel’s counter-terrorism operations in Samaria have been described by UN officials as a perceived need for stopping an ostensible “cycle of violence”. US officials on their side make the case for what is described as “de-escalation”. The problem rather is the existence of Palestinian terrorism which must be preempted by Israel. If there are no preparations for terrorist attacks, then Israel will not have to preempt, it is as simple as that. Rather, the root cause is Palestinian Jihadist incitement to terrorism which permeates Palestinian society. It is the obligation of the Palestinian Authority to maintain order in Area A and disband armed groups and if they don’t perform so will Israel, make no mistake about it. Platitudes about an ostensible “cycle of violence” and of the need for purported “de-escalation” are completely irrelevant to the reality on the ground. The problem is the Palestinian Authority which cultivates a “culture of martyrdom” as a societal ideal for young people and furthermore does not maintain order. This illustrates that what Israel should do in case of a Republican president being elected in 2024, is to apply Israeli sovereignty to much of Judea and Samaria and wall in the remaining contiguous territorial island as Israel can only redeem and enfranchise the rest of Judea and Samaria once at least 10 million Median Jews have immigrated to Israel and that is still a long way off.