An excellent piece by Charles Krauthammer at the otherwise useless Washington Post. To get Israel to remove its settlers, end the occupation and let the Palestinians achieve dignity and independence? But Israel did exactly that in Gaza last year. It completely evacuated Gaza, dismantled all its military installations, removed its soldiers, destroyed all Israeli settlements and expelled all 7,000 Israeli settlers. Israel then declared the line that separates Israel from Gaza to be an international frontier. Gaza became the first independent Palestinian territory ever. And what have the Palestinians done with this independence, this judenrein territory under the Palestinians' control? They have used their freedom to launch rockets at civilians in nearby Israeli towns. Why? Because the Palestinians prefer victimhood to statehood. They have demonstrated that for 60 years, beginning with their rejection of the United Nations decision to establish a Palestinian state in 1947 because it would have also created a small Jewish state next door. They declared war instead. Read the whole thing. The Israelis have offered so much and received so little only to be villifed by the U.N. and world community. Before I truly discovered what terror represented, and the attacks of 09/11/01 opened my eyes to do research on this painful, drawn out conflict I was about 51% supportive of the Palestinian cause. Now I understand the truth. Hat Tip: Ohio Conservative