February 10, 2005
If peace is to breakout in the Middle East, attitudes must change.
So must theology, including the belief that Allah demands that Jews vacate Israel and/or die.
In the midst of the carefully staged pictures is a stark reality.
Palestinian authority preachers continue to deliver sermons calling for Israel 's destruction.
And the so-called "cease-fire" is conditioned on a long list of Palestinian demands, many of which Israel cannot possibly meet for its own security.
Palestinians promise nothing.
This is a familiar pattern.
Violence leads to concessions by Israel and more money from the west.
When the maximum benefits are extracted, the violence resumes.
You don't have to be a prophet to understand that Israel 's enemies want all of the land and none of Israel.
As Margaret Thatcher once said, "we in the west make a mistake when we transpose our morality on those who don't share it."
How right she was, especially in the Middle East.
I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C. Watch his television show, After Hours with Cal Thomas, on the Fox News Channel, Saturdays at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
