Alan Perlman, a resident of the community of Carmel in the Hebron Hills region, is a technical writer. Perlman has a master's degree in social work. He can be reached at ahperlman@yahoo.com.
More from Alan Perlman
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	The nature of the beast
	Hijacking at Durban
	New, improved Oslo snake oil
	Mideast theater of the absurd
	Arafat's battered wives

It is a fundamental tenet (and Tenet) of the Mitchell report, which equates a settlement freeze with confidence building.

Unfortunately, there seems to be an implicit assumption that Palestinian confidence needs building while Israeli confidence is assured. Yet nothing could be further from the truth, and the time to consider "Whose confidence needs building?" is long overdue.

There is, in fact, no reason to undertake measures to build Palestinian confidence, and the cynical use of "confidence building" by Palestinians so as to secure further concessions in return for nothing is transparent to most everyone (Tenet, Mitchell and company, and Peres and company, excepted.)

Since Oslo, Israel has placed over 95% of the Palestinian population under Palestinian control, given them enormous areas of autonomy, allowed them a standing army (aka police force), and during negotiations offered them an enormously generous settlement. In doing so, Israel has consistently implemented Oslo in good faith, and the Palestinians have no reason to lack confidence in Israeli intentions.

Shattered Israeli confidence in the Palestinians, on the other hand, is in desperate need of rebuilding.

A basic premise of Oslo, and the foundation of all Palestinian obligations, is recognition of Israel's right to exist coupled with a complete renunciation of violence on their part and a decision to resolve all differences by negotiation.

Yet, even since Oslo, the Palestinians have consistently used murder and violence as the preferred means to achieve their ends. Glorification of murder and martyrdom, even amongst their children, is clearly an integral part of their national psyche. Not surprisingly, Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden are the biggest heroes of the Palestinians.

Even the Israeli Left, notorious for being shameless Arafat groupies, no longer has confidence in Palestinian promises or intentions.

So forget rebuilding confidence by freezing settlements. Instead, let's rebuild confidence by stopping the murder of Israelis, the anti-Jewish rhetoric and glorification of martyrdom in the Palestinian media and schools, the re-arrest of the Palestinian murderers, and the collection of illegal Palestinian weapons. Perhaps then progress can be made.

And if progress cannot be made because Palestinian intentions are anything but peaceful, then it is time to drop the charade. Let's eliminate the term "confidence building" from the Middle East political landscape, and allow Israel to deal effectively with those who would destroy her.

The call to rebuild Palestinian confidence is merely a confidence game, which Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary defines as "any swindling operation in which advantage is taken of the confidence reposed by the victim in the swindler."

Views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.

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