Beth Kennedy lives with her family on a farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. She is a substitute teacher, who plans to study law.
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	Dear "typical" supporters of Israel Baher Alashhab
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	Dear Palestinians Dee Ryburn
	What Palestinians expect from Americans like Beth Kennedy Marc Andrien
	Occupation must end before peace can breathe Ross Vachon

Perhaps, once, I tended to be sympathetic to your cause... but no longer. My opinion of the Palestinian Authority is at an all-time low, and you need to know that.

Every time you allow an attack to be launched into an Israeli community, it is as if it were coming straight into my home, or any other American's.

Do you honestly think that my country could support the establishment of a Palestinian state when, under the present terms, you continuously murder Israelis? What further horrors would await us all once you have fully acquired your own autonomy? I seem to remember people dancing when they learned our towers fell...

Israel is a sovereign state; you are not. Israel has a right to defend herself. No state can permit the slaughter of its citizens. When you repeatedly attack her, Israel must respond. When she does respond, you rail against what you term "Israeli aggression" and unleash more terror, not stopping to consider your own obligations.

Yes, you do have obligations. You have the obligation to abide by the various agreements you have entered into with her. Doesn't the Oslo Accord require that you refrain from the use of terror and discontinue violence? Now, how does your "Intifada" fit into this commitment? Aren't you supposed to "prohibit all forms of incitement to violence or terror?" Then, why does Al-Hayat Al-Jadida publish death notices commemorating heroic martyrs? When the names of cold-blooded murderers are sung out in praise from minarets, how does this fulfill your commitment to not incite?

Doesn't the Interim Agreement require you to have regular elections for government officials, including that of Party Chairman? When did Yasser Arafat's term expire, and how does his illegitimacy in that office help you keep this commitment? Furthermore, how do you explain the lack of peace demonstrations in areas you control? Are potential demonstrators too afraid to speak up because they fear what could happen? What did happen not too long ago at the end of a trial in the West Bank?

So, you might as well be firing Kassam rockets into your own hopes and dreams. As a people, you do not deserve your own state because, as a people, you refuse to abide by legal standards of behavior as addressed by international law, and by treaties that Mr. Arafat has signed.

I call upon decent Palestinians, who aren't afraid to recognize this truth and aren't afraid to make a difference, to correct the outrageous anarchy within your own community. You need leadership that actually leads. How much longer will you permit terrorists to destroy your people?

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

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