Daniel Pipes has a fascinating piece in the New York Sun today, about Palestinians punished by being denied the opportunity to live in Israel, the object of their hatred. When the political becomes personal, they choose Israel over the Palestinian entity.

Israel's interior minister recently declared that after their release from long jail sentences, four Palestinian Arabs convicted of helping with suicide bombings in 2002, killing 35, will be expelled from Israel. They would, the Associated Press reported, "lose the privileges of permanent residents, such as social security and health insurance."

The minister's decision raises a question: Why would Palestinians engaged in destroying the state of Israel feel punished by losing the right to live in Israel? One would expect that anti—Israel terrorists would prefer to live in the Palestinian Authority.

One would be wrong. Palestinian Arabs — even terrorists — generally prefer life in what they call the "Zionist entity." On two occasions, this pattern became especially clear: when eastern Jerusalem in 2000 and part of the Galilee Triangle in 2004 were slated for transfer to PA control. In both cases, the Palestinians involved clung to Israel.

When Prime Minister Barak's diplomacy raised the prospect, in mid—2000, of some Arab—majority parts of Jerusalem being transferred to the PA, a Palestinian Arab social worker found that "an overwhelming majority" of Jerusalem's 200,000 Arabs chose to remain under Israeli control. A member of the Palestinian National Council, Fadal Tahabub, specified that 70% preferred Israeli sovereignty. Another politician, Husam Watad, described people as "in a panic" at the prospect of finding themselves under PA rule.

Read the whole thing.

Ed Lasky   7 6 05