Terrorism Can be Beaten
By Saul Singer

(April 14) This week, the families of 13 soldiers from 
the battle of Jenin joined what is known in Israel as 
the "family of the bereaved." Also this week, opposition 
leader Yossi Sarid told the Knesset, and by extension 
the soldiers fighting and dying in the field, that the 
current war is useless, futile, and unnecessary. 

I don't care much about Sarid, but I do care about the 
parents who are being told their children have died in 
vain. 

At some level, I am consoled by the knowledge that the 
family of each fallen soldier knows full well that their 
son died in the most noble of causes: to save the life 
of others. These families can dismiss all the rest as 
politics, not something that diminishes the heroism of 
those who sacrifice their lives in the line of duty. 

Still, these families are being buffeted by claims that 
serve to diminish the meaning of their sacrifice. 
The first claim is that their sons died in a Sisyphean 
struggle against terrorism than can never be won. 

One answer to this debilitating thought is that 
although Sisyphus never managed to push his stone to 
the top of the mountain, he did keep it from rolling 
down and crushing the people below. Even if terrorism 
could not be beaten, it does not follow that it should 
not be fought. There is no doubt that by killing and 
capturing hundreds of terrorists, our soldiers saved 
civilian lives in a more direct manner than most 
soldiers in most wars. 

But the war against terrorism is not Sisyphean: it can 
be won, and the more it is fought the closer that 
victory draws. Those who claim there is no military 
solution to terror tend to err doubly: they discount 
the military contribution to diplomacy, and the 
diplomacy they seek is misguided. 

In truth, terrorism can be ended by a variety of 
military and diplomatic means whose common attribute 
is denying the terrorists what they want. Anything 
that contributes to proving the futility of terrorism 
is an important part of achieving victory, certainly 
including the crushing of the nests where terror 
spawns. 

The more difficult claim that these families must 
struggle with comes from a completely different angle: 
that their sons died on the altar of PR. As Lior Shavit 
told this newspaper at the funeral of Sgt.-Maj. (res) 
Menashe Hava on Wednesday, "I've buried four friends 
in the past few months, this has got to stop. We are 
losing so many soldiers because we are fighting house 
to house, instead of using fighter jets to destroy 
any section from which there is shooting." 

This is more difficult to contend with because it is 
true. The soldiers who died in Jenin would likely be 
alive today if Israel had corralled the terrorists 
into the smallest possible area and then destroyed 
that whole area from the air. (Most armies would not 
have even bothered with the first step, and gone 
straight to bombing.) 

One could say that Israel did not do this only because 
it would look bad, and therefore these soldiers gave 
their lives for Israel's image. But this neglects the 
deeper significance of protecting civilian lives. 
The heroism of the battle of Jenin had three parts: 
killing terrorists, defending Israeli civilians, and 
minimizing Palestinian civilian casualties. 

The Palestinians, at this moment, are attempting to 
make two contradictory claims: that in Jenin they 
fought like in Stalingrad and were massacred like 
in Sabra and Shatila. Neither is true. 

The Palestinians did fight, but not like an army that 
protects civilians - they fought from behind civilians, 
who they deliberately endangered. Not only was there 
no massacre, but Israeli soldiers effectively showed 
more concern for Palestinian civilian lives than the 
terrorists did themselves. 

Menashe Hava and his comrades did not die for Israel's 
image, but to ensure that Israel continues to be a 
place worth fighting for. The weaknesses of democracies 
are also their strength. Even if the world will not 
give Israel a smidgen of credit for it, Israel must 
continue to be true to itself. In a world in which 
no one will believe in us, it is all the more important 
for us to be able to believe in ourselves.