Would Resolving Palestinian-Israeli Impasse Reduce Transnational Terrorism?
President Bush and President Abbas in Ramallah (Uriel Sinai/ Getty Images) Notwithstanding the most self-evident merits of resolving the Israeli/ Palestinian impasse, the last several years have provided another, and one that President Bushwho likes using terrorism and its threat to justify policy can get behind. In this reasoning: the lack of a Palestinian state causes jihadist transnational terrorism. In his weekly radio address, just before leaving for the Middle East on January 9, the president told listeners he would push Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and Palestinian President Abbas to make a deal leading to “two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side and peace and security.” Recognizing that we Americans might well shrug their shoulders and think, well, that’s nice, but what does it have to do with me? B
