Terror: The female touch

From Israelinsider, take a look at distaff butchery.

Since the year 2000, 8 Palestinian women have perpetrated suicide attacks, killing 39 Israelis. The Israeli army and Security Forces have uncovered 45 acts of terror initiated by women. In the past year, over 59 women have attempted attacks against Israelis.

One of those attempts took place on Monday. Wafa Samir Ibraim Bas, a 21 year-old Palestinian woman from Jabalya, left her Gaza home with a permission pass to visit Soroka Hospital in Beersheba for a medical check-up. Attached to her clothing, her pants, was more than 22 pounds of explosives.

It was the perfect opportunity. A young woman. An entry permit into Israel for medical treatment. By her own admission and the admission of her handlers, it was assumed that Bas would only be cursorily surveyed at the Erez Crossing. It was assumed that Bas would easily reach her intended target and murder as many people -- doctors, nurses, patients, visitors -- as 22 pounds of explosives could handle. Luckily, they were wrong, they miscalculated. The intended female suicide bomber was detected. The explosive device was safely detonated by sappers. No one was injured.

Wafa Samir Ibraim Bas had a morning appointment in the Burn Unit of the hospital that had saved her life several months ago. In December of 2004 Bas was badly injured and burned by a gas balloon explosion in her home. Israeli hospitals do not practice a policy of discrimination. All patients are treated alike. Some patients send thank-you notes. This one decided to detonate a bomb.

Who, you might ask, could be behind such a heinous act?

The al Aksa Martyrs' Brigades is the terrorist organization behind this attack. Al Aksa has admitted sending Bas on this mission and choosing Soroka Hospital in Beersheba as the intended, primary target. Al Aksa, the organization affiliated with the PLO, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the ruling faction within the Palestinian Authority.

As Westerners, it seems unfathomable. The Palestinian Authority is supposed to, has pledged to, fight terror not perpetrate terror. And yet, the facts are right there in front of us. As leader, the democratically chosen leader of the Palestinian Authority, Abbas should be in control.

Abbas should be able to say to his followers, "No More Terror". And they, even the al Aksa Martyrs' Brigades, should listen. Especially they. The question before us is this: is Abbas sending out a double message, or is this pure and deliberate deceit.

Ha! "Should"? There is democracy, and then there is democracy.* And then there is whatever game the so-called Palestinian nation is playing. The window of opportunity for the development of real democracy, freedom, and peace in that part of the world may well be closed.

*RJR: there are two types of democracies, electoral ones that have democratic voting, but human rights may be constrained (E.g., Turkey), and liberal democracies in which there is a rule of law and respect for human rights. Liberal democracies do not murder their people, and few electoral democracies do. In any case, the number murdered by electoral democracies is a very small number compared to the massive blood letting by nondemocracies (110 million murdered by Marxist dictatorships alone).

(Thanks to Professor R.J. Rummel for his usual cogent clarity. See the above quote in the context of the complete post here.)