We all read the nonsense about the Israeli policy of directed assassination of terrorist leaders: It will just cause more terrorism. But the opposite has happened. The combination of aggressive attacks against terrorist leaders, their followers, and the construction of a reasonably secure border barrier has cut attacks in Israel way down. That does not mean that the attacks will stop altogether. However, the great reduction in attacks has permitted tourism to return to Israel. The disengagement (unilateral pull-out without a treaty) will further improve the situation. The Israeli occupation of Palestine will end. The Palestinians will not have that to complain about any longer. But the barrier will permanently end any jobs that Palestinians had in Israel.

Once the West Bank and Gaza were prosperous. I saw it myself in person. Then came the first intifada. Tourism ceased completely. Then came the occupation of Kuwait by Iraq. Only ONE major Arab leader supported Iraq: Yassir Arafat. The result was that, when Iraq was booted out of Kuwait, the Palestinians were booted out of Kuwait. There were some 100,000 Palestinians working in Kuwait before the war. Afterwards, there were zero.

The combined loss of jobs in Kuwait, Israel, and tourism in the West Bank and Gaza has resulted in a reduction of the income of the Palestinians of some 80%. That is certainly an improvement, right? Keep on trucking, Yassir. Soon the Palestinian economy will collapse to zero. That will be a great achievement. With Yassir Arafat for a leader, the Palestinians don't need any (other) enemies.