Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed "credit" for these acts in a demented announcement that stated the attacks were directed against "enemies of the faith, the Jews and crusaders." The "enemies of the faith" that they killed included four Palestinian officials and many Jordanians attending a wedding reception. Al-Qaeda and all others like them are enemies of all faiths and all decent people.

Attacks such as these make a mockery of Richard Pape's fantasies that suicide attacks are related to occupation and oppression. Jordan doesn't occupy any country. Jordan has no soldiers in Iraq. Jordan's only crime is that it opposes Al-Qaeda and other terror groups.

It should have been clear long ago that terror attacks are not about liberating anyone. Nobody who is really seeking justice kills innocent people. It should also be clear to everyone that nobody is immune from these madmen. Jordan joins a long and eclectic list of countries around the world that have been targeted by Al-Qaeda or by other groups. Spain, Indonesia, the United States, Britain, Turkey, India, Israel and Saudi Arabia are among the victims. Surely not all of those countries, or all the victims, were Jews or crusaders!

Have no illusions. Your country could be next. Something that your government does will provide an excuse for some power hungry lunatic to blow up your family in a hotel or a supermarket or a train or a shopping center. If you have not unequivocally condemned acts of terror and terror groups, whom can you blame?

Putting the terrorists out of fashion and out of business must become the top priority of everyone, especially in the Middle East. It is a key condition for the success of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, because terrorists will do their best to wreck any peace, as they demonstrated in Jordan. It is a key condition for democratization, because people who speak out for democracy will be branded "enemies of the faith" and targeted.

To stop terror we must point out the root causes. The root causes of terror, like the root causes of genocide and similar crimes, are the megalomania and cruelty of the perpetrators and the forgiving or indifferent attitude of everyone else. There are many grievances that require urgent redress, but none of the problems can be corrected by blowing up innocent people. Terrorists aren't out to correct problems. They are part of the problem.

Effective action by the UN and governments can stop terror. It can make the perpetrators international outlaws just as war criminals are outlaws. It can stop the flow of arms and funds to terrorists. It can outlaw incitement to terror, just as international law outlaws incitement to genocide. It can get terror and hate propaganda off the Web and out of the schools and Madrassahs.

It won't happen unless we all make it happen.

Ami Isseroff

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At PeaceWatch - Red October of Amir Peretz - New Hope for Israel
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