Jerusalem Arabs - and Israel's Cognitive Dissonance Last week, acting prime minister Ehud Olmert authorized voting by Arab residents of Jerusalem in yesterday's PA election.
Reports are that a majority of Jerusalem voters supported Hamas.
For many years, there's been a sense that Arabs in Jerusalem are really moderates. Likely, this was just a form of cognitive dissonance by Israelis living in Jerusalem who did not want to see the Arabs they came across on a daily basis (most of whom are also Jerusalem residents) as enemies.
The reality is that the Arab hanging out in Zion Square, serving as your waiter in a Jerusalem restaurant, trying to sell you something in the
shuk, begging for money, or working in the hotel you're staying at, is more likely than not a supporter of Hamas.
Cognitive dissonance is convenient for a little while, but not a viable substitute for reality.
It's time - actually way past time - for Israel to deal with the reality that a terror group allied with al Qaeda is on its doorstep. The threat of suicide bombings is dwarfed by the existential threat to Israel of advanced missiles smuggled through Egypt into Gaza, or through Jordan into Judea and Samaria.
posted on 1/26/2006
