Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Déjà vu, all over again.

In my house I will give them a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters, an everlasting name which shall not perish.
Isaiah 56:5


In light of the events unfolding in Russia it is evident that Chechen terrorists have taken a leaf out of their Palestinian brethren’s operational play book:

Dateline: 1974 Ma’alot, Israel




Ma’alot is a town located in western Galilee. The Israeli government originally built up the community in the 50’s to settle Jewish refugees who had fled from hostile Arab nations.

A school trip to the Golan Heights was to commemorate Independence Day activities and celebrations on May 15th resulted in over 100 students and their escorts sleeping over night in a school in Ma’alot.

During the night, terrorists from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine infiltrated the school disguised as IDF soldiers. In the attack a guard was killed and some of the children.

The demands presented by the terrorists for the release of the children required the Israeli government release of 26 Arab terrorists held in Israeli prisons by 6:00pm. In an emergency session of the Knesset, it was resolved to negotiate with the Arab terrorists. The magnitude of this reversal was unprecedented but the children’s lives were held to be sacrosanct; the cost of not negotiating for their freedom was a price too high for the Knesset members or the nation to endure.

At 3:00pm government negotiators asked for an extension of the DFLP’s deadline. The DFLP was firm in their refusal to extend deadline. At 5:45pm, a selected detachment of the Golani brigade stormed the school. In the end, all DFLP terrorists were killed. The death toll for the Israelis was 21 children, 5 adults, and over 70 children injured. Nineteen children were permanently crippled as a direct consequence of the DFLP’s actions.


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