Column: Palestine must choose life over love of death

• Hamas indiscriminately launched 1,500 rockets on Israel between November 14-21
• Israel has always taken great pains to avoid harming the civilians Hamas hides behind
• Israel's 64th anniversary in May will mark another year of scientific and cultural achievement

Golda Meier famously said in 1957, "peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us." Fast-forward fifty-five years – past six Israeli-Arab wars, two Intifadas, thousands of terrorist attacks and over 13,000 missiles launched on Israel in the last decade alone – and the tragic words of the late Israeli prime minister ring alarmingly true today.

Despite the current quiet in Israel and Gaza brought about by last month's cease-fire agreement, the roaring threat of Islamic radicalism continues to grow. Operation Pillar of Defense confirmed once and for all radical Islam's utter disregard for life. Until the fanatic ideologies and violent military capabilities of Hamas and like-minded terror groups are destroyed, there will be no peace in the Middle East.

The Jihadists' potency lies in the exploitation of civilians. While Israel, the United States and other Western nations that fight radical Islam specifically target terrorists and their infrastructure – taking painstaking measures to avoid civilian casualties – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al Qaeda and terror groups around the globe seek just that, and to achieve such they indiscriminately fire at civilians while hiding behind civilians.

There is simply no moral equivalence between a democratic state trying to protect its population and a terrorist group seeking to murder innocent civilians. The latter's strongest weapon is the complete disregard for what the former cherishes most: human life.

While some analysts expound that the central obstacle to peace is Israeli settlement building, the true barrier lies in the murderous ideology and charter of Hamas, which calls for not only the non-recognition, but the destruction of Israel and killing of Jews worldwide.

We witnessed Hamas' chilling credo last month when the terrorist group created and released a video aimed at the public with one message: "We love death more than you love life."

While Israel focused on eliminating terrorist infrastructure as a defensive measure, the terror group fired 1,500 rockets at civilians in Israeli towns and cities between November 14-21. To evade retaliation, these terrorists hid behind their own civilians in Gaza. To fire upon Israeli civilians and hide behind Palestinian civilians is a double war crime.

Many Gazans realize this, and some, as reported by CNN's Ben Wedeman during last month's conflict, have even communicated gratification that Israel took action to destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza – which has suffered a tremendous blow.

The goals and values of Israel and Hamas – representing Westernism and Islamism, respectively – are diametrically opposed, which is manifest in the way the two sides carry themselves not only on the battlefield, but also in times of quiet.

While the State of Israel, which celebrated its sixty-fourth anniversary in May, has focused its formative years on harvesting the land, building universities and improving the world with innovative technologies, many of our Palestinian neighbors have been spreading radicalism, teaching children to hate, and committing themselves to a charter that calls for killing Jews and eliminating the State of Israel.

Until the sanctity of life is realized and practiced by all factions of Palestinian society, there will be no peace. This leaves no room for Hamas and its radical Jihadist agenda.

The strategic goal is singular and unabashedly simple: Palestinians must begin cherishing life. The tactics needed to arrive there have short and long-term components: the elimination of terrorist infrastructure and radicalism within Palestinian society, and a transformation in education from a young age.

While the latter is entirely dependent on a mindset shift amongst Palestinians, the crushing of terrorist networks within Palestinian territories is not only the right, but is the duty of both moderate Palestinians and the State of Israel.

Avi Dichter is Israel's minister of home front defense and is a member of the government's inner security cabinet. He is a former Shin Bet director and minister of public security.

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