Why terrorism works

Because you are more concerned with disabling the leaders, rather than the actual bombers.

Yes. If there is an act of terrorism, and it can be blamed on Arafat or the leadership, then the cause gets set back. I don't think it's too late at all.

Could you give an example of how Arafat was rewarded in the past? I think a lot of people might forget about how much terrorism was going on in the 1970s and 1980s, and how the world reacted.

Following horrible acts of terrorism, say, the Munich massacres, more countries began to recognize the Palestinians. By a certain point in time, the Palestinians after using terrorism had more countries recognizing them than Israel had recognizing them. It was working, it was an adjunct to their diplomatic efforts. The more violent their terrorism got, the more they were recognized. It's almost as if they frightened us into recognition. It was the European community, the United Nations -- which gave it observer status, unique to any other group seeking statehood -- the Vatican, other churches and even the Jewish community. Even Jews began to take Arafat very seriously as the result of the terrorism.

I'm not suggesting that you don't negotiate or that you don't make peace with your enemies. You make peace with the Mafia, too. The difference is that it's inconceivable that criminal groups would be welcomed around the world or given honorary degrees at universities. European intellectuals have shown adoring acceptance to Arafat, who we have on tape ordering the murder of American diplomats in the Sudan. We now know through Romanian intelligence that he signed off on the Munich massacre. We now know that he is the one who signed off on getting the boatload of arms that were intercepted from Iran just a year ago. And yet he continues to be adored, and that's the moral failing of the world today.

Obviously it's tremendously complicated. But I think one problem is that people feel that they have no other option. He's their leader. Who else are they going to negotiate with? The alternative would be worse.

That may be true. The point is not Arafat vs. anybody else. It's terrorism. The alternatives are terrible and that's because they set the rules of the game and made the alternatives terrible. But I think the alternative that has to be negotiated now is a Palestinian state in exchange for the end of terrorism.

The thing that many Israelis ask today is: What if? What if Israel were to do everything that the left and the European community and the Vatican and everybody else wants them to do -- give back all of the land captured in 1967, Jerusalem becomes their capitol -- what if after all that happens, terrorism gets worse? What would the world community expect Israel to do at that point? That's the question that the international community hasn't yet answered. We never will get peace until it is.

Are targeted assassinations a form of terrorism?

A targeted assassination is exactly the opposite of terrorism. Terrorism is untargeted assassination -- you just throw a bomb in a cafeteria and you get everybody. Targeted assassination is designed to be very precise and very specific. If you look at what happened in Gaza, obviously it can produce a disaster.

But "the Engineer" [Yahyah Ayash] is a perfect example. He was helping the Palestinians make bombs. He was the only one at the time who knew that tactic. He was using a cellphone, Israelis got to the cell phone company that was repairing his cellphone, put a bomb in the cell phone and the first time he picked it up, they blew his head off. Nobody was hurt but him.

But look, how can anybody like a system in which the killer is the judge, jury and executioner? The question is: compared to what? I favor targeted assassinations if four conditions are met. One: If you have somebody who beyond any doubt is a proven terrorist. Two: If beyond any doubt, that person is engaging in ongoing future terrorist acts. In other words, I'd never use it to punish for the past, the way Israel did after Munich. Three: There is no other conceivable way of getting at him. You can't arrest him. Four: Do it, only if you can do it with minimal collateral damage to other civilians. Then it's better than bombing. We're not talking about good, better, best. We're talking about bad, worse, worser, worst. On a scale of that, this is less than worst.

So has the United States rewarded terrorism in any way since Sept. 11?

No, after Sept. 11 we've gotten tough. Sept. 11 was a major wake-up call. But our mistake has been to say that we're gonna devote all of our attention to only certain terrorist groups, as if you can make the kinds of distinctions between international and more regional forms of terrorism. What the United States has to do, and I think we're moving toward it, is to say that terrorism as a tactic is simply unacceptable. We will never use terrorism or never, ever support a group that does.

We may come into conflict with that if we go into Iraq. One way or another we may be tempted to use Kurdish terrorism against Iraq and we have to say no to that. We have to say no to having alliances with any country that uses terrorism, and we have to be tougher on Saudi Arabia. We have to be tougher on Iran. The three governments that sponsor terrorism more than any other are Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. We're an ally of Saudi Arabia, we're trying to create alliances with Syria and we're trying to create alliances with Iran. Iraq is probably fourth on the list.

Next Page: Dershowitz makes the case for torture

• View blog reactions