Jerusalem synagogue killings must not derail quest for peace

The bumpy ride toward lasting Arab-Israeli peace swerved dangerously out of control this week when a pair of Palestinian militants butchered four rabbis engaged in prayer inside a Jerusalem synagogue.

The scene Tuesday inside the Har Nof synagogue shocked the senses of the Middle East and the world. The two Palestinians unleashed their wrath in grisly fashion with guns, knives and even a meat ax aimed at the bodies of the religious leaders. Ultimately the assailants were killed in a shootout with police, in which one officer also died of his injuries.

In isolation, the attack merits universal condemnation for its insensitive brutality against men of prayer in a sanctuary of prayer and peace. The synagogue murders rank as the worst single attack in the Jewish capital since a Palestinian assailant massacred eight students inside a Jewish seminary in March 2008.

When taken together with other recent attacks against Israelis in Jerusalem, the attack represents an acceleration of violence, fear and threats to peace. In the past several weeks, Palestinian assailants have carried out a pair of deadly attacks by ramming their cars into crowded train stations, and a gunman shot and seriously wounded a Jewish activist who had campaigned for greater access to the holy site of the Temple Mount.

Collectively, the attacks raise fears of a wider Palestinian uprising on the scale of the mayhem that rocked the Jewish state a decade ago. Some even fear a 21st century Holy War between the two religions and cultures.

Clearly such scenarios could doom ongoing diplomatic efforts at achieving peaceful co- existence between Palestinians and Israelis and ending centuries of bitterness and bloodshed. Cool heads therefore must prevail among leaders of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and all of the free world.

The attack clearly merits strong condemnation throughout the world. It does not, however, merit militaristic escalation in the region.

Madmen’s massacre

After all, as of now, no evidence points to any official state sanction of the madmen’s deranged massacre. For his part, PA President Mahmoud Abbas assailed the attacks: “We condemn the killings of worshipers at the synagogue in Jerusalem and condemn acts of violence no matter their source.”

For its part, Israel has vowed retaliation but that revenge thus far has been limited to the demolition of the attackers’ homes. Before tensions and calls for retaliation intensify, both Israel and the PA would be wise to follow the advice of the United Nations Security Council to take steps to restore calm and to prevent military escalation.

From the U.S. vantage point, Tuesday’s attack is particularly painful and reprehensible because three of the four slaughtered rabbis were American-born citizens. For his part, President Barack Obama has been a leading voice of calm and reason. Obama called the attacks “horrific” and without justification, urging cooperation from both sides to ease tensions and adding that too many Israelis and Palestinians have died in recent months.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders ought listen to the sage advice of the American president. Failure to do so could well send peace prospects in the Middle East zooming down a disastrous slide toward oblivion.