As printed in USA Today

It has been 13 years since the Oslo “peace process” began. During this time, Israel has given away over half the disputed territories. Despite these concessions, Israel got nothing in return except a terror war launched in 2000 by Palestinians, who murdered and maimed thousands of people, and now the election of the Hamas terror group.

Palestinian leaders Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas have refused to honor their written commitments to Oslo and the “road map” to peace. They haven’t prevented terror or arrested terrorists. Worst, the Palestinian regime continues to promote hatred against Jews in their schools, TV, radio, newspapers, speeches, mosques and government children’s camps. They even name schools, streets and sports teams after suicide bombers.

But this Palestinian hatred goes beyond Israel and Jews. Hamas, strongly allied with Iran, has issued news releases saying, “Americans are the enemies of the Palestinian people … (and) are a target for future attacks.” Hamas leader Khaled Mash’al warned, “We say to this West … (by) Allah, you will be defeated.” Recent leaflets by Abbas’ Fatah group said, “We will strike at the economic and civilian interests of these countries (United States and others), here and abroad.” It is clear that the Hamas/Palestinian Authority are part of the global terror war against the West.

More land and other concessions will only encourage more terror. Whenever Israel has removed roadblocks and checkpoints monitoring potential suicide killers, only more terrorism has occurred. When Israel gave away more land in Gaza last fall, only more missile attacks and smuggling of arms occurred, in addition to Iran and al-Qaeda moving their forces there. The same will happen in a Hamas-occupied West Bank, possibly destabilizing the region.

Such concessions will make heroes of Hamas, emboldening them and achieving nothing. It is a fiction that Hamas and the Palestinian Arabs just want their own state. Their words, writings and polls show they want to destroy all of Israel and work with other radical Muslims to Islamicize the world.

The United States and Israel must work to undermine Hamas, not prop them up. Hamas must learn their agenda will go backwards, not forward. No U.S. money for Hamas, and no more one-sided concessions. We must end terror states, not create them.

Morton A. Klein is national president of Zionist Organization of America.

The Zionist Organization of America, founded in 1897, is the oldest pro-Israel organization in the United States. The ZOA works to strengthen U.S.-Israel relations, educates the American public and Congress about the dangers that Israel faces, and combats anti-Israel bias in the media and on college campuses. Its past presidents have included Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver.