by Joe Manzo

On the morning of Saturday, Nov. 15, bombers attacked Turkish citizens for worshipping in synagogues in Turkey. The death toll reached 20 and another 80 Jews were injured, according to the Jerusalem Post. The Post also reports the synagogues were attacked because Turkey has been cooperating with Israel and the United States in the war on terror.

The suicide attacks were somewhat new to Turkey. The only Democracy in the Middle East is peaceful compared to the countries surrounding it. U.S. President George W. Bush said he’s confident Turkey will be able to find the perpetrators and put them to justice and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent his consolations. Both leaders are familiar with such attacks against civilians, and all three countries may have been attacked for the same reason, they support Israel. That is how large this conflict has become; it affects the entire world.

Israel has been the hardest hit by terrorist attacks. Since the Palestinians started their offensive, Israeli targets have been attacked more than 10,000 times, according the Israel Defense Forces statistics. Many of those attacks have come against innocent civilians.

And there is no end in sight. Yassir Arafat, who has refused to dismantle Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Palestine’s two largest terrorist organizations, remains in power. A poll conducted by the Palestinian Jerusalem Media and Communication Center shows that 66 percent of Palestinians support the murder of Israeli civilians, including children. Another 51 percent want a Palestinian state not next to Israel, but in place of it.

“When there is a crisis people look to their cultural traditions to find a way to articulate their response to the crisis,” University of Florida Richard Foltz said. “Obviously, Muslims are going to look to Muslim traditions and try to find resources for dealing with the crisis. Jews are going to look to their traditions to try to resources to deal with the crisis.”

Israel responded to terrorist attacks with force, targeting terrorist leaders, but hitting civilians in the process. Although some find it hared to fault a country for defending itself, the attacks are not deterring more terror, and Israel shows no signs of stopping.

“What else can you do,” Gator for Israel member Barry Haimo said. “You have to defend yourself.”

If both sides continue to battle back and forth, there is no reason to believe this fight will end, and hundreds, perhaps thousands more innocent civilians will die.