Following Kennedy's Lead

In 1963, John F. Kennedy uttered a single sentence that rallied the West, and resounded throughout the long Cold War.

Standing before the besieged citizens of Berlin, Mr. Kennedy told them, in German, that he was a citizen of their city. The sentence — "Ich bin ein Berliner" — has entered the annals of history, but it was the paragraphs leading up to it that rendered it significant:

"There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin.

"There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin.

"And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin.

"I want to say, on behalf of my countrymen, who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. …

"All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'"

When President Bush visits Jerusalem in January, he will be less than a two-hour drive away from Sderot.

Built from scratch by Jewish refugees from Morocco in a dusty, uninhabited portion of pre-1967 Israel, Sderot is only a kilometer from the Gaza strip. It is a beautiful community, with simple homes, schools, and other institutions, and a population of about 24,000.

Thousands of rockets have fallen on Sderot and its surroundings since the Palestinians responded to the formal offer of a state in 2000 — in all of Gaza, 97% of the West Bank, and a capital in Jerusalem — by waging a barbaric war against Israeli civilians. More than 1,000 rockets have fallen since August 2005, after Israel vacated every square inch of Gaza.

Outside his office, Mayor Moyal keeps a large display of the pictures of people, including children, who have been killed by the rockets — a constant reminder of the continual threat against the city, the fundamental fact of life there. He has a Kassam rocket mounted in the courtyard outside his office.

The mayor has constantly urged his fellow citizens, except for the old or ill, to stay where they are. His message has been that, in a terror war, the proper response of civilians is to stay put — that to see civilians leave their homes and cities is exactly what the terrorists want, that it energizes them and encourages them to expand their attacks.

The citizens of Sderot have been among the bravest of Israeli citizens, in a terror war in which the resilience of the citizenry is the difference between victory and defeat. The world reads about new rockets upon them almost every day, but the world cares little, because Sderot is many miles away. We are far distant from them — although not as far as before September 11.

When he visits Israel next month, President Bush can immerse himself in the details of the "peace process," perhaps resolving the issue of 300 new homes in Jerusalem, or discussing the release of more prisoners, or considering other steps to "strengthen" a Palestinian leader who does not control even his own "military wing" and cannot promise even eventual recognition of a Jewish state.

Or he — or they — can go to Sderot.

The president can address the citizens there and say there are those who claim that peace is simply a matter of withdrawal from disputed land; or that one can satisfy those committed to one's destruction with concessions; or that a people choosing life will eventually run from the threat of death.

And he can respond by saying: "Let them come to Sderot."

Would this represent choosing sides? Only if "choosing sides" means standing against a terrorist organization that seized half the putative Palestinian state, that is raining rockets daily on civilians, that has a charter calling for destruction of a member of the U.N., that has brought isolation and misery to the people of Gaza, and that has rendered the "peace process" merely a discussion with certain Palestinians.

If America, Israel and its Fatah "peace partner" cannot stand together in opposing that — cannot visit together the site of rocket attacks that make a mockery of Palestinian readiness for a state — then there is no real "peace process," merely an elaborate farce, with a "partner" that opposes terror only rhetorically in occasional speeches in English.

And if that is choosing sides, then — as Midge Decter once said — there comes a time to join the side you're on.

No one remembers President Kennedy's meetings in Berlin, or the subjects he discussed in his meetings. They remember only a dramatic act of moral clarity. When President Bush travels to Israel, history will be waiting for him in Sderot.

Mr. Richman edits Jewish Current Issues.