Jack Reed: “Yesterday, while thousands of innocent men, women and children shopped in Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem, the peace…”

“Yesterday, while thousands of innocent men, women and children shopped in Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem, the peace of that sunny afternoon was shattered when two bombs filled with screws and nails detonated. Fifteen people were killed, close to 200 persons were injured. Later that day, the Israeli Cabinet voted to break off all contact with the Palestinian Authority, jeopardizing hopes that had soared just days ago when Israelis and Palestinians had agreed to resume peace talks for the first time since March. I have always been a strong supporter of the peace process, and there is no doubt in anyone's mind that this is a complicated issue and peace will only be secured after prolonged negotiations and compromises on both sides. No one expects it to be easy. However, the first step simply must be to end the violence. Terrorist acts such as yesterday's bombing simply cannot be tolerated. There is no reason, no excuse, no possible justification for killing innocent civilians shopping in a street market. It is an act of terrorism, nothing more, nothing less.”