Keren G. Raz Columnist

Two weeks ago, bombs went off at three Egyptian hotels frequented by Israelis. The bombs killed 34 people, 12 of whom were Israelis.

In a scene that replays itself all too often in Israel, people's intestines and brains were strewn across the sidewalk. Children, guilty of nothing more than enjoying vacation, were rushed to the hospital covered in blood.

We might think we know what terror feels like because we watched the attacks on the World Trade Center. But terrorism is not a one-time affair, and it is definitely not a color-coded alert system.

To know what terror feels like, sit calmly on a bus in Israel as an Arab with a backpack boards the bus.

Or travel to a hotel and realize that your paradise could soon be interrupted by a coordinated bomb attack.

That's real terror; that's the effect of terrorism.

In the tiny country of less than 21,000 square kilometers (making it the smallest of any country in the Middle East), it is difficult to find an Israeli untouched by a suicide bombing.

You can feel the dread hanging in the air because you could be next.

That's terrifying.

And that's why as America claims to fight this war on terror, we should not forget that we are not alone.

Our fate is tied to the fate of other countries who really understand what terror feels like, countries such as Israel.

Al-Qaida wants nothing short of the destruction of America, and we don't compromise.

Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group, has said it wants to drive Israel into the sea.

So how is Israel to compromise with Hamas?

Our futures in the war on terror are tied together.

This summer I was in Asia when "Fahrenheit 9/11" came out.

Because I could not wait to see it, I went to the nearest DVD store and bought the bootleg to watch with a friend.

I hardly know any Chinese, but I could read enough to notice that the translations were completely off, with one important example: When CNN's banner for the "War on Terror" flashed cross the TV, the translation down at the bottom of the screen said: "America's war."

It can be debated that Iraq was America's war, but there is no

question that the war on terror is a global war, and Israel's also fighting it.

The Middle East is a hotbed with Israel and America as the focal points for all the anger.

Like Israel, America has become the scapegoat for the problems plaguing the dictators and corrupt leaders in the Middle East.

Maybe it's time those who point fingers at Israel and America started pointing fingers back at themselves.

If we don't stop criticizing the scapegoat and start recognizing the need for the Arab world to shape up and live in peace, we are all going to lose.

For that reason, the future of our war on terror - the future of our country - is tied to Israel and the future of the Middle East.

The other day a couple activists were on the UA Mall with a fake wall and booth protesting Israel's security fence.

They would like us to cut our ties with Israel; that would be the worst thing we could do.

Criticism by its nature negates the idea of peace because no one wants to hear it. That holds especially true in the case of Israel. For hundreds of years, Jews have been blamed and criticized for causing everything from borrowers' financial troubles to Germany's bankruptcy to the destruction of the Middle East peace process.

For once in their lives, 50 years after they were led without a fight to the gas chambers of Auschwitz, the Jews of Israel are fighting. They have nowhere else to go because those who were not kicked off their land in Europe were forced to leave their homes in the surrounding Arab countries.

Can you blame them for fighting? Can we blame ourselves for fighting those who attacked the World Trade Center?

The world has a problem, and the problem is the extremism we see in the Arab terrorists. Spain has suffered. Bali has suffered. America has suffered. Israel constantly suffers because it is locked in the middle of the Arab world with no ocean or sea to protect it.

In the end, it's important to remember that we are in this fight against terror together.

If we forsake Israel, terror wins and we lose.

Keren G. Raz is a senior majoring in English and political science. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.