This phrase, taken from one of Isaiah's memorable visions of the future, speaks of the Messianic age, when tranquility and justice will prevail on earth.

Today, a little child is leading in a more tragic way. Out of the hundreds of Israeli victims of the intifada that began in October 2000, the one burned most strongly in our memory is Shalhevet Pas. That sweet 10 month old baby girl was killed in Hebron by a sniper's bullet in March, 2001.

I had been in Hebron just a few days before, near the very spot where little Shalhevet was mercilessly hunted down in that monstrous act.

When I heard the news reports of her murder, and that her name meant "Flame", instantly these words from the Jewish prophet Obadiah leaped into my mind:

"The house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; the house of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume it. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau." The LORD has spoken. (Obadiah 1:18 NIV)

The next day, I heard that the Rabbi officiating at the funeral had quoted those same verses from the Bible.

Coincidence? Perhaps not. Moses declared that every matter must be established by the testimony of at least two witnesses. So one Christian witness, and one Jewish witness, have testified that little Shalhevet may be a little flame that will ultimately ignite a larger conflagration.

"And a little child will lead them."

It is not vigilante impulses, or vengeful emotions, that compel us to conclude that only a bonfire will eradicate the problem of Palestinian terrorism. If Shalhevet's murderer were an aberration, not representative of a corporate murderous impulse in Palestinian society, we might conclude otherwise.

But the man who carefully, tediously centered her tender little head in his rifle sights, and so easily pulled the trigger, is no aberration, but the norm. It is this appalling, dreadful reality that will necessitate an extreme solution.

These terrorists are no fringe group, but the core of Palestinian society, with a seemingly endless supply of recruits. They are the new Nazis, intent on killing as many Jews as possible. The originals were only eliminated from their society by an overwhelming, devastating military victory.

A friend of mine is a Palestinian, an ex-Muslim raised in Bethlehem. Though now an Evangelical Christian, and, of all things, an ardent Zionist, before his transformation he was a typical Palestinian young man.

In our conversations, my friend informed me of the comprehensive Islamic indoctrination into absolute Jew-hating he received as a child. He told me that one of his major goals in life, like many of his peers, was to kill his first Jew, a goal which he fortunately was unsuccessful in achieving.

His experience is not unusual. Abundant documentation is available of the pervasive nature of the purposeful Palestinian campaign to eradicate Jews in Israel. It is a trend that is only accelerating, not diminishing.

What does one do when confronted with such an incorrigible enemy, consumed by homicidal passion? The Israeli government has not yet begun to grasp the answer to this. In fact, they recently arrested the father of Shalhevet Pas!

Whether or not Mr. Pas was planning inappropriate actions, we do not know. What we do know is if the government of Israel was taking appropriate action, there would be no need for Mr. Pas or any other private parties to attempt anything to ensure justice and security for Israelis.

We all want peace. But there is no peace without justice. And justice demands that all murderers be apprehended, and all those with murderous intent be pre-empted.

When individual murderers are the threat, individual means of criminal justice are employed. But when corporate murderers are the threat, corporate means must be employed.

May a little child lead them to realize that.