ANOTHER SUICIDE BOMBER
On the day tht the Hezbollah and the Isaelis are trading prisoners, another bunch ogf lunatics goes and sets off a suicide bomb in Jerusalem.
Now I admit upfront I have never to anywhere near Israel (and in the current environment am never likely to), know nothing about the history of the creation of the state of Israel, have only a sketchy understanding of what happened in the 6 day war and the siezing of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (although it seems to me that if Israel won them in a war they didn't start then frankly they should keep them).
Also my knowledge of Judaism and the Radical form of Muslim espoused by most of the "Palestinians" is almost non-existent....
HOWEVER, my twopenneth worth.... Why on earth do these suicide bombers keep on trying? The state of Israel exists, whether they like it or not, and it is not going to go away just because some morons are prepared to blow themsleves up. Israel is basically funded by the United States so has effectively infinite resources when compared to the palestinians, who have endless supplies of sand, rocks and idiots, and some explosives and bullets, but are conspicuously short of tanks, fighter jets, air-to-surface (or vice versa) missiles or any other form of significant battle machinery. They are never going to win and should just make the best of what they have.
Having said that, I'm not sure that Israel's frequently over-the-top military responses are helping the situation. They are clearly not stopping the supply of willing bombers, and if anything are probably creating an ever-growing group of people who have lost family, friends and property at the hands of the Israeli military, and so are more open to extremist rhetoric. This wall they are building will merely further drive the 2 sides apart, and make the conditions of the palestinians ever harsher as they are prevented from getting to their places of work.
As has been shown all over the world, there is no real answer to religious hatred as it is not founded in logic, but to borrow a line from Nelson Mandela, who knew a thing or 2 about hatred, "no one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate." You can easily teach people to hate when there is evidence everywhere of death and destruction at the hands of another religion or creed, but take away that evidence and a lot of the reason for the hatred may disappear too. Israel should maybe try helping the palestinians rather than attempting to drive them into subjugation. (Another quote from someone i should know but can't remember - "we have nothing to fear except the man who has nothing to lose").
It probably won't work of course cos at the core of the problem are fundamentalist religious lunatics, on both sides, who would rather see the deaths continue than give an inch, but it would be nice to see it tried.
