Israel and Violence

Posted on Jan 30, 2007 9:15am PST -
Author:

Larry Lubell
News Source:

Urban Insurance Blog
Publish Date: Jan 29, 2007

Description
Six Years of Palestinian-Israeli Violence
January 29th, 2007
A Palestinian suicide bomber attacked a bakery in the southern Israeli resort town of Eilat, on Monday, killing three people and himself.A spokesman for Hamas, that controls the Palestinian parliament and Cabinet, praised the bombing as a “natural response” to Israeli policies.The mother of Muhammed Faisal Saksak, the 21-year-old suicide bomber who carried out Monday’s attack in Eilat, said she was aware of her son’s plan to blow himself up and that she had wished him “good luck.”The mother of nine said she was proud of her son for carrying out the suicide attack. “I pray to Allah that Muhammed will be accepted as a shaheed [martyr],” she said shortly after hearing about the Eilat bombing.Muhammed’s wife, Nadia, said she shared the family’s sense of “pride” for what her husband did. “When I heard that he was martyred, I felt very proud of him,” she said.Israeli defense minister, Amir Peretz, said, “This is a grave incident, it’s an escalation and we shall treat it as such,”Two Palestinian militant groups, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, claimed joint responsibility for the attack. Both groups said “The operation has a clear message to the Palestinian rivals. It is necessary to end the infighting and point the guns toward the occupation that has hurt the Palestinian people,” a posting on the Islamic Jihad Web site said.
More than 60 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since December as the result of infighting between the Hamas led Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades linked to Fatah.
The Fatah organization who had ruled Palestinians for years till the last election, had officially been trying to get Hamas to agree to Recognize Israel’s right to exists in order end a crippling aid boycott imposed by the international community. The Palestinian’s have virtually no economy save for international aid. Being connected to an other suicide bombing is likely to complicate the group’s efforts to say the least.
However, Fatah spokesman Ahmad Abdul Rahman condemned the violence, saying, “We are against any operation that targets civilians, Israelis or Palestinians.”
During more than six years of Palestinian-Israeli violence, 540 people have been killed in 130 Palestinian suicide bombings.How desperate does one have to be in order to strap on explosives and “Blow your self up?”How can any mother find joy in her son’s death or be proud that her son blew up a bakery or a Pizza parlor.As an American, as a moderate, it is impossible for me to truly comprehend the mindset of a terrorist or suicide bomber. I can’t fathom coming to a point where I could justify entering a Disco, standing in a crowd of teenagers and pushing a button to kill them and myself. I don’t understand the lessons being taught around the dinner table that leads one to conclude flying a passenger plane into a building is a reasonable, rational response to a perceived injustice. How can a parent not do everything in their power to protect their children from harm, but instead “Take Pride” in their child’s demise? However foreign these actions are to us, it has become clear that we live in a world where a growing percentage of people embrace these extremist views. And while we should never slip to their level, we would be well advised to try to understand the conditions that have given rise to their hatred and desperation. I am not saying that as a means of justifying terrorism, but as a method to better protect our selves from those that would do us harm.Israel, in attempt to protect it’s citizens, has become an occupier of over 2,000,000 Palestinians and turned tens of millions around the world against them. The conditions that the average Palestinian find them self is deplorable by any object measure, and after decades, Israel finds it’s population still in harms way. America is engaged in a war against terrorism; in an attempt to protect it’s citizens the US. Is often echoing the path Israel has taken. My fear is that we will not be any more successful than they have been. Absolutely, we must capture or kill those who seek to kill us. We must search and destroy the terrorist’s infrastructure; we must follow the money trail. But we have to be smart enough not to swell their ranks in our attempt to eliminate them. I must admit, I find it much easier to raise questions than to present answers. If the ultimate goal is peace and prosperity throughout the Middle East, it is clear all sides are failing miserably.