View Single Post
Old 11-29-2006, 11:40 AM   #14 (permalink)
astralis
Foreign Service
Moderator
Lei Feng Protege
 
Join Date: 08-23-05
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 3,165
Country:
yirmeyahu,

Quote:
Hence, I'll reiterate. The Israeli occupation is brutal, and it is illegal. While acts of terrorism are unjustifiable, criminal and immoral, they do have a cause, and in this case, people commit acts of terrorism out of hopelessness in response to grave injustices and oppression.
that does not explain the whole picture. while some people commit acts of terrorism out of hopelessness, other people commit acts of terrorism in sacrifice of some higher goal- no hopelessness needed (japanese kamikazes, osama bin ladin, and quite a few palestinian terrorists come to mind).

the problem with a good deal of the palestinians is that while their grievances against a brutal occupation (something that even israel has admitted) is legitimate, their response to it is not. by this i do not just mean terrorism. they do not want to live side-by-side with the israelis, they seek nothing less than the destruction of israel.

as a result, israel, as any other state would, is forced to raise the palestinians' level of threat, and act accordingly (read: even more harshly). if the only TRUE GOAL of the palestinians were to free themselves from the occupation and form a palestinian state, rest assured that they would have had one far, far earlier, and in all probability a state larger than the one that is on the tables today, if only they had practiced massive and principled non-violent methods under the supervision of decent leaders.
__________________
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.

-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
astralis is online now   Reply With Quote