In article ,
"DGDevin" wrote:

"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message
m...

First, getting rid of guys with automatic weapons and a reputation for
killing people who disagree with them isn't so easy.

True. Just that the normal person to fanatic ratio is so high. I guess
a bunch of this is just that the leaders and heavyweights are in with
the bad guys.

If reasonable folks like you and me had instead been raised in a refugee
camp, with no nation to call our own, with violence and poverty all around
us, with a powerful neighbor dropping bombs every time some terrorist group
blew up a bus or whatever--who knows, we might be on the fanatical side too.

Yeah, but why not fanatical against the guys actually CAUSING the
problems? That is the part I don't understand. Even in those
circumstances, the cause and effect relationship could be seen.


This is more along of the lines of the stuff I don't understand. I
agree it one thing to rise up, but something entirely different to join
the people bringing down the pain.

What if they're the source of social services for your family? What if they
replaced a corrupt and incompetent administration which primarily took care
of itself? What if they're the only ones fighting back against what you
perceive as your enemy? I'm under no illusions about Hamas, their charter
reads bat**** crazy, they are fanatical thugs. But people as desperate as
the Palestinians will turn to desperate measures. Sooner or later the
Israelis have to climb down a little bit and stop building settlements all
over the place, and the Palestinians have to back away from their total
refusal to admit Israel is there and not going away. They're both going to
have to give up something, or they'll be bleeding forever.

And some time the Palestinians will have to realize that they aren't
Israel's pawns as much as they are expendable cannon fodder for Hamas,
etc. Largest part of the reason the Palestinians are in the hurt locker
is because Israel gave up the territory. Within Israel, the Palestinians
are treated better, have access to jobs, have their healthcare and other
services taken care of.

--
"Even I realized that money was to politicians what the ecalyptus tree is to koala bears: food, water, shelter and something to crap on."
---PJ O'Rourke