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In reply to the discussion: Israel Announces Large West Bank Land Seizure [View all]TiberiusB
(487 posts)Would have been to build up the economy in Gaza by linking it to Israel. If the economic security and comfort of the Palestinians depended on Israel, there would be no Hamas. Hamas didn't exist until 1987, coming into existence in response to the first intifada against the Israeli occupation.
It's easy in the West to look down on those who resort to violence, given that most have never experienced conditions such as those in Gaza. It's not an excuse for it, but if you feel you have no options, no future, no hope, isn't lashing out or grasping at anyone who offers you some course of action predictable if not excusable?
Maybe when people longed for a thing that bad, the longing made them trust in anything that might give it to them.
That's from The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.
I think of it when I see poor rural republicans slit their own throats at the ballot box, or when I see the desperate lured by promises of throngs of virgins, or just simple vengeance, into flying into skyscrapers or strapping explosives to their chest.