the only weapon???

The rationale for suicide bombs was reiterated again today in the nytimes.

Arafat Seeing Renewed Support Among Palestinians

a 19 year old math student says, " "This is the only weapon we have," and another 33 year old said, "If they kill him [arafat], if they force him to leave, we will do suicide bombing all over Israel."

first...suicide bombing is not the only weapon. suicide bombings are the problem, not the solution.

will somebody please explain this to these people???

negotiation is the most powerful weapon.

the problem is that arafat doesn't know how to weild it because it doesn't blow up and kill jews. when he saw that negotiation would actually succeed in attaining statehood for his people, he made sure to turn away from it because killing all the jews was a more important goal than all the hopes and dreams of his people.

I don't see much hope, because even the elders are clueless. an 80 year old man asked 3 questions, "Is it rational to attack Hamas and Islamic Jihad?" Do you think anyone will agree to attack Hamas and Jihad? Then what? Israel will continue to attack our own people."

1. yes, it is rational to attack hamas and islamic jihad. they are a danger and act against the interest of both the palestinian and israeli societies. they are not the 'palestinian army', they are terrorists who commit crimes against humanity and they must be stopped.

2. No, I don't think anyone (palestinian) will attack hamas and jihad. and this is the problem. palestinian society refuses to be self-governing.

3. Then what? Israel will continue to attack hamas and jihad. The difference here is that Israel is not out to kill all the palestinians, just the terrorists that the palestinians refuse to attack themselves. they are essentially asking Israel to take care of the problem so that they don't have to (for whatever justifications given for #2), and therefore cannot complain about the collateral damage (ergo no justification for revenge).

sooner or later they will have to figure it out. for everyone's sake, let's hope it is sooner.