Shan-ul-Hai

How NOT to treat your enemies



Posted: Wednesday, April 30, 2008

by
Globally Rational

How NOT to treat your enemies  Today, Israeli forces attacked a Hamas leader's house and killed his 14-year old daughter, among other civilians. This is a few days after Hamas offered Israel a 6-month cease-fire, which Israel is planning on rejecting because they don't want to talk to Hamas. What I'd like to know is this: what exactly is Israel trying to accomplish by promoting this violence?

Anybody can tell you that the right way to deal with a fundamentalist organization is not to provoke them further. When you reject a cease-fire and then go and attack the leader, how do you expect to really manage the negative sentiment? It's starting to seem like Israel's goal is just to eliminate all of the Palestinians rather than to come up with a peaceful solution. This seems to be the best political move for somebody looking for votes from the Israeli population; the hardline attitude must be popular, since it's definitely prevailing.

I know that Hamas said that they intend to end Israel permanently, so the Israelis probably aren't too happy about that. But will it really help solve the problem if they provoke more violence? They won't be able to eliminate the Arabs entirely, so how is it helping them to increase the hatred? The only way to solve the problem is to promote peace in the next generations, and this is definitely not the way to do it.

I guess that promoting peace isn't the best political move. As long as Israel has American support, they have the ability to flex their muscles throughout the Middle East… so why not do it?


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Shan-ul-Hai, the chief author of Globally Rational, is a self-described cosmopolitan scientist.  His articles typically involve the application of evidence-based logic to some of the world's most interesting and thought-provoking affairs.  His background as a Pakistani-American supplements his training as a scientist and his skill as a writer, leading to a myriad of of unique perspectives.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Steve Radford
 3 years 273 days ago.
46 fans.
Insightful article. How can peace be promoted in the next generation if both sides stay on their current course? Steve
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