So what?

http://pajamasmedia.com/2008/02/gazas_culture_of_selfdestructi.php

'When children are raised on a steady diet of hatred, disrespect for human life, and violence, those children grow up to be violent and with no regard for the life, or well-being, of others. And not just for “those” others but for all others, including those within their own society. Parents in Gaza need to ask themselves, “What kind of person will my child grow up to be if I have taught him to celebrate the murder of a 73 year old woman by passing out candy and flowers?” as the children of Gaza did in large numbers recently when two suicide bombers managed to kill an old woman and put her even more elderly husband into intensive care.'

I don't know if I agree with this analysis. From my not-hugely-extensive knowledge of Arab history and culture, Palestinian violence is broadly in the mainstream of Arab traditions. Arabs were never good neighbors, to each other and to non-Arabs. Many Arab tribes subsisted by attacking and killing their neighbors and/or stealing from their trade caravans. The Ottoman empire, under whom millions of them lived for 500 years or so, maintained a harsh rule to suppress these cultural traditions. It also incorporated Arab fighters into its military to take advantage of this martial tradition. Add to this cultural tradition the instinctual attitude of superiority that Arab culture teaches to its men, and the extremely macho attitude to maleness, and you have a concoction that is very much prone to violence.

In the case of Israel, the victory of the Jews, not exactly reputed for their warlike nature, over the Arabs time after time is felt as a terrible blight on the manhood of every Arab, but especially the ones in Palestine. The fact that this very real humiliation is taught in Gaza schools should surprise no one. And I'm not sure that the conclusion of the author, that teaching kids to hate Jews will mean that Palestinian society will end up suffering more damage from this than Israel will, is justified. Arab society has always operated largely as the Gazans are doing right now- and there still seems to be an awful lot of them about.

Observing that Jew-hatred will eventually transmogrify into Arab-hatred is to miss the main point: Israel can't afford to weaken in its resolve to preserve its existence in the face of implacable Arab hatred, hatred based in traditional Arab cultural roots. Its hardly important if some of the Arab hatred ends up turning in on itself after Israel has been annihilated. What possible consolation would that be to the millions of dead Jews of Israel?

My guess is that only when the world turns its back on the Palestinian Arabs, and the latter are comprehensively and ostentatiously beaten on the battlefield, will Israel be relatively safe. While the Palestinian Arabs believe that they have billions of cheerleaders round the world, and they can pretend to be holding out against the Israeli military colossus, no young Palestinian Arab will quit the fight. Half of winning wars is persuading the enemy he is beaten. The Palestinian Arabs still have some valid reasons to keep them from that conclusion.