When talking about building walls and there affects, its important to look at what these walls are supposed to be keeping out. In our current case, Israeli walls were mainly built to stop suicide bombings. But who are these people who would give there life for a cause in order to take out other innocents?
http://www.israelinsider.com/channels/security/articles/sec_0049.htm
This is an interesting article written in 2001, when suicide bombings were very numerous. It contains references from numerous reporters and specialists of the region. Most suicide bombers are in there late teens to earlly 20's. Interestingly, a good amount of them have at least a highschool education if not higher. This dispels the idea of only the rotten eggs being sent on the most dangerous missions. There is a general consensus that most suicide bombers go through a few months of "Brainwashing" wear they are prepared by their superiors through education sessions and videos. Once they have commited the act, it is looked at as an honorable deed by the family and the general community.
The important point of this article in my opinion is to think about the walls impact on stopping this. Some statistics have shown that Israelis have had much success in stopping these attacks by building the wall, setting up checkpoints and by the intense ratial profiling that goes on by Israeli security. However, for every suicide bomber or extremist that is stopped by these methods, how many more are created by caging the palestinians in. When looking at the many reasons that people choose to become suicide bombers, there is one consistant feeling and reason they all share... Hopelessness. The hopelessness of thinking life wont get any better. A common expression by many suicide bombers was that they would rather end life as a bomb, rather than have it ended by a bullet. To put it more frankly, they would rather have control over their death, since they have no control over their life. And if conditions arent improved from within the wall, than this wall will continue to be less of a security measure, and more of a boarder for a breeding grounds of extremism
ok it's Iraq but it's interesting
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Here is a link to a blog put up by Morgan on a different Blog. There are a
number of entries that tie more to your topic than theirs. Enjoy.
16 years ago
When you look at the profile of a suicide bomber through this perspective it is still wrong, but does bring you to a new level of understanding. At least they are given something in thier life to control, even if it is their death. The wall in this view is making matters worse and you are correct in referring to it as a breeding gound of extremism. I have to remind myself as I sit in my safe, quiet suburban home in Minnesota that it is a totally different world in the middle east with different beliefs,laws, expectations and values; we don't have to accept and like their ways, but it does help to understand them.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing when I ask what in this life I am willing to die for. But I also think it quite another thing to make the leap to who I will take with me. I remember working part time at a hotel during and after Sept. 11, 2001. My job was to drive the hotel shuttle van taking people back and forth from the airport. A couple of months later we had some security consultants from Israel stay at our hotel while they helped Airport Commision design a more secure airport. I remember talking to them being very afraid of the National Gaurd soldiers carring their M16's and searching the hotel van every time I entered the pick-up area. The Israeli Security consultants told me that I have no idea how lucky I have it. They have spent their entire lives wondering when the next bomb will go off. It made life seem so worthless and easy to destroy........ by both sides. It is that slippery slope of one side trying to out do the others and the every day people are caught in the middle by the "men with guns and bombs." It doesnt matter to them who they are, Israeli or Palenstinian, they have the guns and others live in fear.
ReplyDeleteThere is one thing that I hate about politicians, especially career politicians, they tend to play politics with people's lives. As long as the old politicians in the Israeli Knesset keeps pushing the fear factor on the Israeli public that "the Palestinians and Arabs want to drive Israel into the sea", and the old guard politicians from the Palestinian leadership refuse to devise any kind of genuine peace proposal with their Israeli brotheran, that part of the world will not know peace.
ReplyDeleteIt is important that the leadership of Israel and Palestine realize the fact that it is not possible to get rid of either side in this conflict, despite support from the Arab world and the great powers of the Western world. It is also important to know that peace does not come on a silver platter, peace is the result of struggle and genuine peace is the result of genuine negotiation by both parties for the sake of their peoples. It is about time that the old politicians in Israel and Palestine stop playing politics with their peoples lives and work out a genuine peace deal that will benefit both Israel ane Palestine.