Palestinians were NOT radical Muslims when Israel was formed. But with the brutal military control and occupation they have been getting more and more radicalized. To cope with the violence of a brutal occupation/control by Israelis, the Palestinians have found Allah and a cause. There was a research project from the mid-1990s that discussed how children coped with violence. It was important for them to have an idealogical commitment which helped them find a meaning for traumatic events. (see Raija-Leena Punamaki's research conducted in Palestine ). That ideological commitment could be glorification of war, patriotic involvement, and defiant attitudes toward the enemy. From what I see on my trips through the States and from TV, there is a lot of fear-mongering in the USA. Does that account for an increasing number of born-again evangelical Christians? Canada has been becoming less religious, though you might not know it based on who got elected in the last election. Holistic educators have been using brain theory for many years; e.g. See: Caine, Renate Nummela and Caine, Geoffrey. (1994). Making Connections: Teaching and the Human Brain. The book emphasized that teachers maintain a learning environment that was free from stressful fear because in such situations students downshifted to lower brain functioning and were unable to learn as well as they might. Paul MacLean developed a triune brain hypothesis and discussed that the next area of brain evolution involved the prefrontal lobes for love, compassion, empathy and other advanced skills. So can war ever present an answer to our conflicts? As far as I can see, war makes us more barbaric, gets us to downshift to a reptilian brain level of functioning. It's counterproductive -- a downward spin into greater and greater inhumanity. I think it's time to mature and evolve into a more humane, more compassionate kind of being. For finding a path to peace, I personally recommend finding spirit in nature and thus learning that we are all earthlings first.

It's so easy for some talkback writers to make assumptions or take something written here, jump to a conclusion, and then tear off his or her own talking points. I never suggested that the Palestinians are radical Muslims. I have said that they are easily influenced or dominated by radical movements such as Hamas and Hizbolla. THOSE WHO INSIST ON BLAMING THE ISRAELI'S FOR "MAKING THE PALESTINIANS" ACT AS DESPERATE RADICALS MISS THE WHOLE POINT OR ARE IGNORANT OF HISTORY REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY CHOSEN SOURCES THEY QOUTE. I've always said that most Palestinians just want to live in peace, make money, and raise their families.

Who says I was talking JUST to YOU!? And if it's just the radical muslims running the show, then WHY punish all the INNOCENT people, especially the children?? And if they are so easily influenced or dominated by these radical groups, as you mention, I'd say it's is because that's their ONLY hope in these desperate times. The international community hasn't done much to help them over the decades. The Palestinians have been betrayed left right and centre. From B'Tselem: On October 30, Israel 's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly told the Knesset Security and Foreign Affairs Committee that in the past three months, the Israeli military has killed 300 "terrorists" in the Gaza Strip in its war against terror groups. According to B'Tselem's investigation, the IDF did indeed kill 294 Palestinians in Gaza since the abduction of Cpl. Gilad Shalit on June 26 and until October 27. However, over half of those killed - 155 people, including 61 children - did not participate in the fighting when they were killed. This in addition to the 137 who were killed while taking part in hostilities, and another two who were the targets of a targeted killing Treating all casualties as terrorists constitutes a blatant violation of the principle of distinction, one of the foundations of international humanitarian law. The principle requires all sides in an armed conflict to distinguish at all times between combatants and civilians who are not taking part in the hostilities. The deliberate killing of civilians is a war crime. Even if the other side breaches the principle of distinction, as Palestinian organizations do when they attack Israeli civilians, international law does not allow Israel to respond in a way that violates the said principle.

Perhaps I should have used the word fundamentalist rather than radical muslims in my previous posts. Not all fundamentalists are necessarily radical.

I see several points here, both in Arja's words and yours, Stewart. Good points. The Radicals who happen to be Fundamentalist, who also happen to follow Islam, all are presented as emotional and dangerous. Perhaps they feel threatened? If you have ever cornered prey you'd best know that they are suddenly at a high level of adrenaline. The body becomes awash in it. The cells of the body remember the trauma, as does the brain. Senses heighten and you can expect physical strength to increase vastly. Any reason and understanding is, indeed, out the window. Beware anyone cornered or, even one who feels threats such as this. There will always be those who feel threatened and those who are stable enough not to feel threat. This is the basis of the distinction. The basic chemical difference between those who fear and those who do not. Arja, war is beyond counterproductive, it is anti-productive, anti-nurturing. It feeds on itself, if we nourish it. It is the Beast the christians speak of, the Beast is no man, the beast is what we do do eachother in war. Even the triune brain hypothesis can be taken so much further. One can learn to feel where in the brain activity takes place as one can learn to slow breathing and calm a racing heart. Feel anger? Touch your head. Deep in cognitive thought, touch again. You know where to touch. Add the reiki from your hands. Now you have something. The brain is easily trained, which is why repetition, rote, works so well. Huxley's hypnopaedia. Repeat a statement often enough and you've burned a pathway in your neural net. This is also, sadly, why brainwashing works so effectively. It's why chanting, especially chanting that raises adrenaline levels, can drive radical elements of society to act out violently and thus, war. For many, there is nothing closer to the heart than religious beliefs. I prefer to believe in man and his relationship to the world. I guess this radical fundamentalist peacemaker is a humanist pantheist. Be peace. Be Earthlings. Where did I set my merlot???

open for discussion.

a "SPIRITual" solution? some BC Merlot from Mission Hill? Ahh yes, repetition, the mother of learning, as per a Russian saying oft repeated by my teacher! Lies repeated often enough can take on the form of fact. Some say it only takes seven spaced repetitions. Unfortunately there are many such "myths" created regarding the history of Israel. The myths are easily available but finding the historical facts is harder. One good video online is at www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13199.htm or did I mention it already? More later.......

Chomsky may have been a distinguished linguist. But does that entitle him to rush over to Lebanon and embrace Nasrallah? I mean, who thinks Nasrallah is a freedom fighter? Edward Said was Ilan Pappe's mentor. But who is Edward Said himself and how reliable a historian is he? Even his connection to Jerusalem is a tad bit questionable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Said#Controversy_over_Said.27s_early_life http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/post/poldiscourse/said/rauch1.html http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/victorian/authors/wmt/said.html http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/805 http://wernercohn.com/Said.html As far as Be-tselem is concerned, I can only wonder at the accuracy of their reported data: I was recently (last week) asked to translate (from Hebrew into English) the medical records of a 46-year-old Palestinian detained by the IDF, who is determined to sue the Israeli authorities for torturing him. The man claims that his right arm was paralyzed as a result of beating and torture. He was examined by THREE senior physicians (consultants) in three fields of expertise: orthopaedics, neurology and hand surgery (one of them an Arab doctor). All three experts agreed that there were no signs of damage to the different structures of the arm: there were mild superficial bruises on the skin, but there was no imaging evidence of fractures, reflexes were intact, sensor and motor functions were within normal limits, yet the man complained that he was unable to move his arm. No case therefore for Be-tselem. I wonder whether this enlightened organization bothered to remove this man from their reports. Please also note that the examination was obtained by court order while the man was still being detained, i.e. he was brought in for the examination by the military police, four days into his detention. Should I also mention that his general condition was good?

repetitio est mater studiorum

I'm talking about what my Russian teacher told me in RUSSIAN. povtarenye mat ychenye -- or something to that effect when I transliterate it..

I think I believe B'Tselem more than what your PM was saying about the number of TERRORISTS the IDF murdered! I'm sure there are inaccuracies in ANY data collected, but for Olmert to say 300 terrorists were murdered is a LOT to accept at face value! Did you watch the whole video I recommended in a previous talkback? Even though the description mentioned Chomsky and Said, their role was minor. It contains historical footage and interviews with several different historians and political analysts. I don't rely on any ONE journalist or historian for basing my views. I also look at their credentials as much as possible. And Rauch and Frum (who coined the "axis of evil" for Bush) just don't cut it for me as experts on Israel and Edward Said. And yet, whether Rauch and Frum are right and Said is wrong, really doesn't make ANY difference in what I believe about the CURRENT situation and Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. The Haaretz has an interesting column by Gideon Levy in which he discusses the "moral nadir" Israel has reached with the bloodbath taking place in Beit Hanun.

Your hatred towards Israel and your bias are becoming more and more obvious with each and every talkback. So I too will choose what cuts it for me and what and mainly whom I really BELIEVE. Anyway, I see nothing wrong with killing 300 terrorists if that's the way to stop them from killing us. And I' ll tell you something else, until last year's Gaza pullout I would have believed Gideon Levy because I thought he was an intellectual. But then I found out that even though he had been married to a Palestinian woman, he never bothered to learn Arabic, so he relies on translators, who are probably affiliated with terror organizations. So he writes and publishes such rubbish as they choose to feed him. That is not credible in my eyes. Because we have plenty of journalists who speak Arabic and conduct their own interviews in Gaza and the West Bank, and are allowed to move about freely and interview people. Now those are more reliable. So you see, you want me and others to blindly accept and submit to your shoddy, unresearched sources. Ooops, there goes the B-word again... By the way, Ha'aretz is being distributed door-to-door for free, because it seems that no-one in Israel in interested in reading their concontions any longer.

The more I read and watch and listen from different souces, the more outrage I feel towards Israeli treatment of Palestinians (and the Lebanese during the last war). It has nothing to do with racism or hatred of the Jewish or Israeli people, anymore than the outrage I feel towards the US government has to do with hatred of the American people. Some of my "BESTEST" of friends (as the kids would say it) are Americans. Refute the charges that Israel is breaking international law and Geneva conventions. Justify Israel's deplorable treatment of Palestinians. If Israel won the war, as you mentioned before, then are they not Prisoners of War? They are treated as prisoners and even prisoners deserve better treatment. Or what is the relationship of Palestinians to Israelis in your opinion?

What does it mean that no one in the middle east abides by set conventions, that no one (it seems) will abide by UN resolutions. That no one seems to have any sense of propriety and that people seem to enjoy thier anger? Is adrenaline better than endorphin?

I am an American.I am a believer in Yeshua. I am also jewish. I for one DO NOT celebrate that so called holiday. And I know several others do not as well. I belief G-d would be very disappointed in me if I

tomorrow will be worse.

Well, I have to thank YnetNews.com for allowing me the opportunity to write to a very specific and narrow audience of Palestinians and Jews, which qualified me to win the New America Media National Award for 2006-2007 for "Best Ethnic American Columnist." The three columns cited: “Shedding Moonlight on Conflict,” “A new Language of Peace” and “Things Palestinians and Israelis share” View all the winners at: http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_custom.html?custom_page_id=323 That puts some meaning behind my favorite (or son's) favorite expression: SHALAM! Ray Hanania www.hanania.com

Your award is great news! Keep up the good work!!! SMILE!! I am ;-)) (even though I feel a tad left out of that "specific and narrow audience" you mention because I am neither Palestinian nor Jewish).

Jonathon Cook calls the current siege on Gaza "Israel's experiment in Human Despair" and an act of ethnic cleansing designed by technocrats in suits rather than butchers in uniforms. Yet, I think, keeping to the theme of Ray's column, it could be called a Hallowe'en horror movie that's come to life. A community has been held hostage for many years. They have tried to resist and to send SOS flares to catch the attention of people living at a distance, waiting for someone more powerful to free them. Instead of help, a gang of gun-carrying marauders comes to attack and destroy them. The men, women and children are trapped and unable to escape. What terror must these victims endure! What crying and screaming as their lives turn into even more shocking death-filled nightmares! How can they save and free themselves? Will this terror show end like the horror movies shown around Hallowe'en? Will there be a smile of satisfaction when all ends well?

"a gang of gun-carrying marauders" wreaking havoc on the civilian population in Gaza. I couldn't have found a better definition for the terrorists myself, Arja. Keep up the good work.

DACON9

Is he still published on Ynet? Well, Ynet knows what's good for Internet traffic. Look at all the talkbacks.

When discussion turns towards teaching hate, some here list top the list. CONGRATS RAY. Don't let these fools get under your Hawtta!

do you write what you believe or to win award .be honest in your reply ,,,,then do you write for the palastinians and israili or the palastinians and jews ..to my view and palastinian view there is a different between the jews and the israili my hurt as a palastinian is from israil not from the jews as judism is a religion and first words from god ..it is against killing and it is a religion of mercy .but politics is another things many write for money or award only ..politics is dirty sorry as jornalism is not clean also salam ray from jerusalem