……we are dismayed. It seems to undermine all we fight for, for the benefit of our Palestinian brothers and sisters. But we do not live in a clear-cut world where causes fall into simplistic black and white categories. In every basket there are bad eggs. And consider Dostoyevsky’s contention that man cannot live without hope, and men who are destitute of hope can become wild and wicked. Then put yourself in the shoes of a jobless, destitute young Gaza man, trying to bring up a young family, who sees the mountains of rotting fruit that are not getting exported at the whim of the Israelis, and wonder. Wonder what it is in the nature of the Palestinian that has kept a cohesive, basically decent society functioning in the Occupied Terriotories for nigh on 40 years. When you read of savage executions of informants, cast your mind back to the history of Europe not so long ago, and the punishments of Nazi collaborators by resistance movements in many occupied countries. None of this, as also the suicide bombings, is condonable. It is ugly. So are the “noise bombs” let off frequently by helicopters over Gaza at the moment. History shows that imposed suffering and deprivation creates the conditions where extreme violence and social disorder will manifest itself.