I am saying, instead, that if we all accept the premise that actions have consequences , that the assailant's action exposes him to punishment, then we must accept that the same rules apply to us. In the endless sea of cause and effect, there is some possibility that we have contributed to the existence of the assailant. Since it is always easier and less controversial to begin by examining other cultures before finding fault with our own, let's start with the Israelis and Palestinians. In another recent interview reported in the Times, a Palestinian police official commented that the most intractable problem the Palestinians returning from abroad face is this selfish, empty, violent generation. We can hold these young people responsible for themselves, we can blame their parents and the inflammatory Yasir Arafat, but we must not absolve the Israelis for their creation.
Responsibility is a pie which can be divided up one thousand or one million percent.
In any circumstance where you govern a country, a population within it with no jobs, no education and no self-respect is, or becomes your responsibility. In Israel, it begins with the massacre of Arab villagers at Deir Yassin , continues with the bulldozing of Palestinian houses , culminates in present day real and symbolic violence against them. If you tell a group of people long enough that they are dogs, they will eventually prove you right by acting like mad dogs. It is human nature. Whoever began it, it is the government of a country within which the violence occurs that has the most authority, and the most responsibility, to end it.