And so well trained have we, as a people, become in this art that on occasion the hidden message is understood as the exact opposite of the outward meaning. Thus, for instance, when an official pronounces Egypt free of mad cow disease, Egyptians immediately start stocking their freezers with poultry. The one group would have us believe, without the least attempt at rational elucidation, that killing two or three old men and women in a Tel Aviv suburb and transforming Palestinian youths into walking bombs will somehow liberate Palestine. Both camps exhibit a total disregard for Palestinian lives and suffering. The very meaninglessness of these two fundamental, and allegedly opposing, slogans is exemplified by the fact that nothing that pertains to a coherent strategy can be inferred from them.
Suicide bombings are sordid.
Armed attacks on non-combatants are immoral. And the story of the Biblical Samson is more farce than tragedy. We need to fight on a terrain of our choosing, not theirs.