Condemning Despicable Acts

Israel - the most powerful force in the Middle East; a nuclear power; a power that is presently occupying the weakest nation (if it is allowed to be a nation) in the Middle East (Palestine); a power that is building an enormous wall around itself and between Palestinian settlements, farms, schools and workplaces; a power that receives billions of dollars and unshakeable support from the behemoth United States of America; a power that controls the lives of all Palestinians living in the Palestinian territories by controlling their air space, their movement, their resources, their employment, and constantly launching military assaults into their cities and villages; a power that has killed many innocent Palestinians, including children, as well as American and European peace activists; was attacked by a suicide bomber today.

Of course the reaction was strong and overwhelming from many Western leaders - the same leaders who barely react to the constant suicide bombings in Iraq - I guess Israeli lives are worth more than Iraqi lives - the same leaders who often praise military action against civilians as long as they approve of the ultimate goal.

I certainly will not praise the suicide bombing, but I cannot condemn it. How do people expect the Palestinian people to react to the suffering and the despair over their occupation? Had the bomber lost friends or family members to Israeli military action sometime in the past? Who knows? If Israel does something immoral or illegal against Palestine, what will the world do? What can the world do? And, what can the Palestinians do? They have no real army, and would certainly fail in a conventional war against Israel.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the act "a despicable act of terror for which there is no excuse or justification." The act is certainly as despicable as the occupation to which it is a response. There may not be a "justification," but there is a reason Israel suffers such attacks - its own unexcusable policies toward the Palestinian people.

As long as Israel is the aggressor and the superpower, I will continue to condemn their attacks before I condemn the Palestinian reaction.