I'm back in Ulpan Etzion, watching the Sopranos and trying to read Hebrew newspapers. The kibbutz life was good, and, frankly, my life right now is pretty much the kibbutz life. Most people are still away for Pesach so the ulpan is quiet, there's plenty of free time and the free food keeps a-comin'. We're not sitting around singing songs and playing guitars, but the pace is nice and lazy.

The happy pace was interrupted by the suicide attack just a few hours ago in Tel-Aviv. Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (Fatah's suicide wing) claimed responsibility. Hamas, the governing power in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, stated that the attack was a legitimate response to the "state terrorism" that Israel perpetrates against the Arabs. With all due (non)-respect to those who believe there's a "cycle of violence" here, you have no idea what you're talking about. Violence is not cyclical, that's a just a convenient way for post-modern liberals to conceptualize conflicts without making a definitive determination of what is actually happening and who is exactly at fault and for what and what their specific goals are. This type of thinking is predicated on the belief that all human beings just want to live in peace, while extremists on both sides perpetrate violent attacks in support of hazy, fundamentalist goals, and that the violence is totally pointless and will lead nowhere, while overcoming the crazies will allow reasonable people from each side to sit down and work out a mutually acceptable solution. This thinking is completely disconnected from reality.

The terror organizations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip aren't criminal gangs full of sneaky ideologues who cleverly subvert innocent youths into committing violent acts, while the overwhelming majority of the population they live amongst is "just trying to live their daily lives." That's bullshit. The terror organizations are very extensive, with massive political, social and military wings. They have sophisticated, world-wide financial networks and have been using the cover of the "Palestinian Authority" to scam billions of dollars from the UN, the EU and the US. They directly or indirectly control all the municipalities and villages of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The leadership of the hamullahs, clans, that constitute the essence of Arab social and economic life are all members of or associates of one terror group of another. The entire social support network is run by the terror organizations, and there's no such thing as an independent private sector. Hence, they are so entrenched in the private, public, social and economic life of the West Bank and Gaza Arabs that to call them a minority is idiocy. The overwhelming majority of Arabs in the Palestinian territories support the actions of terrorist organizations, as can be evidenced by numerous polls that consistently put the figures at 75-80%. Of course, the greatest piece of proof is that Hamas is the most popular political faction and was voted in to dominate governance, collect taxes and spend the tax money on roads and schools, of course.

As for their ideology, the terror groups aren't crazy in the least. Their leaders are PhD's, doctors and engineers, many of them educated in Russia or in the West. They have a very clear and pragmatic plan to pressure the Jewish State indefinitely with terrorist attacks and skirmishes with the IDF, all the while keeping the left wing of Israeli society, and most of the world, enthralled with tales of peace and understanding delivered in flawless English. At the same time, they are openly discussing their greater plan for the destruction of the Jewish state in Arabic to their own people and to anyone else who would listen. They know that by stating contradictory intentions they confuse and slow their Jewish opponents as well as the Americans and the Europeans. They have figured out the basic weaknesses of a Western, liberal society - a deep desire to believe in peace regardless of the facts, a soft heart for the poor underdog, an over-sensitivity to casualities, and an inability to call and an enemy an enemy and kill him. This knowledge gives the terror groups a tremendous advantage as they work towards their goals against a more militarily and economically powerful opponent. To them, the conflict is, in the end, a zero-sum game. But, they know that it can take generations of manuevers to bring the game to an end. They are also aware that the end game, if it goes their way, will have to involve an Israeli economic collapse and massive Jewish flight from the Holy Land. With regard to the morally weak far left wing in Israeli society, the Arabs are right. Many of them don't have the staying power necessary in this happy little hotspot. However, there's a large, and growing, nationalist consensus that has strong convictions and has the capacity to use force when necessary. This right wing also has zero intentions of jumping ship and throwing the State of Israel into the dustbin of history like some ill-conceived experiment. If we base our calcuations on polls that ask how commited your average Israeli Jew is to keeping this land, fighting for it, and not bailing for Los Angeles, the patriotic nationalist camp is at about 75% of the Israeli Jewish population. Add to that the fact that the religious, for whom it is a basic principle of faith to stay here, account for virtually all of the population growth, and it's clear that the Jewish side is at least as committed to winning this thing in the long-term as the Arabs are.

The essence of the conflict is control of land, and the Arabs, including those with Israeli citizenship residing within the 1949 armistice lines, are overwhelmingly in favor of creating a 23rd Arab nation in the Middle East from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean coast. However, they cannot win this conflict, they can only carry it forward. The Jews are more advanced in every way, will always be richer and stronger, and will always have a proud nationalist majority that is willing to fight. The Arabs haven't controlled this land since that stint in the Middle Ages, and it has changed hands too many times to definitively state anything. If any piece of land anywhere was ever up for grabs, it's Israel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The claims are not settled, nothing is fully agreed upon, and there's no forseeable, predictable endpoint. Force has always set final boundaries, and humanity hasn't changed. Those who believe otherwise are fooling themselves.

With regard to this specific terrorist attack, in my opinion the proper response is to flatten the entire village from whence the suicide bomber came. Not just his family's house, but the entire village. The house demolition strategy is actually very effective in discouraging young men from signing up to get blown up, so a village or town demolition would work even better.