Fruits Of Evil That Caused Gaza Refugee Death

Gaza

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

IT BEGAN with a mango three years ago. A member of Gaza's powerful Masri clan had stopped to buy fruit at a roadside stall in 2005, but the vendor did not have enough small change to break his 20 shekel note - equal to $5.

The Masri man pulled a gun and killed the vendor, who was a member of the Abu Taha clan.

By the end of last year, the ensuing feud had claimed the lives of 29 people - 10 from neither clan. Sixty had been wounded and homes and businesses on both sides had been torched.

"We want to kill one more to be equal," a member of the Abu Taha clan told a researcher for International Crisis Group. But then the toll moved to 10 Abu Taha and 11 Masris dead - and the Masris vowed revenge.

Read more ....

My Comment: An eye for an eye is a part of Middle East Arab culture that goes back centuries. This is one of the reasons why I was against the Iraq invasion when it occurred in 2003, blow-back and revenge is not a hornet's nest that you want to shake and kick around.

It was fortunate for the U.S. that Al Qaeda and their allies over reached and started to be the worse of the worse when it came to Iraq's tribal and family communities. The same can now be said of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Family. Tribe. And culture.

In North America we identify with the nation state. Our culture and sense of identity is tied to this country. This is one of the many reasons why America is so strong in the world today. We are a melting pot that has learned to work together when the need arises.

In the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia, it is the family and tribe that unifies a people, with religion being the ideology that transcends boundaries. This has fractured each nation state into multiple and different groups .... with many of them hating each other.

Yesterday, I had a post on the Niger Delta in Nigeria, and I made the following comment:

30 million people broken into 40 odd ethnic groups, speaking 200 different dialects and languages .... and they all are hostile to each other. Talk about ethnic tension.

Yes .... talk about ethnic, tribal, and racial tension. It is no surprise that nothing can be done.

If done properly, an imperial power can easily play each faction against each other .... a practice that the United States has learned a lot since 9/11 .... and is being a very good practitioner of it today. But in the long run it is never good to hang around these neighborhoods .... you will just end up being one of those tribes, allbeit the strongest one.