Columnists and editorialists and pundits are hand-wringing about what can be done to stop the violence in Gaza.
Should the West prop up Abbas? Should Israel? Should an international force be sent there? Should we forget the sanctions?
The problem is that there is a solution, but the world has created an environment where that solution will never occur.
Let's look a bit north. Despite Lebanon's problems, it has a strong amount of power from its citizens themselves. Notwithstanding the more recent setbacks, the Cedar Revolution proves that. Hezbollah might be flexing its muscles but the majority of Lebanese will not ever accept their rule.
What needs to happen in Gaza is something similar, and it will never happen. The reason is because the international community has never treated Palestinian Arabs like adults who can act responsibly, and as a result they are a group of whiners and babies.
Rather than blame PalArabs for their support for terror, the West tends to blame Israel (the only "adult" in the region.) Over decades, this lesson takes hold, and now we have a welfare state of millions of people who cannot and will not act like they have any responsibility whatsoever.
The pundits and politicians today keep this self-perpetuating and self-fulfilling myth alive by looking everywhere for a solution rather than the people themselves. And after so many years of learning that all of their problems are Israel's (and America's) fault, the Palestinian Arabs are ready to play their part as perpetual victims to the hilt - and let any chance for a real nation, and real peace, go down the drain. Again.
So while the PalArabs have the lion's share of the responsibility for the situation they're in, the world's coddling of their support of terror and their acting like helpless children with RPGs is in no small part responsible for the situation as well.
Any teacher or parent can tell you that a child will act how they are treated, and the same is true with adults. If you treat the kid as an adult, they will mature much faster. If you spoil them, they will remain that way as well. People will usually take on the roles that others assign them, which is why so many revert to acting like children when visiting their parents.
Like it or not, the world has acted as if Palestinian Arabs are nothing more than spoiled children who cannot be expected to do anything about their situation. And that's a major reason that they are.
