Introduction to International Politics
Foreign Event Analysis
| Locale | ![[]](http://www.kvasaheim.com/flags/flag15-il.png "Flag of Israel") | Israel |
|---|---|---|
| Title |
Palestinian Shot Dead After Car Attack
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| Summary |
A 19-year Palestinian boy, Qassem Mughrabi, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers after running his car into a group of Israelis at a bus stop. The boy’s family insists Qassem did not mean any harm, claiming he did not have a driver’s license and thus never learned how to drive a car correctly. Israel insists the attack was deliberate, saying he decided to carry out the attack after a failed romance with his cousin. The attack resulted in nineteen injuries and no fatalities. Many Israelis are calling for a return to the practice of demolishing the home of the attacker’s family.
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| Analysis |
This event will only serve to heighten the tensions between Israel and the Palestinian territories. The attack follows a string of recent Palestinian attacks on Israeli citizens in the past year, including one in March that resulted in eight dead Israeli students. Israel clearly feels its security threatened more lately than it has been in the past few years, as evidenced by some people wanting to return to the practice of demolishing the attacker’s family home. The thought behind this is that it would serve as a deterrent to future attackers and allow Israel to re-assert its power over the Palestinian territories.
However, this would not be an effective deterrent. The very suggestion of reinstating this process makes Israel-Palestine relations tenser, and to actually put in into practice would make the hostility between the governments skyrocket. Furthermore, the actual act of knocking down the home could cause an otherwise neutral Palestinian to become a disgruntled if non-violent supporter of anti-Israel campaigns at best and a full blown militant at worst.
Israel’s best strategy at this point is to continue to act quickly and decisively against the individual aggressor while making sure as little people get caught in the crossfire. Not only is this the humane thing to do, but it prevents any type of escalation between the two governments and lessens the chance of more Palestinians becoming militant.
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| Perspective |  | Realist |
| In-Region URL | ||
| Out-of-Region URL | ||
| Submitted | September 26, 2008 at 03:16 am | |
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