Stardate 20020424.1106

(On Screen): This would be funny if it weren't so fucking tragic. Hamas just condemned suicide bombing. Not all of them, mind, just those done spontaneously by kids. The message isn't "Don't do it!" but rather "Wait until you're older!"

Three kids about age 13 left suicide notes and then attempted to attack a Jewish settlement, armed with crude homemade pipe bombs and knives. They were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers defending the settlement.

It seems that the horror of suicide bombing has finally boomeranged on the Palestinian militants. Even they were sickened by this, and Hamas issued a statement discouraging similar spontaneous attempts.

They blamed Israel, of course. But that's a crock. What has happened is that years of efforts by Hamas and other groups involved in the bombing campaign to glamorize the bombers and to indoctrinate young Palestinians into wanting to become bombers have been more successful than they intended. What they wanted was a large pool of young people from which they could select attackers willing to die. But their efforts were too successful, and what they've gotten is a generation with a death wish. They started a fire and it's burning out of control.