Poverty causes war. When young men must choose between starving or fighting for a cause, the choice is easy — and they are easily recruited by a persuasive leader who provides them with that cause. And so we have Hamas and the attack on Israel.
But if Israel (and the United States) had chosen to spend that vast amount of military money on raising the Gazans out of their extreme poverty, providing housing, jobs, education, and health care, the young men would have had a better choice.
Instead, Israel has chosen to kill 10,000 people, most of them innocent civilians — and massively destroy buildings and housing. The poverty worsens and the cycle begins again.
— Joan Bundtzen
Anchorage
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