Where suicide bombers come from

An amazing article by Nic Robertson (CNN).

Gaza horrors sow seeds for future violence

Finally we know where suicide bombers come from. The article describes the trauma that children of Gaza are undergoing these days.

The children have seen terrible images of tragedy: their friends injured or killed and bloodied bodies in the streets. They are images Hassanin says he will never forget. He'll keep them stored away until he's old enough to do something about it.

And the punchline? Here it is:

"When we will grow up, we will bomb them back," a CNN translator quoted the boy saying on Hamas TV.

Right, and here comes a professional confirmation from a Gazan psychiatrist, no less:

"Today children are experiencing a serious kind of trauma, and I fear for the future," el Sarraj said. "The children of the first intifada were throwing stones at the Israeli troops. And because of the trauma they were subjected to, 10 years later, the same children became suicide bombers."

So now we all know where suicide bombers come from.

Just a quick exercise in arithmetic for Gazan doctor: children of Sderot and other towns and villages on the Israeli side of the border were subjected to daily bombardment of Qassams for almost eight years. Taking the average age of a kid as 7 years and the average age of a suicide bomber as 20 years, how many suicide bombers will the Israeli side provide in, say, ten years?

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.