Ruvy - I saw the movie "Ararat" recently. I couldn't really recommend it, but it was interesting. It was about the lives of modern Armenians, and how they dealt with the Genocide. One character put it in a way that I'd never thought about - that the ongoing pain wasn't about the loss of lives, or the land, but the knowledge that you could be so hated. I can only imagine the toll it must take on your countrymen, who fled Russia or Germany only to be treated like this by your new neighbors.

Baronius,

The thing that kills morale here is not the hatred of the Arabs. This a given and taken for granted. What kills morale is the refusal of the Israeli government to do what is necessary to secure the country from Arab terror. It is really a lot simpler than the hand-wringing traitors on Government Hill and their little pups at Ha'aretz, Yediot AHronot and Ma'ariv, the three major Hebrew dailies, make it sound. But these solutions take guts and steady nerves, which are in terribly short supply in Israel these days....

Ruvy, I don't imagine that hatred is new or surprising. But the constancy of it has got to take its toll. To endure something as big as intercontinental hatred, the psyche must give it a meaning. It would turn some people into basket cases, bending over backwards for some sign of acceptance. It would harden others, leaving them itching for a fight. There's no way that much psychological duress could be absorbed harmlessly.

Ruvy,

This attack was actually ok, because the Arab in question was not part of Hamas, and therefor had no responsibility to abide by the truce. Just like the rocket attacks last week were by Islamic Jihad, and also were not covered by the truce. Next time, read the fine print in these truces, I'd suggest getting a good jewish lawyer...(END SARCASM)

Meanwhile the UN claims that it is the Israelis who are violating the Hamas called truce.

Ruvy, re your #2; by "But these solutions take guts and steady nerves" you undoubtedly mean negotiating a series of just agreements with your neighbours...

OA,

Thank you for putting the ...(END SARCASM) in your post. I would have hectoring you no end otherwise. These bastards are creative, I'll give them that. I'm petty good at figuring out ways to kill people and this prick came up with something that left my mouth hanging open when I realized what he had done.

Lots of Arabs make reasonably steady money in construction in Israel and when someone pulls shit off like this, it mkes you wonder whether we should employ Arabs at all - for anything. It reminds me of two occasions when Arabs from places like Beit Hanina and Jebl Mukabr (or shuld it be Macabre?) working as cooks tried to poison the customers in the Jewish restaurants where they worked, and is very similar to the shooting at the Yeshivat Merkaz haRav where the killer was a van driver who wsas known to the yeshiva students and who was welcomed with open arms at a rosh Hodesh celebration.

Meanwhile the UN claims that it is the Israelis who are violating the Hamas called truce.

Who gives a crap what the idiots at the UN say? They are worthless pieces of shit anyway who should be kicked out of this country altogether. Let them go back to screwing barmaids in Poland, Sweden, Finland, Canada and India. We don't need them or the lying scum who command them.

Ruvy, re your #2; by "But these solutions take guts and steady nerves" you undoubtedly mean negotiating a series of just agreements with your neighbours....

Sure, Chris. Definitely. Uh huh.... Let me just get out the gun oil, so I can do something useful while reading your brilliant observations....

Of course, the title might be closer to the truth than the text. It could just be an Arab construction worker who finally cracked under the constant strain of searches and checkpoints and being treated like a second-class citizen and exploited by his own leaders and just snapped.

Dave

Ruvy, the next time you do something useful, as opposed to hateful, will be the first time...

As high as tensions (always) are, the thing that struck me about this event, was how very...um...well...AMERICAN it is. A few years ago, a fellow who had a gripe with his town Council plated up a D-9 and took a spin through his local down-town, paying particular attention to businesses.

Seems to me, this guy might just have snapped-like, as in for real, honest to pete flipped his lid and had a good old fashioned psychotic event. considering how apparently available explosives, weapons, etc. etc. are, a bulldozer's really kind of an improvised weapon, and If I recall correctly, Arabs ride those buses and drive that road too-and he was pretty indiscriminate if the press reports are any kind of accurate.

Dave, Cannonshop,

Having lived near Tsur BaHer myself, I can tell you that there were occasional checkpoints and searches conducted by the Border Patrol. Recently, these searches have been cut down some due to a fancy electronic monitoring system that is supposed to detect even a rabbit running across a field.

Of course, unless you are prey to every conspiracy theory on the planet, you will not believe that a person's mind can be detected.

The weak link in the line of reasoning you both present is this. Two residents of Tsur BaHer both came up with unusual ways to kill Jews. It is quite likely, given that it is generally known that Al Qaeda and other terror groups have been active in Tsur BaHer, that they came up with something different. Using a bulldozer as a weapon was indeed outside the box thinking, in spite of the three unfortunate people who wound up inside the box because of it. If my followup article gets published before the arrival of the messiah, you will be able to see that you are not alone in your thinking, however.