After talking to a friend of mine who develops computer games, I had an interesting thought. Collaboration with others for mutual benefit makes people feel good. Oxytocin is released, the bonding hormone. In contrast, feeling like you must defend yourself from threats (real or imagined) creates stress. Epinephrin is released and, in chronic cases, the dreaded cortisol which leads to a myriad of health issues. Jesus had it right; love is the answer. Biochemistry does not lie.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has come to a head again since the recent attacks by Hamas. There have been numerous fake news and/or incomplete reports propagated by Israeli and United States media outlets that seek to villainize Hamas as a stereotypical Muslim terrorist organization. Israel is no better, however, similarly bent on eliminating Palestinians, and their retaliation has been equally brutal. (The IDF operates basically as government sanctioned terrorists.) To make a long story short, these two peoples have been fighting over this region that was originally Palestine since the Israeli-Arab war of 1948. It was then that the country of Israel was created giving half of the territory (the better, more economically prosperous, half) to a minority of Jewish citizens because the United Nations was trying to compensate for the mistreatment of Jews during World War II.
I believe terrorism is not psychological; it is economic. This is what happens when individuals are marginalized by society and are not getting their basic needs met: food and shelter. This is what has happened in Palestine since the Israeli occupation. This is why Hamas and all Palestinians are fighting, for their basic livelihood that has been taken away. It is also not entirely true that the majority of Palestinians support the radical actions of Hamas. When they came to power in 2006, a significant number of Palestinians were actually too young to participate in the process and various political shenanigans both during that election and since then have prevented further voting.
Granted, killing is never justified by either side (who started it is irrelevant) but Palestinians (and Israelis) are not purely evil men, incapable of seeing reason. In order to achieve a lasting peace, the economic dysfunction of the region must be resolved. Israelis and Palestinians must learn to work together for mutual benefit. (Release the oxytocin!)
