Recent violence in the occupied territories and Israel

The violence continues unabated in Israel and the occupied territories.  On one side you have settlers terrorizing the Palestinians and the IDF doing it's usual measure of shootings - in the name of security( of course), and on the Palestinian side they have gone mad with their stabbing spree attacking Jews - in the name of resistance( of course) - and one wonders where will this end? The death toll to date is 161 Palestinians dead versus 22 Israeli's.

Let me express how sickened I am by reading about this latest wave of violence. How can it be a 13 yr old girl actually set out to stab an Israeli guard? Is that to be believed - was the knife planted next to her - but nevertheless, it is very shocking and highlights the madness that is the occupied territories. Here is what the headlines say regarding this incident:

They go on to report that:

Jerusalem: 

A 13-year-old Palestinian girl tried to stab an Israeli guard at a West Bank settlement Saturday and was shot dead, the latest bloodshed in a months-long wave of attacks, police said.

Since I can't verify the authenticity of the second photo, was it photo-shopped or not, not going to comment on what happened but clearly one has to question whether or not there weren't other means to subdue her.

If this was not bad enough, days later anther bizarre headline appeared:

Palestinian twin sisters accused of making bombs for attacks

One 18-year-old learned how to make explosives from online videos, second helped hide them in their house, Shin Bet says

Israeli security forces arrested 18-year-old bomb-making twin sisters from Shwaika, outside the Palestinian city of Tulkarem in the West Bank last month, the Shin Bet security service announced Monday

Just when you think it's couldn't get any more crazier, another stabbing incident occurs the next day:

I have only scratched the surface. There are many more incidents where Palestinians stab or attempt to stab Israeli's and where the IDF is shooting Palestinians.  Some of course are justifiable shootings but many are not - and there are many cases of settlers terrorizing the natives. No way to sugarcoat this unfolding tragedy and madness. The Palestinians while under international law do have the right to resist the occupation such suicidal acts by women and children going up against armed Israeli's in no way shape or form can be justified. It is madness. It is counterproductive. It is futile and suicidal. It is dumb and stupid. Most of all, it will not advance the Palestinian cause or bring the two people closer to peace or ending the occupation. If Palestinian leadership is so inept not to offer their people a solution other than send their women and children out on desperate suicide missions then it is time to get new leadership.  There has to be a better way. I intentionally refuse to get into the moral question behind Palestinian attacks - and God knows it troubles me to no end to see any civilians killed - but the moral card is best left to those in a position to make moral judgements. I see two people tied in a knot that neither can escape from on their own. Although, I see Israel with the power to shape reality and facts on grounds - for better or worse - and sadly since it's being ruled by right wingers it's being shaped to the detriment of both Israeli's and Palestinians. I see the Palestinians hopelessly dysfunctional, traumatized and damaged ( the same can be said of Israeli's) as a people with failed leadership. They are the gang that can't shoot straight even with 20/20 vision. They always miss the forest from the trees. Israel is not giving them a way out. What follows is madness. You are watching madness before your very eyes. Israeli's unfortunately will not see such acts as anything more than "they want to kills the Jews". Some Israeli's will scream out we told you the so called " peace and quiet" is an illusion. People like Gideon Levy or Amira Haas or those who for years saw the suffering on the other side knew this day was coming. Yet, Israeli's will do what they always do,  shut their eyes, time to be scared and flex more muscles - and of course time to "mow the lawn".