[revenge] spiralling escalation of madness

In the first suicide bombing claimed by Hamas in nearly two years, a grandmother blew herself up Thursday near Israeli soldiers operating inside Gaza, near the town of Beit Lahiya. "She and I went to the mosque," [the eldest daughter] told reporters. "We were looking for martyrdom."

This is simply a spiralling escalation of demonic madness which produces no lasting result. Romans 17-21 I thought put it well:

Recompense to no man evil for evil ... If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men ... avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Yeah, great, you say, with rockets raining down on our heads and our children in fear. True and yet, where is the final solution in revenge? From Northern Ireland to Janjaweed, where is an end on’t? But if you think the advice in Romans through, it is quite a powerful strategy, if applied uniformly and consistently.

The objection is that Israel has been trying to do this but the Arabs continue to rain rockets on them without pause and without any international outcry. Where is 'live peaceably with all men' here? No one is denying that this is true and yet it will never end by military means without huge cost to the society. They tried it some weeks back and it didn't work.

There's no namby-pamby do-gooding in the Romans excerpt - it clearly states 'heap coals of fire on his head'. It's a different strategy, which perhaps betrays my Fabian past.