The Method of This Madness
…One side invokes the murder of Israeli innocents by human bombs, the other speaks of the injustices suffered by the Palestinians.

In that disconnection lies a central reason why this conflict appears to be growing even more resistant to resolution. For two distinct struggles have become entangled: the apocalyptic struggle of the suicide bombers against the very existence of the Israelis and the natural struggle of the Palestinians for an end to Israeli occupation and a state of their own.

This mingling of acts of murder with a desire for freedom has enabled the leaders on both sides to befuddle their people and their supporters, portraying suicide bombers as martyrs in a just struggle of national liberation, or casting the destruction of the institutions and symbols of Palestinian statehood as a war on terrorism.

The confusion has deepened with every new attack, until now even people of good will argue for the morality of suicide bombings, saying that suicide bombers are a natural product of a history of humiliation and despair, or that anything the Israeli Army does in Palestinian towns is a legitimate defense against this scourge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/07/weekinreview/07SCHM.html