Terrorism Causes Occupation…

…and not the other way around.
At least, that’s the central theme of a blog published today on The Huffington Post by Harvard Law professor and legal expert Alan Dershowitz.
The Huffington PostThe Blog | Alan Dershowitz: Terrorism Causes Occupation, Not Vice Versa
While Dershowitz uses examples of Israel and Lebanon, he cites several examples through history including Tibet and Britain.

Accordingly, occupation does not cause terrorism. Terrorism is caused by the culture of death preached by radical Islamic clerics and by the world’s reaction to it–namely making concessions and blaming the victims of terrorism who fight back. Terrorism persists because it is rewarded–because it works. Occupation does not cause terrorism, but terrorism does cause occupation and reoccupation. Israel would have left Gaza and much of the West Bank long ago if not for the fear of terrorism from that area. It never would have gone into southern Lebanon in 1982 were that area not being used as a base for terrorism. Now Israel has once again entered southern Lebanon to stop rocket attacks and try to retrieve its kidnapped soldiers.

An interesting read and take on the Israel/Lebanon hostilities that are ongoing at the present hour (barring the acceptance of a UN cease fire which could, in theory, happen at any time.)
I’d have liked to have seen Professor Dershowitz carry premise over to Iraq, but reading the first two paragraphs of his blog one might reasonably conclude how that might have turned out.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com