This wu doesn't try to justify Israeli policy in the occupied territories, but was created because of the ridiculous state of current public opinion in the world.
I was sitting in a pub with a few Israelis and arguing politics, when one of them said: "I'm as left wing as you are, and maybe more so, but I can't help but note that if a Palestinian walked in here now and said he wishes to become a suicide bomber we'd argue with him, while if one of us walked into a Palestinian cafe and said we wanted to talk about peace, we'd be lynched within seconds". This conversation took place before the current Israeli invasion into the west bank, but after the current wave of suicide bombings began. I'm mentioning this both to explain that this state of affairs is not a result of the last Israeli invasion (it is a result of occupation, which is a result of the six-day war, which is a result of the creation of the state of Israel according to UN decision and the unwillingness of its Arab neighbors to acknowledge its existence, etc., but not of this current action), and in order to remind people that the suicide bombings are not a retaliation to this invasion, but its cause. This person's remark, in case there's a doubt, is totally true - my sister, who is a pacifist and a peace activist can't go to the West Bank or Gaza safely.
nyte: I think you may have misunderstood me. The wu wasn't meant to be a "he started it" defense - it was meant to explain some of the frustration left-wing people in Israel feel. As for what I said about the suicide bombings and "the current invasion" - well, it's not a retaliatory measure. The Israeli public was faced with an unprecedented wave of suicide bombings (compared to the size of the population, a much larger number of people was killed in these bombings than in 9/11 in the states. This means many more people have a relative or close friend who
died or was
injured in such a bombing), and the Israeli government was forced to take action to stop these bombings. It wasn't retaliation, it was an attempt at self defense. Like many such attempts, this one went a bit too far, in my opinion. Your claim would be totally correct had it been retaliation.