Lately, (and also especially since 9/11), we seen a number of suicides in various circumstances. In Belgium, a former minister committed suicide, because he was going to be called back by justice for an affair nobody could proove he was responsible for. It was too much and he put an end to his misery by putting an end to his life. Just like teachers being falsely accused by children of abusing them, have committed suicide. And in France, a madman committed a mass <ahref=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1899000/1899948.stm>shooting before committing suicide. He had told his (few) friends he wanted to die, but he also said he wanted to do it very visibly.
And we see every day, a suicide bomber in the Middle East killing others.

They all have a common thread: they want to die, but die in a way that will be noticed. The guy in France has written a long letter explaining why he did this.
A suicide after a massacre (hoping to be killed by the police: he did shout "Tuez-moi, tuez-moi !!) while shooting the councillors was his only way to feel he existed.
And it's very much what goes on in the middle-east: the Palestinians are so much humiliated, so desperate, the only way to get their dignity back is by killing and committing suicide. They've seen the suicide-bombers do threaten the Israelis, there is a reaction from Israel and they are being talked about all over the world: they see recognition signs of their problem by acting like that.
It looks like a crazy way of reacting, a suicide, but it's all a matter of understanding their motives, their despair and especially their sense of dishonor from the lack of help from not only the western world but also the other arab countries. They feel abandoned and have nothing left to loose.

This also means we've got to recognize the problem. It may be individual or a whole group, but it's intrisically the same. The Palestinians are not forced to commit suicide, they find many volunteers who are willing to go all the way, even volunteers who act completely on their own. And the situation, over there, makes it possible. Those suicide bombers are humans too, humans with a determined mindset, a mindset that they didn't get at birth ,but a mindset that was encouraged by their complete sense of loss of purpose in a normal existence.

Dishonor is worse than death, even to the western world. It's not by ignoring their acts of despair (that look so much like a cry for help) that we'll solve the problem, but by listening to them, giving them a constructive purpose in life.

Raoul