Imagine you are a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in Gaza. You are lying wounded in a hospital. Air strikes periodically rock the building. Your parents are dead. Your one-year-old brother and three-year-old sister have just been zipped together into a body bag. Three siblings are still buried somewhere under your apartment building with six of their cousins and four aunts and uncles who were sheltering in the same apartment with you.
You don’t need a PhD in terrorism studies to figure out this kid’s likely life path.
Since September 11, 2001 governments around the world—including Israel—have spent tens of millions of dollars on research to identify the triggers for radicalization. Cut through all the other noise and the findings come down to this: If you have been exposed to violence you are significantly more likely to commit violence.
Read the full story at The Cairo Review
