When Israel first encountered Islamists in Gaza in the 1970s and '80s, they seemed focused on studying the Quran, not on confrontation with Israel. The Israeli government officially recognized a precursor to Hamas called Mujama Al-Islamiya, registering the group as a charity. It allowed Mujama members to set up an Islamic university and build mosques, clubs and schools. Crucially, Israel often stood aside when the Islamists and their secular left-wing Palestinian rivals battled, sometimes violently, for influence in both Gaza and the West Bank.

It figures...

Yeah, violence begets ...
but what could one do in the face of violence ?
Do we sit down and start a discussion on ''Who Started?''
The song says it all : ''We didn't start the fire ... it was burning since it started turning''
This will go on till Thy Kingdom Come !