When our sons were young we imposed a rule that there should be no hitting. Differences were to be resolved with discussion. It’s a fact that you could hear the discussions miles away, but when I look back through my rose-coloured glasses we had a pretty peaceful household. Isn’t the mind wonderful the way it shoves unpleasant thoughts into the subconscious. There was one incident, however, that we remember vividly.

It had to do with a minor conflict between our two sons. The younger one came to us complaining bitterly that his brother had “hit him back.” Talk about self-incriminating evidence. We should have told him off but the revelation was so pathetic that it made us laugh.

Which brings me to the topic of Palestinians. Now, they are forever complaining that the Israelis are hitting them back. But, unlike the episode with our sons, what they are doing is not in the least bit funny because people are dying.

Gaza which is now in the hands of the Palestinians is a departure point for missiles which Hamas is sending to towns like Sderot every single day. As Greg Sheridan, who is “The Australian’s” foreign editor, puts it;

Every day half a dozen of these rockets were fired. On one day when I was there recently 20 were fired. They are not fired at military targets. Their intent is to murder civilians.

I cannot imagine that any nation in the world would sit back and allow this sort of daily attack to continue. I still remember when Saddam Hussein was firing missiles into Israel and the Americans asked Israel not to return fire. Who but Israel would have endured constant bombardments from that tyrant without sending any rockets back towards the Iraqis?

Israelis had to wear special gas masks to protect themselves from Saddam’s chemical weapons, the ones that he used on his own people. Nobody should be expected to just sit there and take it. But ironically, the instant that the Israeli army retaliates against Hamas bombings, the Palestinians cry foul.

As Greg Sheridan never fails to point out, Israelis do not target civilians the way the Arabs do. How can you compare the two nations?

How can anyone strap explosives on children and send them into Israel to blow themselves up for the cause? How can any mother condone and even encourage her children to commit such villainy? And yet these mothers are proud of what their children are doing. To what depths have they sunk because of brainwashing by jihadists?

How can anyone seriously believe that there can be peace between a civilised democracy such as Israel and a group of fanatics stuck in the Dark Ages?

What hope is there for peace when the Palestinians and their supporters, of whom there are millions, play the underdog game whenever Israel fights back. After enduring countless suicide bombings the Israelis have built a barrier to keep them out. So what happens? The Palestinians, the very people who are attacking children on buses and civilians in shopping centres, start complaining about it. What they want is easy access to continue bombings. How dare the Israelis try to protect themselves!

To make matters worse, that prestigious United Nations organisation has the hide to condemn Israel’s efforts to protect its citizens. Such world support can only encourage the Palestinians to continue with these reprehensible atrocities.

Well, if the Palestinians want to put an end to the fence then they should stop sending suicide bombers into Israel. If they don’t want the Israeli Defence Force to attack Islamic Jihad or Hamas or whoever is the poisonous flavour of the day, then they should stop firing rockets into Israel.

And, if they really want genuine peace with Israel, it would be a good idea to recognise its right to exist. That would be a logical starting point. It’s about time they stopped complaining about Israel hitting them back. When the Palestinians wake up to themselves, the Israelis will be only too willing to talk peace. But one can’t just do the talk. One has to walk the walk and as long as the Palestinians keep on doing what they are doing there is no point in discussing anything with them.