There is something really strange going on the Middle East. Yes, I know, it’s the Middle East and that should say it all. The normal rules don’t apply. But something is happening there that ought to give pause to any thinking person. For a very long time, while the peace process went on, our evening news was seasoned with bloody bombings; restaurants, night clubs, school buses filled with children.

We sit in front of our television sets and watch all this, assuming that the people who are killing one another are pursuing some rational set of objectives. There ought to be a still small voice in the back of our mind whispering to us. How can there be a rational objective that is being pursued by completely irrational means? And we have assumed that if we could just solve the Arab/Israeli problem, we could have peace in the Middle East. I have a bulletin for you: We are going to have to adjust our assumptions. There is a reality intruding into this picture that no one seems to notice.

So what is going on? What is the motive behind all the killings and destruction? Religion? Not really. Which of the great ayatollahs has blown himself up or encouraged his own children or family to do so? None. So, what of the time-honored, familiar motives, the ones all of us understand? Power and money (from trade in drugs and oil)? These all account for much, but not all, of the killing. There is, however, one other motive that we don’t want to think about.