The recent terror attacks carried out by Palestinian suicide bombers in Tel Aviv is a step in the completely wrong direction.

It will not help the Palestinians achieve their final goal, which is the creation of a Palestinian state.

Hours after the attacks, Israeli armed forces fired missiles against Palestinian targets in Gaza in retaliation.

This might end up in the familiar endless loop that we have seen before; deadly terror attacks followed by severe military response.

The Palestinians must understand that they are the weaker party in this conflict.

To a large extent they depend on Israel for their basic infrastructure needs such as water and electric supply.

They cannot stand up to Israel’s military and technological might .

Palestinians, however, should try to solve their problems through dialogue instead of through blind and fanatical suicide attacks.

It is the stronger and more advanced nation that can afford to impose sanctions or rules on weaker nations.

The weaker nation has no choice but to agree/comply with those rules or suffer the consequences of sanctions or in a worst case, war.

We see this happening all over the world.

For example, the United States can afford to impose sanctions against Iraq and North Korea without significantly affecting its own economy. This is a perfect example of an old concept: survival of the fittest.

Every suicide attack makes the Palestinian dream of owning their own state go farther and farther away from them. If the Palestinians are sincere about owning their own state, they must do away with their traditional and violent Islamic Jihad approach.

They must learn from what happened to the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan. Radicalism cannot survive.

Prasanna Padmanabhan

Alumna