That's the heart of the problem. The Israeli Left is certain that the conflict between us and the Arabs is about something specific, like a doll, or even the right to the land, and that the Jews and Arabs can compromise and make up. That's simple western reasoning – every side looks at how worthwhile it is for them vs. how worthwhile it is for the other, everyone wants to live, and if possible, in peace and quiet. So you find a compromise, even a painful one, because that's better than an ongoing bloody conflict.

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Arab reasoning is completely different: the conflict is about living or ceasing to live – a life of endless war or certain death. Jihad takes precedence over everything. We have never heard what they would do with this country after annihilating us – the worst-case scenario – or expelling us, in the best case. That is of no concern to them. In their eyes, we are foreigners whom they refuse to accept under any border arrangement.

The answer that the Israeli Left refuses to accept, we got from the same news broadcast that reported Grossman's remarks. Correspondent Gal Berger produced a stunning piece about the summer camps Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad operate in the Gaza Strip. These camps don't have swimming pools or jungle gyms. There's no music or dancing. Instead, tens of thousands of youths in uniform train as an army for Judgment Day. The piece shows us activities that are basic training: an obstacle course, running and crawling, and of course, target practice using different weapons. There are no lectures about reconciliation or peace with the Jews. These youths are practicing for one purpose only – to oust the Jews by any means necessary.

Our attitude is condescending. We neither listen nor believe, and insist on clinging to our own reasoning, which is alien to these parts. But these youths will grow up and grow stronger. Already, more than 300,000 kids have passed through these camps. The zealots on the other side don't care about elderly women shoved into hospital corridors because of a lack of beds, the high cost of living, road accidents, or violence in welfare institutions. Or the disabled or the elderly or the minimum wage or affordable housing or unemployment or good education… or anything else.

Concerns like these are of no interest to them. Their leaders take care to line their own pockets and their bank accounts in Europe and the US. It's a shame that the Defense Ministry doesn't put out a well-produced film about the lives of the leaders of Gaza. A film like that should be broadcast and available to everyone, including every last kid in their summer day camps. Maybe that will convince the young people, and they will bring salvation. From the Israeli Left, we'll just keep getting the same rigid thinking.

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Reason says that if a major industrial zone is built there, with factories that will provide employment for Gaza residents, the tension will dissipate. If a long beachside promenade, with fountains, is built – along with playgrounds, cafes, and restaurants – Gaza will experience economic growth that Hamas would be afraid to lose. Air and seaports open to the world, not to mention a power plant that will provide electricity to the entire Gaza Strip – to be built with help from Israel and the nations of the world – would all be sites that could not be lost. Needless wars would only cause heavy damage, and of course painful losses.

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The crucial question we need to ask ourselves is why hasn't that happened already? Billions of dollars have been poured into Gaza, which were soaked up by private bank accounts and buried in concrete tunnels dug toward Israel. The money could have been put toward vineyards and fields, schools, colleges, hospitals, the foundations of a massive tourism industry, and import and export trade; why wasn't it? Hamas' simple answer is that it would have been a horrible waste on unimportant things that according to some twisted Western logic must not be lost. Gaza reasons otherwise. Differently.

Israel has many cities, outside of which lie busy industrial zones that are home to factories, machines, raw materials, and even customers. The Ashdod, Haifa, and Eilat ports are flourishing and don't need to be built from scratch. And what's so bad about Ben-Gurion International Airport or the new Ramon Airport in Eilat? They already have runways and control towers and flight routes to everywhere in the world. All that needs to be done is to transfer them to new owners. That is a kind of reasoning that Israel doesn't understand, and until we do, we will continue to take a beating and get bogged down even further. There is also the danger that eventually, we'll be the losers, no matter how enlightened.

There are also those among us who entertain the utterly impossible idea of creating separation between Hamas and the population of Gaza. That's a dangerous game that would lead to bloodshed. An organization that does not hesitate to use women and children as human shields will take no pity on rebellious civilians. The reality in Gaza is a hard one, and we need to take in the process of reasoning by which in the Middle East, only those who can withstand destruction and loss of life win. That is the Hamas logic.

Hamas members train hard from the time they are in preschool, with a single goal in mind: to die as martyrs. International TV stations will do the rest of their work for them. We also can't wage war against Hamas without harming some civilian bystanders, and their pictures will be broadcast on all the news shows everywhere in the world. If we add to that the fact that Israeli society is very sensitive to casualties, wounded, and abductions, we'll start to understand that we have to start thinking differently. Completely differently.

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It is important to internalize this message because it explains why Israel's deterrence strategy against Hamas in Gaza falls apart repeatedly; and why even when Israel permits the transfer of money and goods, there still has been no reprieve from cross-border arson and missile attacks.

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What's new? Tens of billions of dollars have already been dumped into Gaza and nary one cent has gone toward rehabilitating or developing the coastal enclave to improve the lives of its straining residents. When money does arrive, the various terrorist leaders take a large chunk. The rest of the funds are diverted to making weapons, missiles and digging tunnels, all to enhance deterrence against Israel.

The heads of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are extremely wealthy and live in relative luxury. The horrendous humanitarian situation in Gaza is of no interest to them; indeed it is even convenient. Many Israelis argue that Gaza is still Israel's responsibility and that we should build them air and seaports, desalinization and manufacturing plants, and more. If they were interested, the terrorist leaders would have had these things a long time ago. But improving the lives of Gazans would largely eradicate their motivation to serve these terrorist organizations, and this is not in Hamas' interest.

Israel's goal, therefore, should be as follows: Distinguish between the terrorist leaders and the downtrodden people of Gaza. To this end, Israel must eliminate the ability of these terrorists to influence the hearts and minds of Gazans. Why, for example, has Israel not launched any form of efficient public relations, in Arabic, to show the people of Gaza the damage that their corrupt and greedy leaders are foisting upon them? Instead, Gazans only see and hear about Israel's repeated concessions to Hamas.

So what does Hamas want? According to its charter, it wants to destroy the Zionist entity and revoke the State of Israel. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar says his organization "only" wants to remove the blockade of Gaza, which is the same thing, more or less, just more palatable to foreign ears. They don't want to rehabilitate Gaza; they want the 2.5 million people living there to invade Israel; then the rest of their plan will fall into place.

We need to understand that the money Qatar transfers to the Gaza Strip is not being used to help Gazans. Aside from the service fee lining the pockets of terrorist chiefs, the money goes to their loyalist government officials, who simply strengthen Hamas and its satellite groups.

In the words of former Shin Bet security agency chief Avi Dichter: "We don't understand Arabs over here." We must open our eyes and read what they write; we must strain our ears and listen to what they openly say, and realize that we need to start "understanding Arabs."

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