This Is Why Gazans Won't Back Down

Brian K. Barber wrote for CNN on why Gaza protesters will continue to engage in mass protests despite suffering numerous casualties:

The main takeaway from the "Great March of Return Protest" -- a 45-day event that began just after I left Gaza six weeks ago and Tuesday reached its most important moment -- is that residents of Gaza will continue to protest regardless of the number of casualties they endure.

Why? Intuitively, one would think Gazans would have caved long ago. An answer lies in two core features of Gazan individual and collective psychology, which my colleagues and I have studied empirically and as I have come to observe them personally in now over two decades of regular stays in Gaza: being marginalized and dehumanized.

Any individuals, organizations and governments who are seriously interested in making life better for Gazans or in resolving the hostilities between Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel, with its ripple effects throughout the region, must understand why Gazans keep fighting back.