i see a democratic and open society much like ours in israel.
a tiny place under siege because of their religion and greed
over their land. a people who are constantly attacked in the
most brutal and unconscionable ways by what any reasonable
person must honestly admit are terrorist - war crime tactics.
nevertheless they maintain an open and highly civilized even
liberal society in general with a vigorous free press and
admirable work ethic and do not stoop to reciprocal terror
tactics. i admire that about the israelis.

i defend the israelis because they are widely and unjustly
abused and misrepresented. and "i'm a rebellious youth".

it is popular to berate and admonish the israelis because of
the tragic plight of the palestinians. but i'm not one to
follow the crowd. i see that whenever the palestinians have
laid down their arms and lived peacefully alongside the
israelis that both sides have prospered - most recently in
the period immediately following the Camp David accords. so,
i expect that to occur again and it should be encouraged.
i believe that i have a responsibility to abhor the frank
terrorist policies of Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, Islamic
Jihad, Fatah for the crimes against humanity that they are.
These genocidal indiscriminate policies of killing are clearly
a step below any policies of the israelis and have no place
in this world.

for example, it is an inconvenience to wait at a checkpoint,
it is an inconvenience to have to have your luggage inspected
and to be interrogated at the airport - an unwelcome annoyance.
i can accept it though.

it is quite another thing to set off a bomb at a school or
cafe in an attempt to kill random students or diners. this is
not tolerable behavior. that's why they call them war crimes.

sure the israelis do "bad stuff" just not many war crimes
(generally speaking). sure any attacks on schoolkids is
reprehensible israel doesn't try to do it. civilians caught
in crossfire when Hamas operatives fire rockets from behind
ambulances, schools, and from civilian neighborhoods or
when they set up military offices in apartment buildings.
i blame Hamas for using civilians as human shields - what is
so hard to fathom in that? it is kind of like any time that
the US attacks Al Qaeda - there are always protests.

israel is not perfect. they have scandals, rogue individuals
and militant nutballs too like any place - but nothing on the
scale of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. yes, there is discrimination
in israel as there is also in the US and Canada.

to address your points Belushi - ambulance attacks are wrong
but ambulances/hospitals are used as cover by palestinian islamic extremists - this is an unbelievable fact.

kissing mortar shells is likewise bad - but understandable
in wartime - i think there are some pictures of anti-german
and anti-japanese grafitti on US WWII bombs for instance...
i even recall some shall we say unsavory youtube footage of
misbehaving foreign troops in iraq!

killing 100 schoolchildren is always a tragedy.

i believe that the lebanese had something to do with
untargeted rocket attacks against the israelis...as well...
you know...oh yeah and a hate filled propagandist tv
station which publicly re-broadcasts antisemitism of
which Der Sturmer would be proud!!

http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Area=sd&ID=SP59803

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_St%C3%BCrmer

the israelis do have a highly trained, highly disciplined
military. they need it to protect themselves - but they do
not engage in unprovoked attacks on civilians. just don't
do it - not their policy. so i point that out.

Slowhand, it seems to me that you are depending entirely on Israeli and pro-Israeli sources. So it is not surprising that you can't see the 'bad behavior' of the Israelis. It is not sufficient simply to condemn Palestinian attacks on israelis: you must see the conflict in its entirety before reaching your conclusions, or your conclusions will simply be one-sided and inadequate.

At its most basic level, the Zionists seized Palestine from the Palestinians. This began gently in the 1890s, became violent in the 1930s, and militaristic in the 1940s, and remains so to this day. To the extent it was a 'civil war' as you insist, it was one imposed on the Palestinians by the Zionists. It was aggressive on the part of the Zionists, and defensive on the part of the Palestinians. They are not 'equally to blame'.

Yes, some the Palestinians engage in terrorist acts against Israelis. Can you not see, though, why they do so?

Can you not have any empathy for a people who have been brutally dispossessed of their lands and homes and livelihood and independence?

If you cannot, then I suspect you will have a very hard time understanding the conflict.

I have empathy for the Israelis -- particularly those born in Israel since 1948 -- and who now find themselves in this mess created by their Zionist forefathers.

When I think of solutions to the conflict -- something I am actively involved in -- this empathy helps me understand what the outline of a just and sustainable peace might be.

I will offer you a closing thought: your die-hard and blindly one-sided stance does no good to the Israelis. Their interests lie in finding their way to a genuine peace.

Screaming "TERRORISTS" from the roof-tops does not advance that cause.

I invite you to consider the conflict as a whole, to acknowledge the whole history of the conflict, and to extend your empathy to all parties so that you may become part of the solution.

Oceans

on the contrary. i do look at both sides of the issue.
i feel that the israeli perspective is neglected in
most of the discussions here.

i agree that there is and has been israeli "bad behavior"

the nature and extent of the palestinian attacks on
the israelis is qualitatively different from the israeli
military response.

the nature and extent of the palestinian attacks on
the israelis is qualitatively different from checkpoints
and security barriers.

i do not see that the conflict regarding the land was
imposed by the zionists. the pal arabs rejected the UN
1947 resolution which would have averted war. it is a
valid viewpoint that the palestinians/arabs chose warfare -
on many many occasions.

your view that places the blame for the conflict on
the zionists is in fact the one-sided unbalanced
viewpoint in my opinion.

yes, i understand why the israelis are targets of terrorism.
however having a land boundary dispute is not justification
for deliberate attacks on civilians. even if someone has
stolen your property - this does not entitle you to bomb
their family and friends - imho.

i do have empathy for the palestinians but i do not see
them as having any more of a claim to the land as the israelis
(in general) and i do not believe they are justified in
engaging in terrorism. and i do not believe that the israelis
are engaged in terrorism - defined as deliberately attacking
civilians with the primary intent of killing civilians.

i find the sources i have cited to have excellent and
well reasoned factual arguments. i agree that peace is the
goal and i ask you to continue to ask yourself...

are you really balanced in your empathy for both sides?
i do not believe you are since you insist on primarily
blaming the israelis for the result of their immigration
- often forced immigration to what is now israel.

that is my perspective.