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Sorry, Reg, but I don't know what you're getting that from (Fox News?). Israel is pushing pretty hard for more and more settlements, which are inevitably going to cause the distress they are causing. I think it's entirely disingenuous to accuse the Palestinians of not wanting peace when 'peace' right now would clearly mean losing more and more of their lands. I know Israelis feel they have a natural right to those lands going back four thousand years or whatnot, but quite frankly that is now and always has been ludicrous. It was one thing giving them the state in 1948; but the continued expansion cannot but cause distress for the Palestinians. Do you seriously expect them to just sit back and watch while their lands and livelihood is taken away from them?
What would happen if Mexico told us that Texas was their rightful territory by virtue of having owned it in the 1700s, and started settling Mexicans across the Rio Grande? We'd just say, "Sure, okay, that's fine"? I doubt it. Hypothesize that you had a 'peaceful' government for the moment - we decided we'd play Abbas and try to find a solution that wasn't explicitly war. Do you think that Sloww would just move north, into the brushlands of north Texas/Oklahoma? Somehow I doubt it. I suspect we'd have a bunch of Texans with guns shooting at Mexican soldiers. Heck, isn't that one of the main reasons the NRA/etc. want the second amendment honored to the letter, despite the risk of gun violence - so that people can stand up to defend what's theirs?
What else are the Palestinians doing? No Palestinian official really wants to abolish Israel at this point - well, perhaps they wish it were possible, but they know it isn't. Remove the threat entirely - and remove it for long enough that the Palestinians believe it, given Israel has certainly done that before and then gone back on its word - and the violence would end.
See both sides of the argument, if you want to judge the arguers. Israel argues it needs self-sufficiency and self-defense, and surety of its borders. I'm all for all of those things. They deserve it, after what they went through. But so do the Palestinians, many of whom had familial ties to their land dating back centuries. Give them self-sufficiency (which they do not have due to Israeli actions), self-defense capabilities, and surety of their borders guaranteed by force of arms, and they would stop the violence. Palestinians aren't naturally violent evil people... they're people who are fighting for their homeland. Stop the requirement to fight and they will stop fighting. But don't expect it to be instantaneous - it will certainly take decades for everything to settle down fully. Settle down, however, it will.
What would happen if Mexico told us that Texas was their rightful territory by virtue of having owned it in the 1700s, and started settling Mexicans across the Rio Grande? We'd just say, "Sure, okay, that's fine"? I doubt it. Hypothesize that you had a 'peaceful' government for the moment - we decided we'd play Abbas and try to find a solution that wasn't explicitly war. Do you think that Sloww would just move north, into the brushlands of north Texas/Oklahoma? Somehow I doubt it. I suspect we'd have a bunch of Texans with guns shooting at Mexican soldiers. Heck, isn't that one of the main reasons the NRA/etc. want the second amendment honored to the letter, despite the risk of gun violence - so that people can stand up to defend what's theirs?
What else are the Palestinians doing? No Palestinian official really wants to abolish Israel at this point - well, perhaps they wish it were possible, but they know it isn't. Remove the threat entirely - and remove it for long enough that the Palestinians believe it, given Israel has certainly done that before and then gone back on its word - and the violence would end.
See both sides of the argument, if you want to judge the arguers. Israel argues it needs self-sufficiency and self-defense, and surety of its borders. I'm all for all of those things. They deserve it, after what they went through. But so do the Palestinians, many of whom had familial ties to their land dating back centuries. Give them self-sufficiency (which they do not have due to Israeli actions), self-defense capabilities, and surety of their borders guaranteed by force of arms, and they would stop the violence. Palestinians aren't naturally violent evil people... they're people who are fighting for their homeland. Stop the requirement to fight and they will stop fighting. But don't expect it to be instantaneous - it will certainly take decades for everything to settle down fully. Settle down, however, it will.
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