This whole situation is absolutely stupid; worse than gangs of vile teenagers. I sympathize with those who would turn away and let them destroy each other. But remember, we taxpayers support Israel to the extent of thousands of dollars per capita per year. I wouldn't be surprised if we also give foreign aid to the Arabs there. Congress IS that foolish.

...off the map in the same way you might want to kill a group if armed thugs that took over your home and slaughtered half your family. As for Isreal, when you forcibly take land while killing and moving the inhabitants, expect to fight!

I have no good ideas on how to fix this. I just hate how this conflict plays out in westrn media. I do like Isreal, but they are doing horrible things in the name of security. Could both groups agree on a peaceful arrangement? I think its more possible than most others do, but it would need to start with recognition of historical wrongs.

Isreal just picked the wrong time to take the land. Only a hundred years ago they couldve killed with impunity, calling it manifest destiny! And people think we havent made any progress...

So what if you warn of dropping bombs when you are stil dropping them on civilians in the most populated strip of land on earth. Their warnings are so helpful that hundreds of civilians die during every assault.

Hamas surely doesnt help by putting their operations in and around neighborhoods, but its not like they have land for a base, and even if they did how long do think Isreal would leave it standing? They arent allowed a military, so they do what they can to fight back. Their tactics are deplorable, but what else can they do? How about we fund their military, then let them fight it out with equal firepower?

The Palestinian population may be increasing, but that doesnt mean that since the formation of Isreal there hasnt been genocide. The decimation of a targeted group based on cultural, racial, political or religious identity is genocide, even when its not completely successful. If they could get away with mass slaughter, like when the country was conquored (aka founded), they would.

And what about Isreali tactics? Constant low level harrasment, economic strangulaion, bulldozing of entire neighborhoods, persistant killings,squalid jails with torture used for control of the populace, not to mention Bombings and Ground Assaults!!! There is little doubt of the gross human rights violations against Palestinians, why is this Ok?

Hamas wants to wipe Isreal iff

I can only imagine the mental gymnastics that Christian apologists will need to perform if this whole situation reaches an unfortunate end (like a nuclear exchange) and Mr. Jesus still fails to materialize.

They'll probably say something like "the state of Israel wasn't the 'true' nation of Israel mentioned in prophecy" or "Jesus did return, but it wasn't observable to non-believers" or some other such bullshit. If there's one thing that apologists are good at it's moving the goalposts...

Incidentally, while some fundamentalist Jews in Israel refuse to serve in the military, largely because they are wealthy enough to be stuck up pricks, they 1) still have political power and 2) the Israeli military recruits fundamentalist Jews from around the world, including the USA.

The idea that this conflict stretches far back through time is a false one. The conflict between Palestinians and Israelis does not have roots in the Muslim conquest of the Middle East. The medieval Muslims were much more tolerant of Jews living there than, say, the Christian Crusaders. (That really holds for medieval Jews, whether in the Middle East, Europe, or any Muslim-controlled areas. The Muslims were more tolerant than the Christians.)

The problem is more one of politics, especially nationalism. The area was not a hotbed of conflict until it was colonized by the British and the French. Zionism, after all, is a political movement, rather than a religious one. It sometimes uses religion to legitimize it's goals, but there were/are plenty of secular Jews who were/are Zionists.

The British promised Jews that they could have a homeland in Palestine, but then reneged on the deal. This lead to widespread conflict between the British and Jewish settlers at the time. What most people don't know is that the British were also pretty repressive towards the Palestinians, which lead to conflict between the two parties as well.

When Britain finally ceded control of Palestine to the Zionists after violent revolt, the Zionists essentially forcefully exiled thousands of Palestinians from their own homes. Israeli encroachment on Palestinian land has only continued to this day.

Now, this does not necessarily excuse Palestinian terrorism against the Israelis, but if it one's only weapon, well, it's not hard to see why one would use it.

Laying blame doesn't seem to be a particularly useful excercise, but if anything, the major part of this conflict can be laid at the feet of colonization. We have seen this pattern repeat itself in any number of places around the globe. Colonization took place without regard to any political, ethnic/cultural, or other divisions, and when colonization ended, countries were left behind that really had nothing to bind the varying groups together. This has lead to civil conflict time and time again.

Like I said, laying blame doesn't help resolve the situation. What is needed, after an understanding of how the conflict developed, is how to solve it. I think the Palestinians definitely deserve their own homeland. They will never be able to reclaim all of the land which was stolen from them by the early Zionist settlers, but certainly some portion of Palestine should be returned to them. I think this should be regardless of what Hamas does. I agree with Ebon that Hamas is cynically sacficing "their own people" to garner sympathy, but that doesn't take away from the fact that most Palestinians live lives full of fear danger and oppression.

Only 10% of Israel's Jewish population counts as ultra-Orthodox. The majority are made up of secular Jews, which I think include atheist Jews. From what I know, they are all opposed to the ultra-Orthodox gaining too much influence, and the ultra-Orthodox are also disliked because they don't serve in the military. But of course, the secular majority doesn't want Israel's destruction, which Hamas wants. It's lunacy to believe that secular Jews are somehow more happy about the concept of destruction of Israel - why would they?