Occupying Laos and Cambodia. And then it would be a victory in the same vein as the Korean war, with the country still divided.

You can win when fighting counter insurgencies- it just takes time, manpower, money and effort. However, adding in an outside power supplying the insurgents means that they become nearly uncrushable. Of course, this is distinct from the political costs of fighting which we probably would not be willing to pay.

2) the Palestinians and the Arab world in general have thus far proven unwilling to accept that Israelis feel the same way they do about this small piece of real estate and that this feeling is as legitimate as theirs.

Perhaps I'm misinformed, but I thought the Palestinians were pushing for a two-state solution at this point and the Israelis, or at least their extremists and militants, wanted to keep it all?

As for winning the war, the US could have won the war in Vietnam.

What state of affairs would "winning in Vietnam" have comprised?

Fighting ancient wars in the modern age is a tragic disgrace.

The real issue for me is that people identify themselves as "Jews" at all. What does it mean to be a Jew, if you don't believe in YHWH? My father was a second-generation immigrant to Australia from the ME. Guess what: I don't identify myself as a Moslem. You might think that this may have something to do with the fact that my parents didn't raise me to believe in deities. Or even that my grandfather was a Marionite Christian from Lebanon. But hear me out.

I am not a Marionite. I am not a Moslem. I am not a Jew. I am a Human. Now, the fact that I was born in Australia means that I identify with Australian ideas and worldviews - as those are the ideas around me, how could I be influenced by anything except for those? Australia is "on the books" as a Christian nation. But that doesn't have any effect on most people living here.

The conflict in the Middle East will only end when people who aren't really jewish or moslem or christian stop claiming that they are, and accept that they are european, israeli, jordanian, wtf ever. And beyond that, when they get over the nationality thing and realise that deep down, we are all human.

I do not admit to bias. I don't care if palestinians and/or israelis live, die, win, or lose. Makes no difference to me, as such a far-off land with so few natural resources could never have an impact militarily on my home (Australia), or my people (Australians). It disgusts me a little bit that there are people born here who identify as jews without believing in judaism, or palestinians without having been born there.

Although many liberal Jewish believers have reinterpreted and allegorized these stories until they're scarcely recognizable, the violent texts are always there to be rediscovered by zealots who interpret them with the frightening simplicity that their context suggests.

Exactly. This is why I don't think any reasonable person should hold up the Bible as a guide to morality, waving away the atrocities as though they weren't there. It's an incredibly dangerous game of bait-and-switch. If the nice (yet fanciful) interpretations get the majority to agree that the Bible teaches right, moral behavior, then there's a danger that some will read what the book actually says, and believe that message (instead of what the liberals want to pretend it says).

The first Israeli prime minister who declares that he will follow the Old Testament will finally bring peace to the Middle East.

I seem to recall Moses, et al, tried it that way, without the hope-for result.