First, I thought BTA's response to you was thoughtful and well-reasoned.
As to your questions concerning the Palestinians, this didn't happen overnight and it hasn't happened in a vacuum. Nor are the Palestinians, or more appropriately, the terrorist groups who live within them, innocent. Just yesterday, a young woman was sent to blow herself up in a hospital in Israel, where she'd been receiving free treatment for burns.
Fortunately, she was intercepted at a crossing and the bomb diffused before she could hurt herself and the innocent people at the hospital. One of the people who contributes regularly to DU was across the street at the time. He might well have been blown to smithereens along with the patients, the doctors, visitors, and the unfortunate young female bomber.
I'm attaching some links about Israel and the Arab-Israeli struggle. They're just scraping the surface but they'll help. I'm also attaching a link to the Israeli paper Ha'aretz, which also has unmoderated online discussion forums which you can read.
The ethical questions concerning the Palestinian people and the future of the region, as well as endless scourings of past events, are always at the forefront of thought among Diaspora Jews and Israelis alike. They're frequently the subject of articles and discussion forums in the Israeli papers, and debate is constant, open and frequently bitter.
Despair is not an unusual emotion, because the desire for peace is very great but we are baffled as to how to stop the violence when, every time peace appears to be raising its head, armed groups seem determined to continue attacking. And how can the innocent civilian Arab populations go on with their lives when armed gangs operate in their midst?
It is important to recognize that the violence here is the result of decades of terror and war, and that the endless attempts to murder Israeli civilians have resulted in the checkpoints, the fence, the humiliations of ordinary Palestinian people. The IDF interdicts far more terrorists than the ones you hear about, and far, far more than actually succeed in their lethal missions. Were they less agressive, how many more might succeed? Even their tactics, effective as they are, are neither perfect nor free of endless scrutiny - from within Israel as well as from human rights groups looking on.
Nobody, however, seems to be monitoring the terrorists, or the repressive governments in the region.
Also, it is important to respect the fact that the Palestinian charter explicitly calls for the destruction of Israel, and that P.A. leadership seems unable to cope with the ongoing violence which has continued even during the ceasefire.
And, the war is actually between Israel and all 22 Arab states, not just the Palestinians, who've been caught in a web, kept by the ARAB states in cages for all these decades, their people unaccepted by local populations.
Statehood offers and offers of reparation have been declined by Palestinian leadership. They could have formed a Palestinian state in 1948, and subsequently, but elected to go to war instead. The land occupied during the war of 1967 was, under UN 242, to have been exchanged for peace. There is no peace. Only Jordan and Egypt have signed separate treaties with Israel and repeated attempts to make treaties with other Arab states have been refused. Even so, the Israelis are TRYING to disengage, withdraw from settlements and turn political responsibility over to the PA.
But how can they do that in the face of constant violence? Now, al Qaeda has gotten into the act, exhorting the terror groups to resume violence. Apparently, Islamic Jihad already has. People are dying over here, Israelis too, and recently 3 Palestinian workers in an Israeli greenhouse died when a rocket slammed into the building where they were tending their plants.
I hope this helps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Israeli_conflicthttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/590189.htmlhttp://www.haaretz.com/