Paul, believe me... I told you that I tried to imagine what it would be like to have my land taken away from me, like the Palestinians have had. But I do realize that what the Jews have suffered is much worse, with repeated pogroms, culminating in the Holocaust. I can so very much sympathize with their longing for a land of their own, where they are not being persecuted. The land of Israel has therefore become enormously, enormously important to them. I think that they sometimes go too far when they protect themselves. When you hear that one Israeli student was killed, and in retaliation, dozens of Palestinians were killed... well... I can imagine what Arabs everywhere might be thinking when they hear that.
But what would I think if my home was continually being bombarded with missiles? You bet I'd want to retaliate.
I wasn't trying to point my finger at Israel, even though I probably do blame them more than you do for the current situation. But I wouldn't dream of putting all the blame on them. What I was really trying to say is that the conflict between Israel and Palestine is a bad, bad thing, which just keeps breeding more hatred. I wish I had a good suggestion about what could be done to solve it all, but I don't.
