You know what I find most unique about this issue? Here in the US, we usually assign either side of any issue to "liberal" or "conservative". Yet, in this single case, *both* sides are considered liberal. Those who side with the Palestinians are siding with the poor, repressed underdogs, comparable to the Jews in Europe 60 years ago. Those who favor the Jews are siding with the poor folks who were repressed for centuries and finally deserve a shot at something for themselves.

I find violence on both sides absolutely disgusting. However, I also sympathize with the reasoning used by both sides. We can argue the reasons why each continues with their violence until we're blue in the face, but that doesn't change the fact that both are equally violent, and for reasons that are equally compelling.

Celtic-End Singer, and others who have argued about the lack of ability of the Palestinians to retaliate: I do not doubt that the fundamentalists on that side would be at least as brutal as the fundamentalists controlling the Israeli actions if they had equal weaponry. Yeah, it sucks that they're not on equal footing with the other side in this fight... but realistically, looking at them all as just plain ol' human beings, that would only make the situation worse. It would mean more violence on each side. Seeing the Palestinian deaths in the news is heartbreaking, but is it really any more heartbreaking than if the death toll was more evenly distributed? If each side's objectives and reasonings were the same, but someone came along and gave the Palestinians a bunch of weapons and they took the upper hand, would you cheer?

There's another way to draw this line, though. Instead of Israeli/Palestinian, how about peacemongers/hatemongers? There are definately people who fit both definitions in each camp. The people who promote peace there are the only ones I side with, Israeli or Palestinian.

To the person who posted the Dylan song... The Jews knew perfectly well they were heading into hot territory when they chose to establish Israel. I understand their desire for their own country. Given the collective guilt over what had happened to them, quite honestly, I think they could have established themselves anywhere in the world. I wouldn't have argued with giving them all of Germany and Austria. They chose to go back to Jerusalem because of their amazingly-long-ago history there, despite the fact that they knew it wouldn't be pretty. So, they are not entirely unwitting victims here, not like they were in Germany.

To the person who argued the long history of Jewish oppression: Yes, Jews have been oppressed. So have every other group in the world, by someone, somewhere. Many people continue to be brutalized today. If we keep arguing about what is owed to us because of what other people did to other people long before we lived, we'll never come to peace with one another. We can't forget history. It's important for so many reasons. But, we can't keep using it as an excuse not to build ourselves good lives today.

I am a pacifist, but I am not a fool. I know that going to war against Germany in WWII was a good thing, even if it sucked. I think that helping out in the Balkans was a good thing, because Milosovich would have gladly become the next Hitler if he'd had the chance. But, I don't think that this situation compares to either of those. Here are two groups of people who have each done nasty things to each other in the past, who are continuing to do nasty things to one another. One has the upper hand at the moment, but is threatened by everyone else around them in addition to the other party, so they don't feel they can relax. If the other nasties in the region were to lend help to the underdog, they could easily gain the upper hand, and they wouldn't have be more right than the currently dominating group. And, in the end, most of them aren't even fighting for ideals or because of wrongs perpetrated by the other. They're fighting over a bit of dirt. That's the saddest part. I refuse to look at them as Jews and Muslims, or Israelis and Palestinians. I see them all as humans who are being stupid, and other humans are suffering for it.

Therefore, my opinion is that they're both a bunch of nuts who need to get their s**t together. There are peaceful people on both sides. The nuts need to start listening to them. And, both sides are just going to have to compromise if they want to fix this.

-Tara