I think I do understand the other side, Susan. I respect both Jews and Muslims and I would hope to see them live in peace. I understand exactly why Jews feel under threat, given the experience of the Holocaust and other historical pogroms against them. I understand exactly why the Arabs and Palestinians feel under threat.

It is the misperception of the more combatant people on either side of the Arab-Israeli issue that only they are victims, only they have been attacked, and only the other guy is committing aggression. It is those misperceptions I am challenging in suggesting that people on both sides stop killing each other and attempt genuinely to respect one another and make peace.

Larry - How much of the World does England take up in land mass? Half a percent? They once dominated the World. Israel is more powerful militarily than all its Arab opponents put together, for several reasons:

a superior command of high technology
a large stockpile of nuclear weapons
a dominant air force that can easily defeat its opponents
an extremely elite and experienced armed forces
the backing of the United States of America

And one more example: Macedonia, a very small place, once conquered most of the "known World" of its time. Size has nothing to do with it, Larry. Military expertise and the will to conquer have everything to do it.

You cannot defeat an enemy in a dispute like this one finally and completely until you either:

1. kill every single one of them and all their children too (highly unlikely in this case)

or

2. resolve whatever the original problem is that has turned them into your enemy, and you into theirs.

I'm suggesting...to both Israel and the Arabs...option 2. Option 1 is not even worth considering.

They have not listened very well to such suggestions in the past because they are either too overconfident, too fearful, too proud, too arrogant, or too bitter to listen. This does not indicate good judgement on the part of either one of them.