Carol, I'll respond more fully tommorow, but in the meantime:

"I can't. This isn't something I found in books, it's what I've learned from my friends and from people I've talked to.

I tend to doubt that any of them were Christians who live in the West Bank, Gaza, and/or East Jerusalem."

No, I was talking about the rest of the country. They have no desire to be under Moslem or PA control.

"The moment they cease deliberately murdering our people the need for military action will go away.

This is not true. There was a period of about two years when there were no Israeli deaths as a result of PLO terrorism because the Palestinians (after the signing of the Oslo Accords) thought that they would be getting their own independent state. But the settlements continued to grow, and the occupation never ended. It was only when the Palestinians lost all hope that they would ever have their own state that the violence resumed."

There was a general cessation of PALESTINIAN POLICE terrorist attacks (I think there were several). The terrorist organisations did kill people, and there were numerous attempts foiled daily. The Palestinian Police were supposed to nip the Hamas and Jihad in the bud, but didn't.

"The violence against the Palestinians occurs as a result of trying to stop their terrorist actions.

This is not true. The violence against the Palestinians occurs in order to persuade the ones who are still there to want to leave. I saw with my own eyes, IDF snipers shooting at old ladies who were walking down the street in order to get medical care during the spring 2002 incursions into the West Bank and Gaza, and this was during one of the temporary lifts of the curfew. Those old women were no threat to anyone. They were just trying to get help, and there was no-one nearby who could have in any way been placed in any kind of danger by what they were doing. "

BS. That's a ridiculous load of rubbish. We have no intentions of forcing them to leave, I don't know where you got that from.
Anyway the shooting goes with what I was saying. If there was no need to sit in the West bank and Gaza, things like this would not occur. Things are alos more complicated than they may appear, and without all the facts I (and you for that matter) can't say why they were shooting. It was a savage affair as all fights in built-up areas are. They would not have needed to be in there in the first place if it weren't for the terrorists using it as a base. Just for the record which place are you talking about.

" Oh yes our hobby is to blow Palestinians up.

Whether or not you choose to call it a hobby, it is, nevertheless, being done. Quite regularly, in fact."

So's rocket fire and shootings and bombings against Israeli citizens with far less justification.

"But whether or not the considerations are right or wrong doesn't matter. The fact is they are motivated by security and they will cease to be an issue once violence has stopped.

That approach is one that is designed so that any goals toward accomplishing peace will fail. Why should the Palestinians unilaterally stop defending themselves, their land, and their livlihoods? Why are the Israelis the only ones who are allowed to defend themselves? You can't expect the Palestinians to have to live up to standards that Israel is not, itself, willing to live up to. "

How does firing a rocket on Shderot or blowing up a bus defend their homes and livelihoods? That is not a justified defence, in fact it's not defence at all. It's murder. That's the violence I meant.

"By the same token they should give us some of the money they get from international donations. It's crazy.

Why should they do that? Israel gets many billions of dollars in aid every year, while the Palestinians only get a few millions. The Palestinians do far less damage to Israeli property than the Israelis do to Palestinian property. "

I was applying the same logic. As I said, it's crazy.

If you could send me those documents, I'll be glad to read. Only when it suits you though. No rush.

We are not perfect, they are not perfect, it's a very complex situation that is breeding more and more evil. The first step should be cessation of terrorism against civilians. That should come before all else.