What happened 90 years ago ( and I already knew that takes me back to the 1920s)? Are you saying the Arabs suddenly went mad and decided to attack the Jews out of the blue when they bypassed the opportunity for the previous few hundred years?

The main - and perhaps only - difference I see between the 18th and 19th centuries and 1920s is the arrival of Zionism in the area. There doesn't seem to have been any problem previously. But by 1920 Arabs had been informed that an Israeli state would be created on the spot where they happened to be living and immigrants would be arriving (and were already arriving) to live there. But this wouldn't be like previous immigration where zionists had bought land to live on, the difference would be that a country was going to be created as well, and the Arabs living there I presume were faced with the choice of putting up or getting out. The state didn't some about until 1948 as it turned out, but it was clear from 1920 forward that that was the way things were going to be.

I don't agree with the attacks on Jews in and from that period (i.e I don't condone them) but I hope you might see it wasn't a case of little miss muffet either.

As for stepping on corns, no I don't think some people will change much (either in Hamas or the Israeli military or Knesset) and will always favour violence. But recruitment and support would dry up, achieving the same aim as the militarists can only hope for, and without the bloodshed.

Maybe you missed my post on the West Bank. No corns being stepped on? Really, that statement beggars belief. The 'peace' in the West Bank is the peace of a terrorized and cowed people (the palestinians, in case you were wondering), a peace enforced by the iron fist. It is the peace enforced by the school bully whom everyone has decided it's pointless to stand up to.

But I suppose you will continue to say black, and I, white about that.