Certainly we can't tar all Palestinians or all Arabs with the brush we would like to us on Fatma Abdullah nor all Israelis or Jews for the hateful things that get said against Arabs, Palestinians or Muslims.

But it's hard not to be upset and pessimistic for peace when the mutual antipathy is so deep. The current Atlantic Monthly has an article proposing that the atmosphere in Palestine has become so intense that the idea of suicide /murder bombing has become the end rather than the means.

It refers to polls (unidentified) that show support for suicide/murder bombing is 70-80%, far greater than the approval rate for Hamas, Hezbollah, Arafat, etc. If there is any questioning at all it's about the moral acceptibility of suicide under Islamic law, but certainly not of the desirability of murder.

The article's suggestion is that the only hope is for a complete separation of the two sides with an externally supervised buffer zone for long enough for the realities of life and nationhood to supplant the simplistic goal of destruction and killing.

BTW, when I read reports from anywhere I am always suspicious when there are inconsistencies. E.g. the report on the destruction of the Center for Resolution and Reconstruction in Bethlehem has Noah finally leaving his home after eight days to go collect his E-mails at the vandalized office, where the computer is a wreck. He then is besieged in his home again, but is not just idle; he's busy on his computer, sending E-mails to Canada and elsewhere. I believe much better when things make sense.

Not that I doubt that the IDF overdid their mission with unneeded loss of both property and lives, but they're young, angry, frightened, vengeful human beings, too.