Teribus, hmmmm. Maybe I did miss your point. My illustration of burning rubbish was just that, an illustration of how friction can develop among neighbours. I wasn't trying to suggest the issue in the Holy Land to be simply about burning rubbish.

You hardly think that on the estate where I live we routinely open fire on each other with automatic weapons and missiles? Nonetheless friction can and does arise and can get out of hand quickly if not justly nipped in the bud. It has required me on more than one occasion to bite my tongue and stay my hand... that's the price of peace, but it's worth it. Not too many miles from where I live there is in fact an area where the neighbours literally are killing each other over an insult traded in a disco almost ten years ago. I don't have the figures to hand but I estimate there have been about 10 murders so far about that particular thing. Is it really worth all that? Some people seem eager to resort to violence but once on the tiger it's much harder to get off.

What do you think of my point, as I put it idiomatically, about things improving if Israelis stopped stepping on palestinian corns?

I think Finkelstein put it well in his interview (see link above) - when asked if he supported Israel, he answered "I do not support states, I support principles". That seems an excellent starting point.

I am loyal to my own country and I defend it and its democratic program and history in debate when and if the case arises. But if tomorrow my government passed laws that made Jews (or Muslims) into second class citizens my support would dry up in a second. That would no longer be the country I 'signed up to'. I would become one of its harshest critics. Anything else is just blind and foolish obedience.