Dinavan - fair point. I suppose there are ethnic groups in countries like Canada etc., that, though Canadian, keep a lot of their cultural identity (as do muslims in Britain). As long as they are all treated equally by the Canadian state, they can all live alongside peacefully. The state, at least, has to regard them all as 'Canadian'. BBruce has said there are 'Arab Israelis' in parliament. I'm not sure where he gets his figures, but I accept his point anyway. But for Palestinians generally who live in Israel and the West Bank, there is a great deal of discrimination.

Of course Israel is not the only country in its position - as BBruce has pointed out, Saudi Arabia is much the same, and you could say the same for countries like China etc, (which has its own issues with Tibet). I suppose the difference for me is that Israel is presented in the western media as being the one and only example of a good democracy in the Middle East, which it appears not to be. It is unlikely the West will convince Arabs of the value of our model if this is the example it sees on the ground. You could point critically at e.g Saudi Arabia, but then of course no one is claiming that Saudi Arabia is anything other than a corrupt monarchy that operates a theocracy (and a sectarian one if you include BBruce's observation that non-muslims cannot be citizens).

Interestingly, many Palesytinians say they have no difficulty living alongside the Jews who are originally from the region. they find it much harder to live alongside European and American Jews, so what may be going on there may be as much a culture clash as anything. I don't know for sure, but I think it's important to work out all the lines of thought. What happens there seems to be critical for the welfare of a much larger world.