Amos, my congratulations on never allowing a concept to be too vast to be handled in a Mudcat Thread. If we can get this one solved, someday they will say "it all started at www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm".

I believe we who weathered the 1960s are fond of adopting that same mindset we once had. If people will only talk openly then they will learn to love one another and peace will break out everywhere. Here's the problem: People are often ignorant, misguided, fanatical, greedy, and true understanding may indeed cure these diseases. But some people have legitimate grievances. Palestinians who lost their homes to Israeli settlers after a war. Israelis who lost children in a bus bombing. The Iranian whose Father was killed by the Shah's security forces for voicing his opinion. The Iranian whose daughter was shot to death by police for walking past a democracy demonstration. The people who live under the boot of a dictator supported by the US. Those who live under a dictator supported by China. To motivate one's self to action in these circumstances requires great passion, and to keep those passions from bleeding into hate is nearly impossible.
No, until we can irradicate the hate which springs from a root cause of actual injustice, we will never resolve the clash.