But which 'people' do you refer to in your first sentence above, Jim? Not the people immediately around, who fell on the new state as soon as it was proclaimed on the ending of the British mandate in an attempt to strangle it at birth, who outnumbered the population of that fledgling state by I forget what factor, but nevertheless received a black eye for their trouble ~~ and another in merely six days a few years later.

I know all about two wrongs not making a right & all that; but it was that initial hostility, and the concomitant intransigence which has persisted to this day (see my last post above) which has led to the present Israeli attitude which we all (see my penultimate post 02.11 pm) so much regret.

What the answer is I don't know ~~ I am reminded of the traditional yokel who, asked the way somewhere, replied, "Well, you can't start from here" ~ but mere denunciation of Israel for having adopted the present regrettable attitude entirely in response to the hostility of its neighbours, or the inability to fulfil any of the promises made by the one or two whose interests have caused them to become, ostensibly at least, less hostile over the years (see Teribus's excellent post of 3.18 pm), is really going to get nobody anywhere. Denunciation as merely 'an abuser', 'a terrorist state ruled by zealots', 'the worst of all worlds', much as one might be emotionally inclined to accept such animadversions, is surely going to be merely counterproductive.

~M~