I was going to stay out of this: esp as Israel, as I said before, is only marginally relevant to this thread, & seems to me to have been dragged in doctrinairely by some with motives which I find -- let's say, somewhat amibivalent ["They think they're not but they are!"].

But I must point out to Keith that the West Bank is not any sort of separate enclave, and what is going on there is part of a distressing gestalt of unnecessarily restrictive roadblocks, destruction of livelihoods & property, aggressive expansion; which as is known has driven me into the camp of Levy & those "count-us-out" reservists in Jim's last paste. Israel is still where I wish my traditional & longstanding loyalties could remain; but the goings-on of it these days militate strongly against this. The faults are not all on one side. Israeli reactions are historically based, going right back to Arab neighbour reactions in 1948, 1967, et al; and understandable therefore up to a point -- but that 'point' has been far surpassed IMO. Wish I could accept their present actions & attitudes with as much defensive insouciance as Bobad & Keith & Teribus.

But alas I cannot. The place remains, as I never tire of saying, one of the major griefs and disappointments of my long life.

Where is it all going to end? Don't expect I shall live to find out. But my hopes are not sanguine.

≈M≈