Ok, so here you go, Mike Miller, whether you ask for it or not. Believe it or not (I'm sure you won't, but that doesn't matter), you and I are pretty much in agreement about what we want for Israel/Palestine. But where we differ is on the cause and effect of the present day conflict. My position is that it is the Likud party's policies that are directly causing the violence in Israel/Palestine.

During the period after the signing of the Oslo accord, and before the death of Prime Minister Rabin (a period of about two years), there were no Israelis killed by PLO terrorism. During that time, the Palestinians had hope that they would have their own country. When Netanyahu reneged on the Oslo agreement, that's when the violence started again. The Palestinians lost hope. When Netanyahu was elected, and then when Sharon was elected, it was for the Palestinians, pretty much the same as it would for Jews if an anti-Semitic neo-Nazi got elected in a country like the US.

I don't consider myself and my child to be living in safety at all. I see myself and my child being put in terrible danger by the Government of Israel who seem to be hell bent on creating a massive world war complete with nuclear weapons. And I am just as saddened by the deaths of Jews as I am by the deaths of everyone else. But I blame Sharon, Netanyahu, and the rest of those war criminals for the death of every innocent Jew and every innocent Palestinian.