"Palestinians have to choose peace over Victimhood"

- PalestraJon

What a gem! Perhaps you should give them a bit of time to recover from the brutal assault on their lives and homes!

Do the words "occupation" and "ethnic cleansing" mean anything to you? If not, you may want to consider the words of Moshe Dayan (as quoted in Ha'aretz, 4 April 1969). "Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist, not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahlal arose in the place of Mahlul; Kibbutz Gvat in the place of Jibta; Kibbutz Sarid in the place of Huneifis; and Kefar Yehushu'a in the place of Tal al-Shuman. There is not one single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population."

Do you realize that most of the population of Gaza are refugees who were ethnically cleansed and prevented by Israel from returning to their homes, in defiance to UN resolutions, so that people like you can move in and create a "Jewish state"?

Do you realize that the first suicide attacker was Baruch Goldestein, a fanatic Jewish settler, who attacked worshipers in a mosque killing 29 and wounding 125? He did this at a time of peace and hope, before suicide bombings where known in the region, and when support for Hamas was less than 4%.

Did you know the response of the peace-loving government of Yitzhak Rabin - who was himself murdered by another fanatical Jewish settler - was to impose a curfew ON THE PALESTINIAN RESIDENTS of Hebron!!???

You are right this did not start yesterday!

I had assumed you were Jewish based on some of your comments. In any case, my comments ware related to the fact that a Jew, born and living anywhere in the world, can go to Israel and become an instant citizen. While Palestinians, most of whom can trace their roots back many generations, are viewed by Israel as a "demographic threat" and don't have any rights including the right of free movement (and in many cases to life) in their own land. Kind of unfair! But that wasn't your question...

I think there is little doubt that the way the whole Zionist project unfolded in Palestine was quite unfair to the Palestinians who were made to pay for a long history of European anti-Semitism. Having said that, your question is what do we do now? I suggest the following:

1) Israel declares it agrees to withdraw to the 1967 line (Note that this will still be unfair to the Palestinians who will end up with 22% of historic Palestine but will be sufficient for peace and normalization with the entire Arab world as per the Arab Peace Initiative) with compensation for the refugees and allowing a number of them to return. Israel should also reconcile with the Palestinians. Perhaps something along the following lines will go a long way "We feel sorry we dispossessed you, but we were a traumatized people ourselves fighting for survival. Perhaps you will find it in your hearts to forgive us and live with us in peace...."

2) If the above solution is not possible (and it looks increasingly unlikely due to the exponential growth of the settlement colonies in the West Bank) then Israel should simply give the Palestinians full citizenship rights as a part of a reconciliation program similar to what happened in South Africa. This will make Israel a normal country like the rest of the democratic world.

3) The only other solutions, as Jimmy Carter pointed out, are apartheid (i.e., the status quo) or ethnic cleansing (like that which took place when Israel was established)

Regardless, those responsible for war crimes should be brought to international justice.

Hope this answers your question.

This is what you wrote, blaming the Palestinians for the violence that erupted after Ariel Sharon's provocative visit to the Alaqsa Mosque, and the subsequent use of lethal force by Israeli police against what started as peaceful Palestinian demonstrations:

"That is the essence of what Israel accepted at Taba---they were to pull out of 97% of the West Bank with the remaining 3% compensated in land that is now part of Israel proper. Wasn't worth 10 years of death and destruction negotiating from there to a final agreement, but that was the decision of Chairman Arafat. Someone needs to make better decisions."

The Mitchel Report (which looked into the causes of the second intifada) said:

"We have no basis on which to conclude that there was a deliberate plan by the PA [Palestinian Authority] to initiate a campaign of violence at the first opportunity"

Please stop circulating your hasbara (propaganda)lies.

I have always supported the two-state solution (option 1 in my post). However, this option is becoming increasingly unrealistic due to the expansion of the Israeli settlement colonies.

"The sharp changes Israel made to the map of the West Bank make a viable Palestinian state impossible as part of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination"

--- B'Tselem http://www.btselem.org/English/Settlements/

I hope you would agree option 2 (one state) is better than the other remaining options (the current state of apartheid or the ethnic cleansing proposed by Lieberman, many in the fascist Likud and secretly favored by many Israelis).

I am curious as to whether you still think the two-state solution is a viable option. Before answering, please check The latest map on settlements on the B'Tselem site (http://www.btselem.org/Download/Settlements_Map_Eng.PDF). It is somewhat outdated but it should illustrate how unrealistic the two-state solution has become. This is Israel's doing and has nothing to do with my IQ!

Both actions of Israel and Hamas are war crimes. Israel's are on a massive scale. Hamas' on a much smaller scale. Neither justifies the other.