Right on, Gary. We need voices like yours. Do not compromise. As usual, you're always on the money!

So long as Israel is a lone beacon of democracy and equality (for it's citizens, at least) in a region overrun with misogynistic, anti-democratic, 19th century nations I think most Americans will identify and sympathize with Israel. I have a wife, a mother, nieces and cousins and so long Israel is the only nation in the area that doesn't stone women to death or condone honor killing of girls, doesn't engage in genital mutilation of women, allows women to drive and have educations and careers, and treats women and full human beings, my sympathies will be with Israel.

So you are equating 9/11 with the pathetic rocket attacks which have killed two people last year?

Fascinating.

And who was in charge of our Governemnt during 9/11, those who sympathize iwth the Arabs and Palestinians or those who owe their allegiance to Israel, like Bush and Cheney?

The Jews are a semitic tribe originally occupying land on the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean. In the centuries preceding the BC/AD divide, they sometimes had their own petty kingdom, sometimes not. Ethnically, they were no different than any of the other tribes living in the area. Religiously, they were fairly unique. In the century preceding the year 0 in our calendar the Jews had a petty kingdom and the Roman Empire came in and kicked their ass as they did with so many petty kingdoms in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean. That is the last time that the Jews had their own little theocracy until now. So when I hear people talk about the Jews returning to "their traditional home", the first thing I say is Bullshit. You might as well talk about resurrecting the petty kingdoms of the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Hittites, and others. Jewish writ hasn't run in the lands of the Levant for 2,000 years. After the incorporation of the Jewish kingdom into the Roman Empire, the Jews dispersed. Some stayed in Palestine (in a flash of insight, I was talking to an Iranian friend of mine when I lived in Iran and he used the Farsi word for Palestinian - Philistine. You biblical scholars may have heard of them), others moved on to Europe, Russia, and Africa.

So suddenly in the 20th century, a boatload of Jews from Europe, Russia, Africa and beyond whose ancestors haven't lived in Palestine for time out of mind suddenly want to reclaim their "traditional homeland". Like I said, Bullshit. Israel today is much the same as the petty kingdoms set up by Christian crusaders a thousand years ago - a grafting of foreign people into somebody else's land. It's not going to last any longer than those Christian kingdoms did. The only question is: will the United States be destroyed in the process.

Amy, you've gotten a lot of flack here (some of it really libelous), so I wanted to let you know your quiet, intelligent and balanced comments HAVE been read and appreciated by readers who, like me, hesitate to enter this fray very often -- because of the ugly and hateful comments and the frightening anti-semitic remarks, which either just under the surface or (even worse) not hidden at all.

As an American Jew (reform, and 3rd generation), I WANT to have open and frank dialog about this issue, but it seems impossible. Every discussion turns from practical solutions (ceasefires, two states, etc.) to the most vile hate speech imaginable. When you throw around the term "Nazi" at anyone you disagree with, then that phrase becomes simply "hate babbling", without any real meaning. In this case, "Nazi" is even more despicable, because it is being used against people who were very real victims of the Nazi's only 60 years ago...and that's the point, to be as provocative and hateful as possible.

Be foolish enough to simply disagree with, or ask a question of, "somethingstinks" and you are told you are mentally ill and/or insane. Apparently anyone who disagrees with him must be clinically insane, because can't we all tell that he's the only person who knows the truth on any issue? There is just him....and everyone else is crazy.

Then we have to sit through countless screeds against religion -- all religion, not merely Judaism -- or whackjob theories about how Jews are not really Jews (just converted Christians) and Palestinians are the real Jews. Oh wait -- my favorite -- the Jews wrote Mein Kampf!

AIPAC rules all Jews, as well as the entire Bush cabinet (and they are doing a wonderful job, I must say -- NOT). I have news for your paranoids: most American Jews have literally no idea who AIPAC is and certainly have never given any money to them. They can't be telling us what to think, because we have nothing to do with them. I have never received a single mailing from them, money solicitation or even an email in my entire life, and I'm in my 50s, graduated from a Reform Temple high school and have traveled to Israel.

As far as Israel goes, most American Jews are not nearly as emeshed as you seem to think. Most American Jews, like most Israeli Jews, are not devoutly religious or observant, and could probably be called "secular Jews" -- Jews by birth, Jewish culturally, but not religious. This is not dissimilar to the MAJORITY OF AMERICAN CATHOLICS, who identify as Catholic but never go to Church, and who divorce and practice birth control.

Furthermore, most American and Israeli Jews want peace in the Middle East, even if we don't all agree the best way to achieve it. I've never once heard anyone call for the annihilation of Palestinians, let alone all Arabs, the way there have been similar calls for the destruction of the Jewish people.

Some of you talk as if there has NEVER been any attempts at a peace process -- no Camp David accords, no Israeli government retreat from Gaza, no abandonment of Jewish settlements in Gaza. In fact, many attempts at peace or even ceasefire have been made and FAILED.

What we need is to be able to TALK and work towards peaceful resolution....all of us, from every background and point of view. But what scares me the most on Salon, which Dr. Tuteur has just touched on, is how quickly the discussion degenerates into the ugliest of race hatred. I frequently see posters here attacking Judaism as a religion, making allegations that seem straight out of the worst anti-semitic literature (i.e., "Jews are all rich investment bankers underwriting Israel", "Jews aren't really Jews" etc.)....it's as if you scratch the surface of a Palestinian supporter, and have to wonder if these individuals really love and support Gaza or Palestine so much, or if they are simply thrilled to find a pseudo-legitimate way to express the race/religious hatred they have already been incubating.

Interestingly, I feel that Salon would NEVER EVER permit this level of hate attacks if the subject were African Americans, military conflicts in Africa or anyplace other than the Middle East, or if it were aimed at gays & lesbians. The subject would be censored and shut down, ASAP.

Right now, on the Glenn Greenwald thread, I see that Mr. Greenwald is now subjecting his posters to a "litmus test" -- if they won't tell him whether or not they are Jewish (hence admitting their "bias"), he will block or delete their comments. Imagine anyone, in any media, having the gall to subject speakers or posters on any other issue to this kind of "are you now or have you ever been" test!!! It would be considered unspeakable bigotry. But when it comes to Israel, all Jews are "suspect". After all, maybe we aren't even "real Americans", since our loyalty must be to Israel (a question that never seemed to be asked of Irish-Americans, in reference to North Ireland's problems).

Frankly, I am disgusted. The worst part of all this is that no real dialog or momentum towards peace can every be achieved with racist comments, censorship or by denigrating another person's religion -- this will only lead to more venom and hate and cultural misunderstanding.