So once again, Plaestinians are being vilified because of their views towards Israel and it's citizens. What the article doesn't cover is the fact that Palestinian views are based on actual day to day experiences that these people go through. First of all the Israeli government doesn't want a Palestinian state as stated by Benjamin Netanyahu during that last elections. This in turn is supported by the fact of growing illegal settlements and illegal land that is continuously taken from Palestinians.
Add the fact that Israel is seeking to imprison minors for stone throwing while it's own terrorists do not ever serve any jail sentence or ever get killed on the spot for killing a Palestinian.
Facts:
1. Israel never has and never will support a Palestinian state, illegal settlements attest to this.
2. The first moment involving violence that arises, Israel cannot but take advantage of the situation and actively seek the killings of young Palestinians, the shoot to kill policy attests to this as it doesn't apply to Jews but only Palestinians, regardless of age.
3. All borders of Palestine are either directly or indirectly controlled by Israel, the fact that Palestinians are not permitted to export their produce outside of Palestine attests to this.
The list goes on and on. Those who have not been to Palestine may not be aware of the walls that Israel erects. If they claim something their own in the middle of a Palestinian town, they will destroy the town, erect tall walls fitted with security cameras to capture any movements near it and build a road to there where only Jews are allowed to go.
Moreover, there is the discrimination on the roads where the number plates of Jewish cars are a different colour to those of Palestinians. Jews almost never get stopped at a check point, while every Palestinian vehicle does and in turn the occupants are intimidated and threatened for hours before they can make their way.
Gharib,
Your "facts" are not facts, but simply expressions of the attitudes we are discussing on this thread. Actually, very insightful confirmations of the attitudes in the OP essay.
The first is the attitude that there is such a thing, in reality, as "Palestinian land". There is not. There is no treaty or legal document which assigns a national territory to the State of Palestine (though Israel has always been willing to negotiate one). "Palestinian land" is therefore a concept which exists only in the minds of Palestinians. And, as you saw in the OP, or in my summary of the OP, a majority of Palestinians believe that the entire territory is Palestinian land and that the Jewish people have no rights to it.
The obstacle to peace concerning the settlements are not the settlements themselves. "Settlements" are simply places where Jews buy houses and live. The problem with the settlements is the Palestinian attitude that Palestine must not have any Jewish residents or Jewish citizens and with the Palestinian attitude that Israeli settlements are the vanguard for Israel taking over the entire territory.
The problem with terrorism is obviously the terrorism, but you fail to mention that in your comments. You soften your language by saying "violence arises", indicating the Palestinian attitude that stabbing individual innocent Israeli citizens is legitimate and morally correct and somehow a result of the conflict instead of the cause of it. You then demonstrate the Palestinian attitude that Israel is violent and has evil intentions against Palestinians and for good measure throw in a ancient anti-semitic trope about Jews killing children.
You have also included the Palestinian attitude of oppression and racism when discussing checkpoints, as though the purpose of the checkpoints is oppression.
If we change those underlying attitudes and look at the conflict in a different way, it will become obvious that the conflict is rooted in the pre-existing attitudes of the Palestinians. Try this attitude on: Both the Jewish people and the Palestinian people have inherent, humanitarian rights to national self-determination on the territories in question. The territories are mostly already defined by population. The details of the exact border need to be negotiated, but are broadly already determined. There will be Arab Muslim Palestinians living in Israel and there will be Jewish people living in Palestine once the actual borders are drawn. Once done, there will be an international border between the two nations, with all the resultant and entirely normal checkpoints when crossing to a foreign country. People of different nations will have different licence plates, passports and other identifying documentation.. The murder of innocents must be universally condemned and prevented through all possible means. Holy places must be shared with each religious faith having equal and fair access and the right not to be threatened or bullied.
Look at that. The conflict all but vanishes once the attitudes have changed.
