About your website in general: I feel that this sort of ostensibly one-sided blogging does more harm than good. Not because it makes anybody change their views, but because it nurtures feelings of hate and stubbornness.

I’m neither Arab nor Jewish, which doesn’t make me impartial. But from a factual angle, I’d find it useful to recall a few points:

-That Hizbullah is part of the government coalition doesn’t make the state of Lebanon responsible for all of its actions.

-So far there have been about ten times as many casualties in Lebanon than in Israel. There’s a similar ratio between victims of Palestinian terrorism in Israel and victims of Israeli reactions to them.

-Israel violates Security Council resolutions by occupying the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. As long as it doesn’t pull out, Arabs will have a justification for guerrilla tactics (such as abducting soldiers).

-Terrorism is performed by individuals, while occupation is performed by a country. Actions of a country must answer to other, higher standards (viz. those of international law) than those of individuals.

-Both Arabs and Jews have lived in the region for thousands of years. Neither one of them has more claim to it than the other.

-There’s no reason why calling Palestinians ‘Palis’ and speaking of them as if they were all the same should be seen as less racist than Antisemitism.

Shows of strength just don’t work. They foster resentment and terrorism rather than weakening it. Terrorism is not something that can be destroyed by killing perpetrators or bombing weapons depots. It will continue to grow as long as the conditions are there. So while I agree that Arabs should be expected to rethink their perspectives, it is in the interest of Israel to be more conciliatory.

An Israeli guy once said if someone strikes you, you should turn the other cheek. I’m convinced that as long as neither Israel learns to accept terror attacks without retaliating nor Palestinians learn to accept humiliation without fighting back, there’ll be no peace in the Middle East.

A German government official said on Thursday that letter written by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to German Chancellor Angela Merkel asks her to help solve the Palestinian problem and deal with Zionism.

Iran Asks Germany – Fix the Zionists

I second your call for open communications and peaceful conflict resolution between our people.

Here’s to open communications and peaceful conflict resolution between our people.

Cheers

Jamal