[nicky g]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
A clear majority of Palestinians have supported a two state solution for a long time. One of the two main Palestinian factions is currently trying to force the other into recognising Israel (despite the fact that it will get no recognition of a Palestinian state in return). Even the other, rejectionist, faction - Hamas - has made it clear for years that it would willingly accept a long term truce based on Israeli withdrawal and leave it up to future generations to decide if this is permanently acceptable. Together these factions represent nearly all Palestinians in the occupied territories. Those views may not be acceptable to you but they are a long way from the all-or-nothing, into-the-sea mentality you falsely ascribe to Palestinians.

[/ QUOTE ]

I want six pack abs but I am not going to get them if I contiue to eat donuts. Wanting something is not the same thing as taking the neccessary steps to get something.

What real steps have the Palestinians taken to end the violence and hate towards Israel? Please note that I am not suggesting that the responsibility rests with the Palestinians and not with Israel. However, I am curious as to why the palestinians dont act in their own self interest?

[/ QUOTE ]

The PA and various Palestinian groups have been calling for and trying to restart negotiations for years, while Israel ahs ruled them out ever since Sharon came to power. There have been numerous truces, ceasefires etc over the years aimed at getting negotiations on track that have generally ended because of a lack of movement from Israel or its breaking of them. In the mid-90s there was a year of almost no violence that ended when Shimon Peres decided to lanch an assassination on a Hamas bomber. He may well have been morally justified in doing so but such actions will always create a backlash that lead to the collapse of ceasefires. Sharon was the king of deliberately provoking Palestinian groups to end ceasefires. There is a ceasefire in Gaza at the moment. Hamas has not launched a suicide attack in nearly two years. The problem is there are spoilers on both sides. You talk about "the Palestinians" as if they are a single entitity but even if the majority take a decision to end violence, there will always be smaller groups and rogue cells that will try to carry it on and their are major elements within the Israel political scene that are willing to take advantage of these or to create their own spoling actions that will put an end to an negotiations. Neither the PA nor the groups themselves have anything close to control over all militants and Israel has specifically consitently demanded a reduction in size of the same PA forces it has charged with containing these groups, when it is not actively engaged in destroying their infrastructure. Saying "if only the Palestinians would end violence, it would all be alright" is therfore simplistic fantasy - teh situation is far more complicated than a single group deciding whether or not to use violence.

One might also ask about Israeli goodwill measures - have they ever frozen settlement policies? The contrary, they have speeded up since the peace process began and settlements doubled over the Oslo years. Indeed at the same time as it began to implement Oslo Israel imposed tehclosure and checkpoint system that managed to make Palestinian life much worse than it was before. Have they formally recognised a Palestian state, even theoretically/provisonally, or expressed a willingness to do so said they would so in exchange for recognition of Israel? No, they keep the PA as a quasi-legal garbage-desposing administration but demand full reconginition of their own statehood, while refusing to say where the borders of that state lie. They have created an impossible situation whereby they refused for five years to deal with a PA adminsistration that recongnised their statehood, and now demand one that doesn't to do so before negotiations can begin, even though no such negotiations had taken place for years before and mutual recognition should be the subject of the talks, not their precursor.

So saying the Palestinian need to do something is simplistic garbage. They have done many things aimed at moving the situation forward, it is unrealistic to expect unliateral ceasefires to last indifeniteyl without being reciprocated, there are spoilers on both sides and there remains an at least equally large number of gestures that the Israeli state could and should make - and is more easily able to make than the PA or Palestinian groups - to build confidence.