[John Kilduff]

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I don't think that. I just think it is ridiculous that you blame "Arab culture" for Palestinian political problems that would clearly arise if other non-Arab groups were involved in similar situations. For instance you no doubt blame Arab culture for the Palestinians refusing partition in 1948, when it's patently obvious that no group whatsoever would ever accept the partition of a territory they consituted a large majority in to make way for a state project by recent immigrants.

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Fine, but most other displaced groups (and there have been many) have not stuck to an "all or nothing" policy, nor resorted to regular suicide bombings.

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Neither side is wholly good or wholly evil; the problem is the Israelis have always been far too pwerful vis-a-vis the Palestinians for a compromise solution to ever emerge.

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Of course neither side is wholly good or evil, and maybe given Israel's power it does not have enough incentive to offer a decent compromise. But it seems that the "all or nothing" mindset and political clout of those with such views amongst the Palestinians, is too widespread, too irrational, and too violent. There are simply too many Palestinian political players (and common people as well) who will accept nothing less than the total destruction of Israel. Now, that's crazy, to fight an irrational and unwinnable battle forever and in the process consign themselves and their descendants to misery on top of unfulfillment. I can't think of another displaced people that has ever adopted such an intransigent, irrational and self-destructive position as the fairly widespread view amongst Palestinians that nothing less than the total destruction of Israel will suffice. And they are thereby choosing to live in misery (instead of building up their own productive resources, and also striving for a compromise) because of that black-or-white viewpoint held by so many. It may well be a minority opinion amongst the Palestinians but it is also fairly widespread. And that is both stupid and crazy.

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A clear majority of Palestinians have supported a two state solution for a long time. One of the two main Palestinian factions is currently tryig 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.

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No i guess I didn't make myself clear enough. I said "fairly widespread view", not majority view. I'm saying (and I do know that a majority of Palestinians purportedly would support a 2-state solution) that there is still enough of a large and influential minority, who simply will not ever support a 2-state solution. A large, violent and committed minority can effectively quash any diplomatic solution even one favored by the majority. Don't forget that that large (though minority) bloc is generally supportive of extreme violence. So the Palestinians as a whole will not accept a 2-state solution and will not rein in Hamas or their other wacko militant groups, because the majority is too weak and the minority is too widespread and violent.

Hamas' truce offer is purely a tactic to gain time to rebuild and attack later from a position of greater strength. Hamas has made it clear it will never back away from its goal of the utter destruction of Israel. Israel in fact grants Hamas a truce to Israel's own future peril.

By the way, could the Palestinians do anything more counterproductive to the goal of a 2-state solution, than theirpromptly attacking Israel from lands Israel just recently ceded to them?