[andyfox]

My reading of the history of the issue is that the Zionists are the bad guys and the Palestinians are the bad guys. Abba Eban's joke that the Palestinians never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity seems correct. But the Zionists always treated the natives like sh*t, from the very beginning. Achad Ha'am, a hundred years ago, accurately predicted what the result of such treatment would be. Most of the tactics of Middle East terrorism were introduced into the arena by the Zionists in the 1930s.

In my mind, though, all of this is ancient history. It will take statesmanship and courage to try to move beyond the damage that has been done. Attitudes like the OP's are what keep that from occurring. I note that thousands of Israelis demonstrated on the day of the meeting at Annapolis, chanting "death to the Arabs." An attitude that we're the good guys and they're the bad guys is guaranteed to lead to oblivion.