thomas81 wrote:
I don't really understand what this thread is meant to substantiate.
Growing up in a sectarian conflict the best part of my life i've witnessed for myself the incessant rhetoric of zealots on both sides proving that the politics of 'whataboutery' acheives nothing.
Frankly though, I've got a greater degree of empathy for the Palestinians purely because they were 'there first' and did nothing to invite this war other than being born into the wrong country at the wrong time.
if you really think an analogous sort of hatred isnt also indoctrinated into kids on the other side, then more fool you. Just replace suicide bombers with F-16 fighters and abhrams tanks.
The reality is the Palestinians are going after the wrong group of people on this. They would have had a country if not for Israel's neighbors taking over the land that should have been theirs when they failed to take out Israel.
If the Palestinians would stop the violence on their end, this would be over relatively quickly. In all reality, if land is an issue, maybe the Egyptians should cough up part of the sparsely populated Sinaii (not force any Palestinians to move there but if some choose to, fine).
Unlike the Irish or the British, the Israelis are still dealing with the aftermath of the holocaust, it's only been 1 to 2 generations ago (hell there are still some holocaust survivors that are still alive); they didn't want to stay in Europe, and who'd blame them. They are going to take any calls to wipe them out very seriously, and that's entirely understandable.
Also if you want to get right down to it, when Israel first became a country, they were the ones that were outgunned, outnumbered, etc. Unlike the Irish though, the Israelis not only held their own, they actually beat back their attackers. The other Arab states took over what was supposed to have been Palestine, Israel just took that territory away from the other Arab Countries in the 6 Day War.
Let's all be perfectly honest here, if the Palestinians would stop the violence, and actually sit down at the table without ill intent, the Israelis would be more than happy to give them West Bank and Gaza.