Most of that will apply the other way around too. Israel wants various things and will kill non-combatants in pursuit of state objectives. It even has a paralell of the suicide bombers: Settlers. Bribing it's own civillians to take up residence in a war zone. Which I understand is a crime at international law (irrespective of any incentives supplied to settlers).

Since when has any people or state had a policy that when their aspirations or military objectives cannot be achieved, they will roll over? People and states tend to surrender suddenly, not while even small gains may yet be made.

What the region needs is some kind of joint government. I don't expect to see one soon though.

I don't agree with the settlements or the settlers, but its idiocy to put them at the same level as suicide bombers.

Another, less important, thing, why always mention women and children, as if to say that its less cowardly to kill a man or something. It makes a piece of writing look immature, like its relying too much on the emotional appeal. Did anyone notice the Evening Standard's headline after 71 people died in a plane crash today? '52 children die in plane crash'. Same thing.

Most people that i live amongst do not even know the geographical location of Palestine never mind the reason for the present problems that exsist in that region.I am completely surrounded by so called citizens whos only waking hours are taken up with work , cutting grass , do-it-yourself , and the cleaning of motor cars.If i attempt to introduce a topic of conversation away from these moronic tasks a look of complete astonishment and shock is given.The area in which i live appears to be inhabited by bigoted and ill-informed , indoctrinated morons , whos only political concerns centre around asylum seekers and their rac ist attitude towards these unfourtunate people.
The reason i write this piece is to point out the futility of trying to understand western and especialy UK attitudes towards the Palestinian question.The vast majority of people i associate with only give a reactionary or complteley distorted answer to these political problems.Just as a sample of what i have to deal with in any attempted informed conversation only occured recently, i was informed that Palestine was part of South Africa!How can you reason with people like these? ps this is not a wind up this comment was real and serious.

I don't condone the killing of civilians whoever they may be. The real crime here is the criminal occupation and the mass murder which the Israelis regularly carry out seemingly with no reaction from the international community, especially the corporate press.

As always the statistics can be manipulated - but even here we are talking about 1 Israeli death for every 80 Palestinian deaths - and in anyone’s book that should show who is the real guilty party. Let's not also forget who is occupying who's land.

No, Josh, it is not entirely idiotic to put settlers on the same footing as Suicide Bombers.

The settlers are racist colonizers, there houses are built on areas where Palestinians houses have been bulldozed.

They regularly terrorise Palestinians. When they kill Palestinian children, instead of being put in prison for murder they receive 6 months of community service from the courts of "the only democracy in the middle east".
There presence is in total contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the UN Charter of human rights states quite clearly that they may be expelled by ANY MEANS NECESSARY, because they should not be there.

They are not civilians, they are the evil footsoldiers of the vile apartheid system Israel has imposed on the West Bank and Gaza. A system that has created these people who blow themselves up.

However, an even more apt comparison to Suicide Bombers would be the Israeli Defence Force. Numerous human rights groups have documented that Israeli troop have directly targetted children.
The Israeli State has no qualms about massacring civilians.
Ehud Barak (the so called "man of peace")once said, after 200 Palestinians had been killed, "If I knew that 2000 dead rather than 200 would settle the issue at once, I would be prepared to use that much force".
What is the moral difference between Ariel Sharon and a Suicide Bomber?
Ariel Sharon has been responsible for far more civilian deaths than any suicide bomber.
Because Israeli's kill civilians and then go back to there families, careers etc., this somehow makes them morally OK.

ARE THE PALESTINIANS ASKING THE EARTH? - No!
DO THEY WANT TO DRIVE JEWS INTO THE SEA - No!
WHAT ARE THEY ASKING FOR? -

1. A complete end to the ILEGAL occupation.
2. A return to the 1967 Borders. (That is 22% of historical Palestine, Israel gets 78%).
3. A sovereign independent state of Palestine (not the Bantustan proposed by Barak)on the west bank & Gaza.
4. The right of return to Israel, for the refugees who were ethnically cleansed in 1948/1967 by the Jewish State.

All these aims are within the bounds of possibility.
All these aims are supported by countless UN security council/ General assembley resolutions - No. 4 has been passed 135 times.

Zionists like to claim that they offered the Palestinians peace and land, and the Palestinians chose violence instead.
This claim is totally false - I refer reader to the writings of various ISRAELI peace groups who have exposed their own government - for instance, GUSH SHALOM and the ISRAELI COMMITTEE AGAINST HOUSE DEMOLITIONS, who show that Barak's generous offer was in fact an attempt to repackage the occupation, by giving Palestinians extremely limited autonomy.

I hate all violence from both sides, though I believe Israel & the Zionists initiated this conflict.
I see two possible solutions -

1) That Israel carries on ilegally occupying Palestinian territory (with the accompanying iegal settlements, house demolitions, closures, curfews, apartheid etc.)
The problem is that the whole Palestinian population and the UN is opposed to this Occupation, and Israel is only able to hold down the Palestinians with increasing brutality, which in turn leads to Palestinian violence, which in turn leads to increased Israeli violence, and an unending spiral of violence that ends up dehumanising the oppressor and the oppressed.

Or -

2) Israel obeys international law, and implements all UN Resolutions, and RECOGNISES Palestine's right to exist + the right of return for refugees.

The debate over whether all Palestinians & all Israeli's are evil can continue for centuries, but the only rational solution to the conflict, which can end violence is

AN END TO THE OCCUPATION! +
THE RIGHT OF RETURN FOR REFUGEES!

And hopefully, one day -

ONE, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC, STATE OF PALESTINE -
Where JEWS, ARABS, CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS, & ALL CITIZENS can live in PEACE, JUSTICE AND EQUALITY with EQUAL RIGHTS.

VICTORY TO THE INTIFADA!
FREE PALESTINE NOW!
NO COMPROMISE WITH ZIONISM!
END ISRAELI APARTHEID!