http://www.twincities.com/ci_9651328?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com

I found this essay to be extremely insightful, coming from someone who knows something of which he speaks. If only there were several million more capable of adopting such an outlook on the situation.

I thought it was a good read too.

Nice overview, nothing really insightful or new but a good read. I get depressed whenever I think about this region, because I can find no answer...

We all like jump on sides in this conflict and either side can produce a mountain of evidence on how either side is the "evil" party. The fact is both have valid claims to this geography with one important difference. The Israelis either live there, in a non-jewish country or cease to exist. Palestinians have countries all around them that are ethnically, religiously and culturally similar...they could, move to Syria, Jordan, Iraq (umm, maybe not), Iran, hell, maybe even Turkey.

I know this is a harsh stance and I'm ignoring hardships Palestinians would have to endure assimilating to these new countries, but would it really be worse than the 60 years of violence they are mired in now? I'm with author about coexistence at this point, not only are these two groups diametrically opposed ethnically, culturally and religiously, their history of hatred and violence makes it nearly impossible to reconcile.

So let's say the Palestinians assimilated into other Arab nations in the area. I don't see any signs that those Arab nations are willing to coexist with Israel, hell some won't even acknowledge it exists as a country. The Arabs, for the most part, seem to want annihilate Israel and, strangely enough, the Israelis don't want to die.

I don't know what the answer is for this region but what I see in the future there scares the bageezes out of me...another world war.

The Israelis could move to the US. If you build your house on an ant hill, you should expect to have lots of ant problems.

That being said, the obvious answer is they are fighting over some buildings and some dirt. No buildings and no dirt = no fighting. Alot of Jews have come to the realization that they can be good Jews and be very religious in the comfort of the US. Unfortunately there are still the Zionists that fight tooth and nail to hold on to Jerusalem. I am a Jew and I couldn't care less about Jerusalem.

The Israelis could move to the US. If you build your house on an ant hill, you should expect to have lots of ant problems.

Aye, but there ONLY choice is to move to a non-jewish state. Palestinians could move to several countries that share their culture and religion. But they won't...and even if they did, the surrounding "ant hills" would still want them out....and act to make it happen. That's what is so depressing, there is no solution.

I don't think loading 5 million on boats planes bound for the US will really work though...we can't handle the influx of numerous new stand-up comedians :')

Give them Alaska and call it "New Israel"

Palestinians could move to several countries that share their culture and religion.

The funny thing is, no Arab country wants them to come live in their countries...

But they, the palestinians, really have a right to be where they are I don't think anyone could seriously dispute that. The problem is also that many power grabbing leaders in Arabic and Muslim countries use the palestinian issues to advance their own agendas. The guilty parties are the power hungry schmucks on both sides.