At least your viewpoint seems a little more balanced than Grondine's does, or many other liberals. Grondine's U.N. troop idea may be a good idea in that the Palestinians can blow up someone besides Israelis for a while.

Although there are bitter arguments over whose land is actually whose*, it's obvious that the Palestinians consider themselves occupied, and as you have said, a population can't be blamed for trying to get the occupiers off their land.

My position is based on the fact that the Palestinian tactics are obviously terrorist in nature, and I have also had to deal with the predictable anti-Israel stand taken by the usual suspects, including the mainstream media with endless footage of the poor Palestinians fleeing before the tanks and soldiers and wailing over their dead. As Dan said, whether you wear a uniform or not, when you attack an army you are a combatant, and this has to be remembered.

While Israel is no angel in this, to try and make the government of Israel and the Palestinian leadership (not the people) morally equivalent--a common theme in articles I have read--is ridiculous.

Israel is not deliberately killing unsuspecting civilians. The word "deliberately" is important here. It is what makes a difference between our bombs accidentally (and almost unavoidably) causing non-Al-Quaeda deaths in Afghanistan, and the Al-Quaeda flying passenger-filled airplanes into office buildings.

The Israeli Government does not have an official position of killing or removing all Palestinians from the area--at least not yet.

I could also point out that the Israeli Army doesn't haul suspected Israeli traitors out into the street and shoot them.

If I had all the answers, I'd be a lot richer than I am, but my guess is what will get the Palestinians somewhere is for the Palestinian equivalent of Ghandi or Martin Luther King to replace the current killer leadership, and begin a non-violent program of protest. Remember Tiananmen Square, and the guy standing in front of the tank? Okay, okay, so the Chinese shot them all (which may louse up my point somewhat), but you have to admit they had a lot of world sympathy. Installing a liberal appeaser in the Israeli government has already been tried by Bill Clinton, and it got us nowhere.

Some people have made a case that the non-violent approach just may not be in the Muslim cultural makeup. I don't necessarily agree, but it doesn't seem to be a common tactic.

*It is worth noting the rotten, bloodsoaked history of nations which have been "divided" by colonial powers along boundaries which don't suit the current inhabitants at all. Africa is a great example.