You're quite welcome, and thank you for the link to the NPR piece. For the most part, it's an excellent introduction and/or review for those trying to sort out the situation in the Middle East, itself no easy task.

However, the series breezed past the Liberty incident with but a single sentence, and I don't recall that the Lavon Affair was mentioned at all. Nevertheless, it was an excellent read, vastly more educational than the Super Bowl.

In the final analysis, there is now so much blood on the hands of all sides in this sad tragedy that there is an almost unlimited supply of raw material for further conflict and bloodshed.

The original wrong was the Balfour Declaration, and it's all gone downhill from there for the Palestinians, and for many Israelis too - probably a majority - who would much prefer to live in peace with their Arab neighbors.

As I've said, I think there are evil elements on all sides of this continuing tragedy who would prefer that the conflict continue, and this is reflected in Sharon's "strategy of tension," a formula which appears to have found favor in the Bush II white house.

Trying to settle all of the wrongs over the course of the years will only lead to further bloodshed.

The only way to end conflict is to cease fighting. The question of the Palestinian homeland is the source of Islamic animosity toward the West, much of it now focused on Uncle Sam.

sp