>The Middle East is a really crappy place to live. It was an error to have re-established the state of Israel. I don't understand why people live there.

3 points -

# you seem to contradict yourself, by on the one hand blaming Arafat & Hamas for everything, but then at the end, implying the creation of Israel is the source of the problem. OK - maybe you're saying something like "I disagree with the creation of Israel, but now that it's here, I support its right to exist". But it still begs the question: who do you think originated the mess: Israel or PLO/Hamas?

# following this, an 'alternate history' scenario can be put: what do you think the middle east might be like today if Israel had never been created? Would it be a more peaceful place, for instance? (Hint: Arab radical nationalism was already nascent by the 1940s; the US and other powers already were aware of the need to control and contain it (ie to protect their geopolitical interests). - gee, I've almost answered the scenario question here for you ..)

# Many people live there, either by necessity (they were born there) or else because life there, while tough, lends meaning and dimensions which just don't exist in the rest of the world. But you need to be sensitive to these to understand what I mean.