Islam views the world as divided into the Dar el Harb, or the world of war and Dar el-Islam or the world of Islam. The radical Muslim believes he's commanded by Allah to engage in Jihad, or holy war, against the Dar el Harb or the non-Muslim world. Because of its geography, Israel is on the front line in this Jihad. The radical Muslim will not rest until Israel is returned to the Dar el-Islam. Jews not killed or driven out, in the radical Muslim view, would be allowed to live as dhimmis. This is what they think of as tolerance.
Crux of the conflict:
Israel must, according to Islam, be viewed as the conqueror of a land that once was under Islam, and therefore must always be, under the Dar el-Islam - the House of Islam. This is the starting point, in the Arabs' minds, of any negotiations with Israel, irrespective of historical right or the letter of international law.
With this in mind, it is little wonder that the Palestinians - 10 years into the "peace" process - continue to view Israel as an enemy and teach their children to do the same.
Nor should it be surprising that the Palestinians view violent acts of brutality against the Israeli "conqueror" as a perfectly legitimate means of regaining a land that - while it was never a sovereign Palestinian Arab entity - was once firmly in the grasp of Islam.
What the West fails to understand, however, is that the Palestinians are not truly driven by the letter of international law, but rather by another force - Islam. The tenets of Islam will never allow the Arabs to view Israel as an entity that may actually have a legitimate claim to the land, but is nonetheless willing to trade that claim for peaceful coexistence.