You think wrongly. First, I don't know exactly what the "official Israeli positions" are, as I'm not an employee or agent of their government. Second, I have spent literally thousands of hours over the years reading about the history of the area, watching and reading about its then-current events, and speaking with people who know the facts first or (at worst) second hand. Unlike the media and press, I check and recheck my sources, as this area of study is filled with conflicting and biased information. I've developed my conclusions all by myself. Among those are that the Israelis, while certainly not perfect, are something over 90% correct/moral in their positions and actions, whereas the Arabs (the so-called Palestinians) and their "brother" Arabs from Egypt, Syria, etc. are, in the main, both wrong and horribly immoral in their use of means to impose their will upon Israel.
I am sorry for every person who dies in this conflict and their families.
If you refer to those who've been murdered or killed, and who've also done nothing to harm any other human being, I'm glad to hear this. You join a large group, comprised of everyone with even a shred of morality. However, I cannot share this sentiment concerning Arab terrorists who have been killed by assassination or in combat by the Israeli armed forces, or by Israeli citizens protected their lives and those of their families. I am happy that these oxygen thieves are dead, as they will murder no more.
Wouldn't it be better if each side committed to peace and an acceptable solution?
That's IT! That's the solution to the whole Mideast crisis! Boy, you really hit the nail on the head - I'm voting for you for President in 2004, because you've single-handedly discovered something that has eluded scholars of that area for nearly 100 years!
More seriously, don't you think that peace would long since have been a reality, there and everywhere else, if only each side in any conflict was committed to peace and an acceptable solution? And where have you been? How can you ignore the following FACTS?:
The Jewish leadership begged the local Arabs in the pre-1948 period to accept a shared state, with equal rights for both Arab and Jew. The local Arabs rejected this, and the non-local Arabs reacted to the declaration of Israel's independence by invading with 5 armies - armies dedicated, according to the words of their nations' leaders, to the extermination of every Jew in Israel. There is NO WAY that the Arabs of that time were committed to any kind of peace.
In 1964 the PLO was founded. Since there were no "occupied territories" to what did the "L" (Liberation) refer? Obviously, it referred to the "liberation" (i.e. destruction) of the State of Israel itself. This was and is explicitly stated in the PLO charter. By the way, Arafat committed in 1993 to change or eliminate those portions of the PLO charter that referred to the destruction of "the Zionist Entity," but has failed to even bring the matter up for a vote in the governing body of the PLO. Some committment to peace!
In 1956 and 1967 Arab provocations and threats (a blockade of Israel's only Red Sea port in both cases, and the moving of large formations of troops into Sinai and the Golan Heights, plus an actual attack on Israel's capital in 1967) forced Israel to make pre-emptive strikes. If it had not made those strikes, it would have been incredibly vulnerable to a battlefield loss, which would have meant the end of its existence. After the 1967 war, Israel publicly offered to return ALL lands captured - even East Jerusalem - in return for peace. This obvious committment to peace and an acceptable solution was, just as obviously, not so acceptable to the Arabs, who rejected it out of hand. The Arab League of that time issued the famous "Three Nos": NO recognition of Israel, NO negotiations with Israel, and NO peace with Israel. Gee, they sounded quite committed to peace - NOT!
In 2000, Israel offered the so-called Palestinians a majority of what they claimed to have wanted, and their response was not to accept it, not to make a counter-proposal, but to massively step up the amount of terrorism against mostly civilian targets. This is a side dedicated to peace, to an acceptable solution? Are you nuts?
My prayers for all.
Well, thank you. At least you got one thing right.
Do you think Palestinians would tolerate suicide bombers if they viewed their Jewish cousins as benefactors?
The current course of the Israeli government seems likely to create more support for terrorism among the Palestinians, a sad situation.