There is no doubt that many Israelis have mistreated Palestinians over the years - but it goes in both directions and doesn't happen in a vacuum. Israel being attacked numerous times by all of their Arab neighbors since 1948, not to mention the incomprehensible and disgusting barbarity of Hamas targeting women and children this month can hearden some hearts.
I imagine Hamas' version of Mickey Mouse indoctrinating children into Anti-Semitism is a powerful recruitment tool as well. Hamas lying about killing all their people in a hospital this week and blaming it on Israel (amplified by our garbage Media) can also be a powerful recruitment tool.
Regardless, it is all moot when one side (Hamas) refuses all peace negotiations and says over and over again they would like to see every Jew on earth killed.
So until Hamas is driven from power - what is there to talk about?
The system has a number of positive feedback loops that further the distrust and feed the violence. Even if the Israelis make their government employees treat the Palestinians neutrally, they can't control everything individual citizens do. They can prosecute private citizens who level violence on Palestinians, but they really can't stop lower level abuse from happening. The government of Israel has gone back and forth on allowing Israelis to take Palestinian land and build new homes. In some cases the more conservative governments have given permission, but more liberal governments have banned settlements, but people do it anyway.
On a low level Israeli settlements have been encroaching on Palestinian land for decades.
Someone told the story of an old woman chastising a Palestinian for sweeping the street in front of her house. That sort of dynamic is very similar to the Jim Crow South in the US before the Civil Rights Act ended the official racism. The Civil Rights Act didn't end racism, it pushed it underground until recently.
ML King succeeded because there were more violent movements promising to act out if something wasn't done.
Potentially violent groups can play a role in these sorts of situations, but the peaceful groups need to be in the front seat which is not the case in Gaza. The more dominant power also needs to be willing to compromise and it helps tremendously if the dominant power also has a strong segment of their population who are sympathetic to the underclass demanding rights. Israel doesn't have those elements and while the PLO is being fairly peaceful, over in Gaza Hamas is running the show.
A large percentage of Israelis see Palestinians as just animals and the Palestinian schools are actively teaching their children that Jews evolved from animals they consider disgusting.
There was an episode in the original Star Trek about a world where there were only two people left due to mutual genocide. One race was white on the left half and black on the right and the other was the opposite. To the outside observers their beef appeared ludicrous, but they were both intent on destroying the other. There are elements of that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In Star Trek they gave up trying to get the two sides to live in peace and left them locked in a permanent battle neither could win.
Sometimes it isn't possible to get people to see reason and live in peace with others. This conflict is one of these situations.
www.wsj.com
www.timesofisrael.com
www.nationalreview.com
www.telegraph.co.uk
