I'm still done...

But I'll clarify a few points, so there is no misunderstanding should Ryan wish to answer the questions I asked.

When I said "Perhaps the Israelis should take a lesson learned from history and dust off the gas chambers and fire up the ovens, and put the Palestinian Question to rest once and for all, huh? "Destroy them all." Isn't that what you said needs to be done?", I wasn't applying the underlying Nazi reference to Israel, but rather to YOUR preferred method of solving the problem.

You said to "Destroy them" was the only way to defeat Hamas, and then said that those who freely elected the party as that which best represented what the Palestinian people felt they needed in government KNEW what they were electing, and were just as culpable (no, I'm not going to cut-and-paste again). If the culpability is equal in the means and methods that Hamas came to power, then the solution to removing them as a threat must also be equal, right? I took this to mean that those that support Hamas, be it with guns, ammo, money or votes, must be just as "destroyed" as Hamas itself... and when you are talking about 200,000 civilian Palestinain voters that cast their ballots for Hamas, the gas chambers and ovens seemed the most expedient means to complete the job, given what we know of history.

This was a deliberate stab at YOUR position on the Palestinian question, not the Israelis... whom I still maintain have the RIGHT to defend their state as they see fit. I have not, now or in the very recent past, made ANY critical remarks about Israel's actions or policies other than to play a little "devil's advocate" and ask for possible alternative actions and policies that might be considered.

I did not claim that those "concerned" within Israel had a majority, only that they were a growing number of voting population, and that they currently held 4 of the 120 seats in the Knesset. This block is best represented by the Hadash Party and they are very much in favor of a two-state solution, and equal representation for Muslim and Jew alike. Like Hamas, I DO NOT SUPPORT THIS PARTY AS THE ONE WITH THE BEST SOLUTION... but I cannot deny that it has seen its support grow in the last 10 years, and I think that is because of the growing numbers of Israelis that are tired of the more hard-line, traditional "Jew-first" position that most Israeli politicians are associated with. That means that at least some of the Jewish population is voting for a fringe party that they feel best represents their needs, even if it is socialist or (at least) very liberal in its make up. That was what I was referring to... not a sudden urge by the Israeli people to embrace radical Islam as the means to peace that you seemed to read in my post.

I have said my peace, and I have done my best to be clear and concise. I'll not say another word about it until such time as Ryan details how he best thinks Israel should handle the Palestinian question, especially in light of the effects the current policies are having on Israel's international relations outside of the region.

I'm not so juvenile as to cry foul, but it is still a bit much to think that we can talk about almost anything... EXCEPT when we discuss what might or might not work in Israel and Palestine. I'm an idiot-ignorant-disgusting-nauseating-revisionist when I suggest that perhaps Israeli policy in action could be better served by taking another course? Since when is THAT what the Bund was all about? If I am wrong... show me I'm wrong. What is gained by the venom and rhetoric?

Nothing, I say.