Centerfield

I'll bet some Europeans would condemn the assassination of Osama bin Laden if it was done outside the context of a firefight.

With regard to Israel, the Palestinians used to commit terrorist acts in Europe. Part of the deal for not attacking Europeans is that Europeans take their side in their dispute with Israel.

Most thinking people realize that terrorists of all stripes must be stopped.

My basic thinking is that I would like to see
Palestinians have separation from Israel. Yet, a key question remains for me as to just why did not the rest of the Arab countries assist them with all their oil moneys to become more civil society and developed? Weren't they treated and looked down upon as goat herders, etc. by Arab countries and for a purpose --as in blowing up Israeli civilians since did not have such an army as Israelis(by the way, bankrolled by U.S.)?

Janus

I find it very difficult to sympathize with the Palestinian leadership with their agenda of destroying Israel. I read somewhere recently that Israel is not opposed to a Palestinian state; however, the Palestinians simply will not accept Israel as a Jewish state.

I do feel sorry for the Palestinians and Jews who just want to live out their lives normally and peacefully, but are caught in the middle.

I suspect that the other Arab nations don't do more to help the Palestinians because in their heart of hearts, they would also like to see Israel destroyed, but don't want to face US wrath by being too obvious about it. Egypt is probably one of the lone exceptions -- but it isn't run by Islamist fundamentalists either.

Big questions. A lot of history. Not many good answers. I'd have a problem with Israel killing a palestinian "leader" if the leader was worthy of respect for his words and deeds. Until then, not so much

i continue to think it will be hard for Palestinians to ever get a genuine autonomous state until the an MLK-type leader emerges. Of course, should someone like this emerge, Hamas or someone else would kill him if discrediting him as a toady for the infidels didn't work..

As to the the question of the Palestinians and the role of other ME states, the story varies from nation to nation. I've spent some time trying to educate myself, but its tremendously difficult due to not knowing how factual a given account is, what details may have been left out, how much you can trust the author, etc.

My understanding is that one state, Jordan I believe, has absorbed many Palestianians, as well as some land that used to be "palestinian"( although there's no squabble over THAT land, hmm). I'm open to correction on those details, though. It's only what I've heard.

One thing that seems pretty clear is that many regions of the middle east have been the subject of dispute, boundaries have been squabbled over, and most of the ME nations have acted opportunistically and out of self-interest, as nations will. I don't get the sense that the Palestinians were always a universally held moral cause celebre across the entire region. Anyone know? There was plenty of hatred of Israel right from the 1948 get-go,

It also seems pretty clear that the ongoing injustice of the remaining dispossed Palestinians functions as the just focal point of an ugly unyielding virulent anti-semitism that infects virtually the entire middle east. This makes it questionable whether any half-loaf scaped together semi-autonomous Palestinian state would make ANY difference in changing ME viewpoints regarding Israel. Some of the more modern and semi-stable states seeming willing to recoginze Israel and try to move on, recognizing that islamic fundamentalism with accompanying anti-semitism is primarily a destabilizing distraction if you want any sort of thriving modern state.

But if as leader of one of these latter nations you try to lead the region away from islamic fundamentalism with accompanying anti-semitism, Anwar Sadat.