Great way to drum up interest in your book. Did you look into the origins of the country of Israel? They declared themselves a country and refuse to acknowledge similar claims by Palestinians. I'll review your book if you give me a free Kindle copy.

Now it looks like the peace talks between Israel and Palestine have reached yet another impasse. Since Hamas and Fatah, the faction that dominates the P.L.O., have signed a unity pact, Israel has opted to withdraw form any negotiations with Palestine.
If Hamas governs Gaza and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority is the leader of the West Bank, doesn’t it make sense that both sides should be represented in any peace talks between Israel and Palestine.
But from the Israeli side we hear. “Whoever chooses Hamas does not want peace,” the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement, describing the group as “a murderous terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel.”
This is exactly the attitudes I had to capture with the writing of my newly released thriller – “The True Virus”. As the author, I had difficulties trying to be neutral and present both points of view. So, again I’m interested in how strongly different individuals feel about “who’s right, Israel or Palestine?”
P.S. Scrumfish, if you give me contact information in a private message, I'll be glad to send you a free PDF file of my novel that you can read on your Kindle for review purposes.

Well of course Mr B, you are trying to flog your book, which unfortunately so many writers are forced to do these days. The times when publishers earnestly scurried about trying to find new Hemmingways in tropical bars, and buy up their precious materials, has long since entered the world of historical legend, thanks to the internet, among other things.

But to address your question....right wing politicians in Israel have elevated hypocrisy to an art form. Terrorists? It was Jewish terrorists who not only threatened, assaulted, killed, and expelled large numbers of the existing Palestinian population in the '40s, but it was also the same culprits that killed significant numbers of British and Commonwealth soldiers and administrators in the Palestine mandate, who at the time were merely trying to keep a lid on the exploding passions of that part of the world, and keep loss of life to a minimum. For that crime, they were killed. And now today we have a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. They did it, but hey, they had their justification. Now the happless Palestinians are in a similar position, but they are branded terrorists. The Israeli government today has absolutely no moral authority. It functions only on spin and financial leverage.

i came across Norman Finkelstein doing a great summation of how the mess eventuated and evolved.

great because he seems to cover it really well and also great because he is being interpreted into a non-english language so he speaks really slow and methodical so it's dead easy to follow.

very handy for anyone who isn't sure of the history of the conflict.

a very historically literate atheist this Finkelstein.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiW8i88LveA

Might

Kevin wrote:Might

Might makes right.

Or, they might prevail or they might not.

Unfortunately, the latter phrase "might" be more appropriate.

History has shown us that in the long run, no one entity enjoys the apex of power for long. This is particularly true of late starters. The rise and fall of Germany and Japan were particularly short and brutal. Israel is chronologically later yet.

I suspect that the proliferation of nuclear weapons will spell the end of Israel. The potential use of these will necessitate a change in policy in Israel, and hard bargaining will have to start in earnest, as apposed to starting in subterfuge.

Oh how the mighty have fallen

Two wrongs don't make a right...

The problem now of course is that both sides are bragging how badass they were in the recent conflict. One comment too many and they'll be off and running again.