@hightor,
hightor wrote:You know what, oralloy? I've pretty much given up on any hope of Mideast peace.
Me too. It's time now for Israel to just take what they want through the use of force.
hightor wrote:There are enough despicable characters on each side — including the USA as an "honest broker".
We've been an honest broker. And I doubt that any on Israel's side have been all that despicable.
hightor wrote:Justifiable sympathy for the Jewish people turned into a dismissal of the legitimate concerns of the Arab population and the situation was allowed to fester until the oil crisis of the 70's when we suddenly realized that the ragheads had us over a barrel of petroleum.
Prior to 1967 the Palestinians were not occupied by Israel.
And the events of 1967 were the result of Arab aggression against Israel.
hightor wrote:A few half-assed attempts to get the two sides to cooperate were dealt a fatal blow with the assassinations of Sadat and, more critically, Rabin, the radicalization of the PLO, and the political power of the Israeli lobby.
Ehud Barak made a fair peace offer to the Palestinians in 2001.
Ariel Sharon tried unilateral withdrawal in the hopes that the Palestinians would become peaceful if left to themselves.
Ehud Olmert made a fair peace offer to the Palestinians somewhere around 2008.
Although Netanyahu declined to release details, it seems likely that he made a fair peace offer to the Palestinians in 2012 (although he may well have made that fair offer only because he was confident that the Palestinians would reject it).