[Aloofi]

Originally posted by Alpha Kodiak:

This is an honest question, not an argument. What do you think is the best solution for Israel? Surely, continuing in the current path is not good. Too many people on both sides keep dying with no end in sight.

Yes, of course I agree that a solution must be found. But the truth is that I don't have any real hope for a peaceful solution, at least with the current generation. So that's mean that I don't have an answer. We are in a big deep hole and I don't see a way out. And I'm telling you, is not just pessimism, is the reality i see on the field.
I was serving in southern Lebanon when Barak order us out of there and to dismantle our outPosts. At the time I thought it was a good idea, that the Arabs and the world would see that we were willing to compromise. But the Arabs, instead of seing this as a goodwilling effort and an step towards peace, like any Western country would, saw in this weakness, and claimed a victory over Israel, and the ranks of fundamentalist Groups grew up with new recruits, believing that they were closer to a military victory over us.
You have to understand that Arab mentality is very diferent to Western mentality, I suppose this is because Islam have failed to modernize the way christianism have, incorporing into itself human rights, freedom of choice and tolerance for other religions or sects. Even christian fundamentalism is less fundamentalist than moderate Islam (Turkey).
I have no doubt in my mind, that if the Palestinians had chosen the path of Ghandi, they would have had whatever they wanted long ago.
But they have chosen violence, they teach their children in their schools to hate us, their media, stablished by Israel as part of Oslo, brainwash their youth with Jihadis dreams and anti-semitism. They don't even call us Israelis, they call us Jews, with all the discriminating implications that that word have in Arab.
In their minds, they can't understand how the jews, who were always second class citizens in the Arab countries, that had to pay extra taxes and were deprived of legal rights, that had to bow any time a muslim would pass near, that were prohibited to ride horses, they can't understand how these same jews have defeated them so many times on the battlefield. "It must be because the Jews serve the devil", they say, "and because of Jewish scheming and western support", when in reality western aid only came after 1973, and in the independence war in 1948 we had 4 cannons, while they had a couple hundred of tanks, outdated, but we didn't have any.
My believe is that there will never be peace, because it takes one bullet to break a cease fire, and one killing to break a peace, and there are many Palestinian Groups with thousands and thousands of members that wants the total destruction of Israel.
The way it is today, if the Palestinians would stop fighting, there would be peace, if Israel stops fighting, there would be no more Israel.

Its a vicious circle. If we make concensions to achieve peace, they see it as a weakness and redouble their attacks. If we don't, we still get the attacks, but at least we retain our strategy depth and territorial integrity.

There is no peace in the horizon, that's for sure.
.
.