Wait, wait, wait... kick the Turks AND the Greeks off of Cyprus, then give it to the Israelis!

Let's just hope the UN doesn't continue to mistreat Israel as it has in the past for defending themselves... Ah, who am I kidding? The UN is probably the greatest collection of human rights abuses since the Axis.

I hope you realize "defending themselves" is highly subjective, in this case specifically since there was a cease fire going on and no provocation from Hamas since it was declared (according to the reports I am reading).

I thought this world peace crap was supposed to be difficult. Took us, what, a few hours?

Those two conflicts were on and off for about a thousand years. If not longer. I could name a dozen more (eg. France - Britain)

Heck even the history of the prosecution of the Jewish People in Europe came to an end (after their nearly extermination). The current conflict only really started when the Zionism got real. Which depending on how you count was either late 19th or middle 20th century. Not old. And certainly not as unsolvable as most people claim it to be.

Without the Cold War this would probably be over already.

OI! We actually have decent food these days, and decent portions, not like those 2 spoonfuls you get in Hoity-Toity restaurants in France. And we make better wines than France, too ;)

war for centuries? who are you talking about?

As Ben Gurion once said:

If the British want to give us a country they don't own. Why not Switzerland?

Just a bit of history for those thinking that this has gone on for centuries :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration

TLDR

In WWI circa 1916, the conflict had reached a stalemate, so :

Thus the view from Whitehall (british government) early in 1916: If defeat was not imminent, neither was victory; and the outcome of the war of attrition on the Western Front could not be predicted. The colossal forces in a death-grip across Europe and in Eurasia appeared to have canceled each other out. Only the addition of significant new forces on one side or the other seemed likely to tip the scale. Britain's willingness, beginning early in 1916, to explore seriously some kind of arrangement with "world Jewry" or "Great Jewry" must be understood in this context

So, in 1917, britain sent a letter to the head of the British Jewish community basically inviting them to go and live in Palestine :

His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

My mistake, I thought they'd been at war since before the modern Israel existed.

Why is this a problem, but bombarding Israel with missiles not? That's what I've never understood about this conflict -the media presentation of it and the subsequent public opinion.I think that most people would really quite like being bombed on a daily basis. Either that or their perspective on things is a little... skewed, to say the least.

Don't get me wrong, Israel is far from whiter than white in this. But when you're faced with people who want to arbitrarily exterminate every last one of you and you're condemned for every last action while the media turn a blind eye to terrorism on a massive scale, well, you're bound to cross the line and cross the line on a regular basis.

Well I must say that I agree with SimonG, you do need some more historical knowledge to better understand the issues.
I think there are many ways that the hatred could get dilluted in a much shorter timespan than you would think. Popular opinion on various subjects can change quite fast but there are several things that must be dealt with first.

I'm a cautious optimist but the volatile mix of religious fanaticism, bad living conditions, increasing populations, finite natural resources, despotic government and nuclear weapons makes me very happy that the French, Brits and Germans stole a lot of the archeological treasures in the area.

This way of describing Jews and Arabs as people that have been in conflict for centuries, incapable of change reminds me about how many Europeans looked upon the people of the former Yugoslavia when and after the civil war.

Sounds like a good time :-) I haven't played Risk in a long time but perhaps I should buy some compact version to bring with for the next time I'm staying at some backpacker place.

Everything I have read portrayed this whole thing as a multiple centures long territorial dispute that no one really has the right of. I will look into it more though, at yours and his insistence.

Doesn't change my opinion that right now they're both fucking up.

A territorial dispute is usually between countries. Israel is 64 years old and Palestine has never been a country. As for Jews and Arabs, they lived in peace for most of the time as far as I'm aware, probably not without some religious discrimination but still in peace. I don't see why they could not go back to that.

Just in time. Wasn't the world going to end in about a month or so?

I don't know if it is related, but in the local TV channel here they are just about to show the "You don't mess with the Zohan" movie in about 30 minutes. Funny movie, that.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0960144/