Oh this is very depressing, both events and the discussions people have about them
I refuse to give up completely, there is always a glimmer of hope that peace will be found one day, but very little seems to have happened this century to make this goal more achievable.
As things stand there have been so many decades of horror that an end to bloodthirsty desire for revenge on both sides seems hard to imagine. It is not impossible, but it requires moderation on both sides. Israel has far more power, military might, is largely in control. If their leadership truly desires peace then they must give Palestinians some other avenues of hope. And they must demonstrate more patience than is usually shown. But this does not seem to be their mode of operation, indeed the Wests support of Israel is not in spite of their violence, but because of it, we want them to throw their weight around.
If the war on terror had been the struggle that our propaganda suggested it was, the USA would have been sensible to start off by forcing Israel to come to a 2 state agreement. Things would not suddenly become peaceful over night, but over time a major source of global ill-will and sponsor of hate on both sides, would have been diminished. But of course that was not what the war on terror was all about. By eliminating Saddam's regime and scaring other regimes into semi-obedience, we arguably need Israel to be our strong man less now. But on th otherhand Iran has come out of the middle eastern reconfiguarion a bit stronger, so Israel still has use to us.
I do not expect the religious conflict between Jews and Muslims to vanish, but without the other factors which motivate others to back a side, the tension and suffering could be vastly reduced, a war of words would still be ugly but at least there would not be so much blood and destruction.
Meanwhile whatever happened to Lebanon, the last victim of Israeli agression? It vanished from our televisions soon after the bombing ended, so I have little idea how the former 'switzerland of the middle east' is faring these days.