There is one other fundamental obstacle to peace - the Palestinian leadership has continuously and persistently educated the Palestinian people to reject the concept of 2 states side by side with mutual security. Official Palestinian Authority actions denigrate Jews, deny Jewish heritage, and claim entitlement to the whole of the land west of the Jordan River. (If you doubt me, have a look at the Palestinian Media Watch website) Until this changes, peace has little chance.

Likely no one can bring peace to the Middle-East. It needs to be accepted that war there will probably go on for centuries still, sometimes openly sometimes smouldering.

Regardless, perhaps even more so, Israel's moral foundation is at risk and has been deteriorating since 1967. The Arabs tricked Israel into swallowing the poison of the occupied territories, especially the so-called "holy places" of the West-Bank and Jerusalem: now they only need to sit and wait for Israeli society to fall apart by itself and lose the will to survive (their foolish armed-resistance only works against them, delaying this!).

This is why BDS has value unrelated to the 'peace-process', unrelated to the Arab/Palestinian desire to destroy Israel: BDS is also applied by Jewish groups and other friends of Israel in attempt to bring Israel back to its senses. Even if the war goes on, even if Palestinians never except Israel's existence, Israel itself will be stronger and morally viable without those territories and the 'holy-places' therein. Thus this is a worthwhile internal Jewish/Israeli campaign.

But Philip, Israel is a brutal occupying oppressor,
Marylin Shepherd,
would you then excuse the Nazis ?

Quite and entertaining read although Mr Mendes is clearly not writing about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign at http://www.bdsmovement.net/BNC#.TuWldkrXOF0 or else he is maliciously misrepresenting it.

Those who oppose BDS are reluctant to discuss its second claim - the need for an end to discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel. Perhaps Mr Mendes could explain why Israeli citizens who lost homes and property in 1948 are not allowed to return to these former homes? Could he explain why the state continues to confiscate the property of its Palestinian citizens as is currently happening under the Prawer Plan for the Negev?

halduell wrote:

And for david f, why would a Palestinian state almost certainly be Muslim and ban Jews?

Dear halduell,

Many of the Palestinian authority refuse to meet with Jews or Israelis.

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3783/palestinians-no-jews-allowed

"In yet another recent incident, a Palestinian Authority ministry instructed its guards to "prevent Jewish reporters" from attending an event in Ramallah.

It is not clear at this stage if the Palestinian Authority leadership is behind the boycott of Jews and Israelis who seek to meet with its representatives.

What is clear is that Palestinian Authority officials do not hesitate to state in public that they do not want to meet with any Jew or Israeli."

Presumably if the Palestinians got a state their attitudes towards Jews would be the same. There has been a steady decline in the Christian Arab population in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. It is unlikely that Christians will be invited back if the Palestinians get statehood. Eliminate Jews and Christians in the area, and Muslims will be the only religious group left.

Halduell:
“They are, after all, brothers and sisters from one family with the shared faith of monotheism.”

Anyone with any knowledge of Islam knows that there is NO room for any other religion alongside Islam, except in a Dhimmi state (of servitude). If you know so little about the background of the current situation, please google Islam and read a bit about it before you reveal your naivety.

Jeremy:
“And I have yet to understand how any decent human being can think
that it is reasonable that people should be expelled/excluded from
where they and their ancestors have always lived solely on account
of which religious group they belong to.”

Jeremy, what about the 800,000 Jews who were expelled from Arab countries the day that the modern State of Israel was declared? Do they have right of return to Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and others? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_exodus_from_Arab_and_Muslim_countries

Marilyn Shepherd:
“But Philip, Israel is a brutal occupying oppressor, the population doing the oppressing are jews, ergo the fact is not open to dispute that Israel proper is a jewish oppressor.”

Marilyn, both Gaza and the so-called West Bank are self-ruled since Israel vacated in 2007. The residents are certainly oppressed – by Hamas and the PA – who instead of using the billions of $s in financial aid they receive each year from the world (incl Australia) on hospitals, schools and building infrastructure to end the miserable conditions the Palestinians live in, spend the money on rockets to fire into Israel and on building tunnels into Israeli kibbutzes for the purpose of abducting Israeli citizens to ransom them to release more Palestinian terrorists. Who’s the oppressor?