Even before Israel's 1948 War of Independence Jews and Palestinians were at odds - long before Netanyahu came on the scene.

Before 1948 Jews were building new settlements (called Kibbutzim) in occupied territory - long before Netanyahu came on the scene.

If American liberal academics, held sway, Israel would never have become a Jewish state

and Jews would still be wandering, without land rights, around Europe, as hated scapegoats.

Never Again!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Israel

Israel is an extremely divided country, made of a mosaic of very different people who often despise each other.

The peace efforts were derailed by one thing: the "Left"/"Centre"'s contempt for the ultra-orthodox (haredim): anywhere else in the world, anyone who related to ultra-orthodox Jews like they do would be labeled as anti-Semite.

If only they were seen as humans, had their lifestyle and autonomy been respected, then the ultra-orthodox parties would happily join a Left/Center coalition that would hand back the cursed territories that Israel took in 1967. But alas, to defend their lifestyle, the ultra-orthodox took refuge in coalition with the devil Netanyahu and hardly anything can now break their covenant with him, so peace is sadly not on the horizon and won't be there for many years to come. First, peace must be made within, between the Left/Center and the haredim, to some extent also with the Sepharadic community and other religious traditionalists.