Keith,

How about considering Israel's peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, the return of the Sinai and the evacuation from Gaza? Don't they count when assessing Israel's willingness to make peace?

For those who want to reduce the Israeli-Palestinian issue to something simple it's easy to say "Israel occupies territory belonging to others, therefore it's not interested in peace". The problem is that this approach fails to consider all the relevant facts, and is therefore either very ignorant or intellectually dishonest.

I'm not saying Israel's always acted properly. But I am asking for a balanced assessment of what has and hasn't happened in this conflict.

PaulL, you need to be reminded that any peace arranged by Israel, has its great comforter, Pax Americana behind it, the threat similar to what Tacitus the Roman writer writer gave voice to:

To us Romans peace is the quiet that comes after the final battle, with what is left of the enemy put to the sword.

In all truth with Rome it was either that or enslavement, wondering what would be the end with a possible attack on Iran?

Twice America has come off second best with Iran, making one wonder whether the former indomitable Persians might enjoy fighting to the last soul, still leaving a strong mark on history

So Spy

Why doesn't Israel do the same with Palestine? You know, like give back the occupied land? And negotiate and sign a peace treaty?

Doh!

Yeah spy and why don't they give but the Golan Heights to Syria and the gardens to Lebanon and why don't most of the nazi settlers go home to Russia.

Marilyn says >> “Yeah spy and why don't they give but the Golan Heights to Syria and the gardens to Lebanon.”

Because the Syrians used the Golan heights to shell Israeli villages. The Golan is a strategic piece of land which Syria regularly used to threaten Israel. When the Syrians recognize the Israelis are here to stay and stop supporting extremist organizations, as have the Egyptians and Jordanians, they will get their land back. Same goes for the Lebanese. It’s only been a year since Hezbollah infiltrated into Israel kidnapping Israeli soldiers and shelling Israeli towns. In fact it would seem to me that they did this deliberately to provoke the kind of response the Israelis made.

Do you know how the Golan game to be in the possession of the Israelis? It was only after a second invasion by a coalition of Arab armies. In fact Syria is claiming land it conquered itself during the 1948 war of independence. How many times should a country suffer this type of aggression from its neighbours? Especially when those neighbours still support organizations which refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist. During US-brokered peace talks in 1999-2000, Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered to return most of the Golan to Syria for a comprehensive peace structure and security arrangements.

In 2003, Syrian President al-Assad said he was ready to revive peace talks with Israel. Israel demanded Syria first disarm Hezbollah, who launched many attacks on northern Israeli towns and army posts from Lebanese territory; and cease to host militant Palestinian groups and their headquarters. Peace talks were not initiated.

Obviously you are a simpleton if you think that Russian Jewish immigrants are Nazis. And a bigot. You talk about Israel being a thug state. Read the Hamas charter you moron. See what their plans for Palestine are. Then you will understand why Israel is unwilling to deal with them until they renounce violence and accept Israel’s right to exist.

The Jews have every right to have a homeland. Every other major religion has one.

Keith,

You wrote: "Why doesn't Israel do the same with Palestine? You know, like give back the occupied land?"

So withdrawing from Gaza doesn't count as giving back occupied land? (Of course, critics of Israel will claim that Gaza is still occupied - ignoring the reality that military incursions and controls on Gaza are a necessary and legitimate response to almost daily rocket attacks from Gaza).

Marilyn,

You wrote: "why don't they give but the Golan Heights to Syria and the gardens to Lebanon"

Your approach is hopelessly naive given the current reality.
Israel will make a peace deal (incluing the return of land) when it has a partner. This happened with Egypt and Jordan in the past. However, there is absolutely no point in handing back land if the other party will simply use that land to attack you - see Gaza for an example on point.

Is Syria ready to make a deal with Israel? If it's support for Hezbollah is any indication of its attitude towards Israel then why should the Israelis deal with Syria at present?

If your reference to "gardens" means the Sheba Farms region, then this issue is currently being addressed. There are disputes as to who this belongs to - Syria or Lebanon - and UN cartographers are working on this.

It's very easy to sit back in Australia and say "Israel should just hand back the land and everything will be fine". I used to have a similarly naive view on the issue.

However, more recent events - eg. Gaza - have shown that militant groups will not accept only the return of land occupied in 1967. They want the complete removal of Israel from the map. Until these militant groups accept the basic right of Israel to exist as a state there is little hope for an end to the conflict.