Ray I disagree with you regarding the wall/fence - it is a bit of both if you bother to look closely. Everyone should call it a wall/fence, but thats a bit cumbersome I really wish there where more compromisers on both sides. The reality as you know is that there are radicals on both sides too. This is what we have to work with. Kahah, ein ma la'asot. Nobody said it was going to be easy. Barenboim should add Depeche Mode: People are people, to his list. Although that might sound a bit odd in D minor. And I dont like the idea of seeing him in tight black leather pants either. Anyway my wife thinks men who wear tight leather pants have nothing to hide. Which shouldnt help his credentials as a peacemaker anyway. Talk is cheap? Not in this case. Music is cheap. Everyone goes home and the problems are still there. At least his CDs make good coasters for my coffee mug

Is there anything at all Jewish about the guy Barenboim other than his name? Does he have any feeling at all for the suffering of Jewish people and other Israelis at the hands of Palestinian terorrists. Does he care at all that the Arabs deny Israel's right to exist. Or is anly his beloved Arabs that he has any empathy with.

When talking about "compromiser" on each side the tune they like most is "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd. They seem to have been drugged by their self rightuosness and are preaching among themelves only. What I agree with all of you is that fundementalism on both sides is growing and is directed to both our societies. In the Palestinian society there is a rise in a Taliban like menatilty which was argued in one of the local newspapers. However, these are elements within Hamas and Jihad and not representative of all Hamas and Jihad. By and large some these advocates are fundemental muslims who do not necessarily belong to a political believe other than believe of being spreading the ways of Islam. Little do they know that Islam is not them but they are narrow minded members of society who are lacking in education and culture. Now the wall/fence whatever you call it is not helping as mentioned in Qalqiliya. It brings about a feeling of despair, defeat and anger that makes them easy desciples for the radicals. Finally, while we may all agree that concerts may not help to the scale needed but if it manages to change one person why not. Now looking at differently music is about culture, and by god we both need more culture shots.

If we could get the two of you together, we could achieve peace ... Duv, your wife has a great sense of humor and I may borrow her joke if I can work it into a future column :) Farouk, you are absolutely right. There is some good in even the worst organizations, but that is exactly the problem. The extremism brings everything down to the lowest common denominator (as we sometimes read in the letters) but the good people must raise the lowest common denominator higher and expel and cast out the extremists. They should not bring us down ... and that applies not just to Palestinians but to Israelis. Humor and satire, and music, are both ways to do it. Barenboim, though, seems to hang around at the low end because maybe, like most musicians, they are too smart even for their own good ... Ray

Ray Hanania is right on in this article -- white hot!

So that means basically that we have the same enemy. That enemy is the man or leader who convinces your children to blow themselves to smithereens in order to kill our children. Imagine what would have happened to the peace process without such men? As for Bob Dylan he already wrote a song for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict called The Neighbourhood Bully. It's on the album Infidels.

Hey Daniel I like to be interactive so I apologize if I write too much :) However, you are write, but don't go far enough. It also includes the problem of some Israelis who don't feel a need to be fair because the conlfict has worn out reason. Returning land seems to be a small price to pay for genuine peace. Surely Palestinians need to get the upperhand on their fanatics ... but Israel needs to reign in their extremists, too. Don't you think? I try to respect all opinions and believe that the best answer for peace is more communication and contact. Ray

Ray wife thinks youre hilarious and enjoys your material. The problem is partially radical Islam but thats not the only problem We have redicals on our side too (right and left wing and whatever other wing you want) Religion should never provide justification for violence. Thats not ok. Doesnt matter what religion. Not all the palestinian terror factions are islamic by the way. Al-Aqsa martyrs brigade as well as main stream fatah and the PFLP are all largely secular. Only Hamas (mainly sunni), Islamic Jihad (mainly sunni) and Hezbolla (mainly shiite) and its affiliates are islamic Yes us Jews are tired of fighting. We would all much prefer that the world recognized us for our Hi-Tech industry and Agricultural prowess. These are two things we are really good at. At the end of the day I do believe that all measures must be taken to secure Israeli lives from being taken while ensuring the minimum (preferably zero but thats very difficult) deaths of noncombatants. Thats why I think using elite troops to kill terrorists is better than the Seraf. But the Seraf has one main advantage: speed. Something boots on the ground dont have. Serafim should be used sparingly, as little as possible. When push comes to shove if someone threatens my life or the lives of my team I reserve the right to kill them first. In the same vein, if I know for sure that someone is comming to kill the people I love or me, I reserve the right to hunt them down and kill them first. I know that sounds strange to christian ears but this is how we do things. We are tired. Tired of fighting terror with our right hand and trying to hold out our left hand in friendship to moderates like yourself. We never give up hope. One day there will be peace. Maybe not in this generation but for sure in the future. We cannot fight each other for ever.

Caught your comedy show at the TIKKUN Conference in Berkeley and it was hilarious. People are still talking about it. Thanks for telling us about YnetNews and the columns. This is a permanent book mark for me now. Your humor and your approach do help restore a comfort level to begin to believe that real, fair and, as you said, just peace IS possible. Shalom. Salam. Peace!

For God's sake, is this article intended as opinion or comedy or (more appropriately), garbage? Hanania seems blinded by his hatred of Palestinian nationalism and of Islam. And the litmus test fails in testing anything - the two-state solution is not a fair or just settlement, and many Palestinian and Jewish activists believe in a one-state solution; one man, one vote, just as in South Africa. Also, labeling Hamas or Jihad as terrorists, without giving that same label to Israel (which is committing the same thing but only using more sophisticated technology) only shows that Hanania is a self-hating Palestinian. Perhaps thats why he has a column at YNet.

Ray, I like some of the things that you say and I think that you are a "good guy" at heart but I feel you are still too compromised by propaganda. Often when something happens in PA areas like the stabbing(one of several internal muderes)of the 12 yr old they get very fictional and accuse Israel/Jews. _Same story with death of boy not by IDF fire(he shouldn't have been there anyway) but by as proven in independant studies(including GERMANY-a country that still has no love for Israel-wait which country does?oops I guess there is none)was sot by a bullet/s from arab postions. SOLUTION shoot boy and blame ISrael. -Temple mount due to the Arabs digging up, destorying of Jewish temple foundations and artifacts, hollowing out of Temple mount , they have made it unstable and the WAQF were warned that corwds from Rmadan could cause it to collapse. WHat was the PA 's response? "Well, you warned us but we will go ahead and put thousands up there and if it collapses we will still balme Israel." Also, facts and news in Arabic speak for themselves- PA/PLO is NO different than Hamas, AL-Aksa Martyrs Brigade(beloning to FATAH aka. Abbu Mazen), Islamic Jihad. Yes, for Arabs in PA adminstred terrority it makes a(slight) difference. BUt even PA/PLO has been involved in murders of its own citizens(ESP.. if s.o is suspected of informing against terrorists) for as long as it has existed. -For ISrael it doesn't matter if it is PA/FATAH or Hamas, or I. J. or AL-AKSA M. B. they are united and uniform in their hatred of ISrael, Jews and US(ironically their sponsors) and their solemn declaration to wipe it off the face of the Earth. And yes you as a christian should realize that you are on their list too in a very serious way esp after destruction of Israel. Also, there are 80% of Arab population in Judea, Summaria and Aza (ISraeli Arabs only somewhat less) that either participate or suppor Terrorism against Israel acording to offical independan poll. Try reeducation first then may be in 1-2 generations we can do something.

Maybe we should put #12 and #13 in the same room, let them duke it out and leave the rest of us to find peace. Oh, I forgot. They both are already tearing our countries to pieces.

SOME PROGRESS IS BEING MADE

It is interesting to see the dishonesty of the propagandists who seek to vilify israel, rather than discuss its policies. Haitham wants to destroy Israel through the so-called "one-state solution" which denies Israelis the well-recognized international right of self-determination. Fine. But instead of stating so honestly he grasps for an analogy to South Africa, of all countries, with the expression "one man one vote"! Well, yes, it is already one man one vote -- Israelis vote in one country, Palestinians in another, Syrians in another, and so on. Haitham wants to have everyone vote in the same country? Let him explain to the Turks and Iranians why they should have "one man one vote", or perhaps the French and Germans, or Lebanese and Syrians for that matter! After those countries have merged we will take him seriously about what he wants to do to our country.

I think it is remarkable that you take the effort to answer the talkbacks. Hey mr Editor, why don't the other writers do the same? Anyway, we can deal with our extremists. If people would know for sure that giving up land will lead to peace the real extremists (Kahane types) would be almost non-existant. Think about the father of Nachshon Wachsman a religous Zionist who supported the Oslo peace process even though terrorists killed his son. The reason why the settler movement has such power is that nobody believes peace is a real option. Everybody realizes that land vacated will be land used for terrorist attacks. Just look what will happen to Gaza after the disengagement. If you were 'the enemy' we would have made peace a long time ago. Most Israeli's support a two state solution and therefore the idea of a historic narrative consisting of two seperate, opposite but equal stories. We take a look at all the arguments that there is no Palestinian nation and shrug. If forgetting all that and saying we were mistaken is what it takes to make peace then so be it. But I don't see a similar development on the other side. You are still a very small minority. Most pro-Palestinians spend all of their energies arguing that Israel is evil even to the extend that Palestinians themselves don't agree. Remember the UK teachers union and Sari Nusseibe's reaction? How weird is that? I think the reason why Oslo caused an explosion of violence is because we offered to accept part of the Palestinian narrative without the other party accepting any of ours.

But how could you leave out "Rock the Casbah" by the Clash?!

Not only do I get your jokes, but I find them encouraging and also a source of renewal to push for peace. Thank you from a Jew who wants peace for Palestinians and Jews Aliya

Hamas didn't broke up the concert in Qalqiliya! Al-aqsa Martyr brigades did! Are u a supporter for fatah?!!! You can't change the facts just because your jewish wife tells u to do so! You don't have to obey her everytime!

I suppose the Religious Fundamentalists who took over the town had "nothing" to do with it, right? And the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade are not the same religious fanatics as the Hamas religious fanatics -- like they're NOT the same people. Right! But the anti-Semitism in your comment is the real issue, isn't it? And if I wasn't married to a Jewish wife, you'd just throw the "Christian thing" at me, wouldn't you? I realize something else from this letter: while humor can help bring good people together, it might just be powerful enough to make the bad people on both sides, the extremist fanatics lose it. :) Ray Hanania

It's obvious that you have targetted hamas and islamic jihad in ur racist opinions! and the real issue in ur opinion is "anti-islamicsm" isn't it? am a secular muslim and hamas has never targetted me! I'm not a supporter for them, but I can't just change the facts to make things look funny, I wonder where did u see them wearing the nike jerseys?!!! When did u last come here!

Just ask ur wife what would be the normal reflex of the jewish ppl if a concert is to be held in a religious neighbourhood in jerusalem, oh the jewish extremists wouldn't break into it!! they won't stop the "mingling of sexes"! Oh, they won't be called extremists anymore they r just religious ppl who were offended by the fact that this concert is against there religious beliefs! well, You can't just think with ur christain-jewish-american-israeli mentality and think that ur rules apply to palestine and to the islamic religion! Funny Man!

Can you ask Barenboim whether he considers the religious israeli settlers as terrorists? Oh, yeah I forgot they have killed and encouraged the killing of four inoccent civilians in an arab-israeli town just by mistake it doesn't represent their ideology! Of, if you Barenboim can't answer the question, you can Ray... or you can just cheat the answer from your wife!