Mr. Nafez, Since you are an adversary that has written with respect and dignity, so too shall I reply to you with dignity and respect. It was not that long ago that I went to Sakhnin to buy the official Sakhnin soccer team shifts for my son and daughter. I was pleased to see Arab teen agers in jeans walking and having fun just like Israeli kids. I even saw Arab women driving cars. There even was a copy of the Statue of Liberty next to a coffee shop that I passed on the way. I later passed through Nazareth and an old Arab gentleman greeted me in Yiddish to be friendly (I don't speak Yiddish) and I replied in Arabic. In Steimatzky in the shopping center I saw Arab girls would along side Israeli girls. I can go on and on with all my stories from the Negev to the Galil. The point is that those who make peace and live in peace with us will prosper and live good lives. But then there are those like Hamas, PRC, IJ, etc. that are committed to our total destruction. They do not learn from their mistakes. They will commit suicide if they think that they can harm or kill an Israeli. The same goes for Qassam launchers in Gaza. They rarely hit their targets but ofter are killed. They don't learn from their mistakes. They don't take ownership of their mistakes. They instead blame all their misfortune on Israel. They can't understand that it is the terror that they caused that forced Israel to devise counter terror methods that contain the terror in the terrorists' backyards instead of the streets of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem (Al Quds), and Be'er Sheva. And as a result the PALs suffer. HAMAS's take over of Gaza delegitimed his govt and caused him to lose power. The list of mistakes is so long and they never seem to learn. Israel is a technological Superpower, with a strong economy, and temporarily a weak and stupid government. But even so there is no way that PALs can defeat Israel. The only hope is to agree on any form of peace that will improve the quality of life for PALs, bring economy, jobs, foreign aid, etc. But continuing to repeat mistakes for decades, never learning from them, and teaching the children to hate Jews is stupid. There were good days that I would discuss the subject with you over some good Turkish coffee. But the first casualty of war/jihad/Intifad is the peaceful relations of moderates on both sides. War polarizes people - you must pick your side. It also keeps me from citing the mistakes of Israel (other than Olmert). So pray for peace and work for peace. I promise you it will be much better than terror and counter-terror. Ma'ah Salame W'Allah Ma'ak, Meir

NO NAME , NO COUNTRY THATS WHAT WE GET WITH THE #28'S OF THE WORLD, WITH IMBECIILES LIKE THAT THE SUMMIT COMING UP IS TURNING INTO A BAD DREAM, THE 9,000 ISRAELI'S THAT MADE THEIR PART OF GAZA INTO A THRIVING PLACE TO LIVE HAS BECOME ONCE AGAIN THE HELL HOLE OF THE WORLD.HOW THIS PERSON CAN COMPARE GAZA TO VIETNAM JUST SHOWS HIS LACK OF ANY BRAINS.

you voted for them, perhaps you can vote them out? If the majority of Palestinains want to live in peace with Israel, why not elect such a figure? Let your voices be known. Is it too dangerous? Will democracy ever have a chance with the Palestinian people? Revolt, or a revolution would be the Pals best 'friend' now. Your leaders are marching you straight into hell. Of all the millions, billions, that the PA has taken all these years.. does it help the regular citizens or, the military stores of your leadership?Hamas is not your friend. They use the pals for cannon fodder. I appeal to you and the peaceful Pals .. Oust Hamas and Fatah and recruit those who would live in peace. For the future of our children.

I appreciate your short but sweet explaination of what we all feel. It IS THE FULL TRUTH. Thank You, Shalom. Petra

they abuse you terribly, they steal money meant to feed and clothe you. The money for Arafats mosoluem, salaries for both Hamas and fatah,guns, rockets, tunnels. Meanwhile your people go hungry and your kids are the next dead warriors that other arabs pay for. Where's the future for you? Shall your children deserve better? Consider giving up guns, rockets and takea new stance, make peace with Israel, live well, live in peace. No substitute for peace.

Proud one, pride is all you have. Pride goeth before destruction. Gaza runs on the hatred of her neighbor, Israel.Unfortunately, it's a 60 year old cottage industry. Gazas fuel are the young dead Gazans who die in vain. If all Palestinians would opt for peace instead of more young dead loved ones, Pals would have a much safer, happier, prosperous future for them and their families. There would be no more heaps of dead and maimed on both sides. Learn to love peace, your own, and your childrens lives. Certainly there is a place for the peaceful who wish to live with their neighbor in true peace, no matter what religion or political memory. Your people deserve what all humans deserve, PEACE. Shalom

YOUR WORDS REPRESENT SANE AND LOVING PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. OH! THAT THEY COULD HEAR AND TAKE TO HEART, WORDS MEANT TO HELP SAVE THEM AND THEIR CHILDREN IN THE FUTURE. "COME, LET US REASON TOGETHER".

Petra, Thank you for your encouraging words. I studying my B.A. and M.Sc. in USA and took a communications class in my first year of college. The professor played 3 speechs of Andrew Young (rep. of USA to UN then) to an normal audience, Harvard audience, and Harlem audience and brilliant tailored the speech to each audience. While your "Come, let us reason together" is nice at face value, it suffers the failing of USA in foreign relations. Americans rarely speak another language and are ignorant towards other cultures, traditions, etc. Instead they project their culture on others (e.g. franchising MacDonalds in Paris and Tokyo) and assume that communications problems can be bridged by speaking slower and raising the volume of their voices. Beyond that there is the implicit concept of USA culture being superior to others. While I strongly support the concepts of the framers of American democracy, blind chauvinistism is more appropriate in a sports event the international diplomacy. In short one must respect other cultures and life styles without immediately imposing one's own on others. (e.g. Spanish inquisition - be tortured, murdered, or bannish if you don't convert. Today's Christianity and Islam may be more toned down and sugar coated but the principle is the same). In closing, I would put to you that beyone the loss of 3,000 lives at the World Trade Center on 9/11, the real attack was on the principle that peoples of all ethnicity, national origin, religions, cultures, etc. could come together day in and day out to work in peace and harmony. That is the core of the American Dream and it was exactly that which the terrorists attacked on 9/11. Meir p.s. Petra, an ancient city in Jordan, is the only word I know in Arabic that uses a "P" sound/letter.

You are a fool with your comments. palestinians are not real and it is you who should slink back into your own respective islamic countries from which you slithered out of. But wait, there is a problem! Your own countries do not even want you back. They would rather keep you as pawns in gaza so you can be used to do iran and syria's dirty work for them. It is a shame that syria and iran cannot be turned into glass parking lots or something more useful. We can only hope that Israel will return what worked best for them and that is brute force and attacking you snakes at will. That is the only thing you understand.

Only one solution for Hamas; to overrun Fatah in the West Bank.

Need I say more?

yes sr . it is like hayfa and after hayfa = h, n,

the mainstream arab world is poor and uneducated. They look at Israel as a slice of Europe, which essentially she is. Jews have been in the middle east long before the arrival of Islam and Islam in fact derives from Judaism. These are all facts. Not to be disputed but facts. No point to argue about them. The mainstream arab world looks at the Jews in Israel and likely the diaspora with a great deal of envy, thinking that they control everything, banks, media, religion, thought, perhaps the world. They look at the Jews with disdain and eventually have such a deep sense of hatred based out of this envy that they believe the Jews to look down upon them. Of course, this is just pure projection. Nobody looks down upon the arab world until they decided to look down upon themselves and attempt to bring everyone down with them. So, the question is: Is the arab world interested in rising to the level of everyone else ie. education, prosperity, free thought, women's rights, religious rights, etc...or is the arab world only interested in death and destruction because as a spoiled child lost without its mother, it just sits around breaking everything until nothing is left.