Heh--no need to thank me, Memnoch & Timber--the fact that I happen to live in the area in question does not give my opinion any special 'validity' or 'power' over your own. If anything, my perspective should be inspected more carefully, as it is surely more clouded (by the surroundings)--but I do my best to overcome that by trying to look at things from an objective point of view, and making decisions based on facts and not impulsive feelings.
Timber, you mentioned getting all Palestinians out of Israel. Even if we put the cheaper imported labor issue aside (which can be easily dealt with--actually, I'm sure that'll provide the needed boost to the Israeli economy, which has been severely hurt since the the year 2000, resulting in almost 10.5% unemployment rate), I have strong doubts that we'll ever see this here, for two reasons, the one is trivial and the other a little more obscure. First, almost 15%, IIRC, of Israel's population consist of Palestinians who stayed here after the war in 1948. These Palestinians are
Israeli citizens, and as such, Israel is committed to them (at least if it strives to be a law-abiding country) and to their safety, and it cannot guarantee that they'll get their full rights in the new Palestinian country. However, I doubt anyone will stop them from leaving if the wish to.
The second reason has historical roots. Back in the Holocaust, the Nazis transferred Jews from all over Europe to the concentration camps against their will. The word "transfer" has burnt itself in the Jewish consciousness forever, and is always used with a grain of fear. Getting all Palestinians out of Israel will involve the use of force one way or another, and this has "transfer" written all over it in bold letters. The idea was suggested, and still is every now and then, but due to these two reasons above, it tends to be ignored.
As for Israelis not seeing the occupation as their "manifest destiny"... well, some do, unfortunately, but these are also the ones that will never use the word "occupation"--as they believe it is rightfully ours. As far as I can tell, though, the idea that the conflict is soluble is slowly getting to people, so the people I just mentioned are slowly pushed to the sideways of our society. They're still dangerous from there (if not even more so).
I also must compliment Skippy1 for this one:
Quote:
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I'm 41 in February. All my life there has been conflict in this part of the world. How tired must a 40 year old Israeli or Palestinian feel?
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... as I couldn't agree more. And I'm 16.