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Your smartass-ness aside, skunk, your simple points and analogy don't bear out in this instance. I agree that Israel should have never taken the land, and I have been quite vocal about the settlements and the walls.
However, once it's been done, once that harm has occurred, negotiations are about repairing as much of that as is possible.
Here's the better analogy, one I see every day. Let's say I harm you. Steal your car and wreck it, punch your 2 front teeth out, kick you in the shins, make tennis string from your cat, whatever. Now, you sue me. Okay, now you sit down to negotaiate with me to try to reach a settlement -- because litigation is so expensive everyone loses.
Okay, you say you want your teeth back, your cat back, a new car, and some shin guards for good measure. Well, (1) you can't have all that stuff back -- I sold your teeth and used your cat to string my tennis racket, so you'll never get them back. The best you can get for them is some sort of compensation that is *not* what you originally lost, but is a surrogate for what you lost. We have that problem in Palestine.
Additionally, (2) I point out to you that if you want 100% of your loss back, I'll take my chances with the jury. Tell you what, I'll give you some money for your teeth, get you a new cat from the pound, and pay 1/2 of what your car was worth -- oh, and I'll buy the frikkin shin guards. See, that's not 100% of what you lost -- it's much less in fact. That's why it's called a NEGOTIATION. If you want the whole shebang back, well, go get it for yourself -- you ain't ever gonna get me to just GIVE it to you. I'm the guy who stole your car, killed your cat, sold your teeth, and kicked your shin, after all. How agreeable to you expect me to be?
So, on the one hand, we can sit atop our moral high horses and make moral absolutisms while we scowl and the unwashed evildoers of the world. However, if we want these people, niether of whom has clean hands, to work together, we need to let them know that each side has to give a little. Negotiation is about sharing the pain.
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